Network card test. How to find out if a network card is working? Checking the network card in a PC

If you suddenly lose your Internet connection, and your provider assures you that there are no problems on their side, you should make sure that everything is in order with your network card. We have already talked about how to understand the types of network cards in one of our previous articles. Now let's talk about how to check it for malfunctions.

Ways to check your network card

Before proceeding with more serious diagnostics, check to see if the network cable has fallen out of its socket - maybe someone accidentally pulled it. If the network cable is in place, you will have to deal with the network card itself.

If you do not have a network card built into the motherboard, but a separate one, first you should make sure that it itself has not fallen out of nowhere and is firmly in the socket. Open the computer case and check that the card is seated well in the slot. If no problems are found here, it’s time to move on to software diagnostics.

The most obvious way to check your network card is to look in Device Manager. To do this, open the Control Panel through the Start menu, go to the System and Security section, click the System link, and then the Device Manager link. If you have Windows 8, you can simply press the +[X] keys and select Device Manager from the list that appears.

In the Device Manager window, expand the Network Adapters section. If the network card is faulty, it will be indicated with a red cross. If there is an exclamation mark next to the name of the network card, the problem is in the drivers. It may be worth updating or reinstalling them.

There is another way to verify whether the network card is working or not - through the command line. To open it, click “Start” and go to “All Programs > Accessories”, and in Windows 8 use the same keys + [X].

In the Command Prompt window, type ipconfig /all and click . Remember the address indicated in the “IP4 address” line - they belong to your network card. Now enter the ping command and this address, and then click to start sending test data packets to your network card. If, as a result of executing this command, there is no information about lost packets, then the network card is working. If you couldn’t “get through” to it, you’ll have to think about replacing it.

Instructions

Look in the system tray - does it have a connection icon in the form of two computers? If not, then it is quite possible that the network card on your computer is simply disabled. To enable it, open: “Start” - “Control Panel” - “Network Connections”. In the window that opens, find the “Local Area Connection” item. Its status will be indicated in the “Status” column. If the device is disabled, right-click it and select “Enable” from the context menu.

The situation becomes more complicated if the list of network connections is empty. In this case you need to check serviceability network cards. Open the “System” - “Hardware” - “Device Manager” section in the Control Panel. Find the "Network Cards" section. You'll likely see the device marked with a yellow question mark or exclamation point. This means that the driver is not installed for the device or it is not working correctly.

In order for the network card to start working, you need to find a driver for it. But first you need to find out its exact name. If you know it, find the driver by searching on Google or any other search engine. If not, you will need the Aida64 (Everest) program. Launch it, on the right side select the “Computer” - “Summary Information” - “Network” section and look at the name of the network adapter.

Having found the required driver on the network, again open “Start” - “Control Panel” - “System” - “Hardware” - “Device Manager” - “Network Cards” and double-click the network card marked with a yellow icon. In the window that opens, select “Driver” - “Update”. Specify the driver saved on your computer as the source.

It is possible that the computer does not see the network card. There may be three reasons: incorrect installation cards, incorrect BIOS settings and not serviceability most cards. In the first case, after disconnecting the computer from the network, you should check the correctness of insertion cards into the slot. In the second, enter the BIOS and check if the network card is enabled. The third option is the most difficult, check it at home serviceability network cards You can only install it on another computer.

After successfully installing the network card, it may happen that it suddenly stops working, there is no connection to the Internet, and there is no local network. Initially, you might think that the problem is with the modem or with the provider - temporary Internet outages are not uncommon today. To check the functionality of your network card, use the tips described in this article.

You will need

• Checking the system settings of the network card.

Instructions

The easiest way to check the connection and the board is to pull it out of your system unit and insert it into another system unit on which the local network was fine. However, do not forget that you will need the latest ones for the device to work correctly. When installing the card in another system unit, make sure that , which are not available on all network card models, are in the desired position (select Plug&Play mode).

A more complex check is carried out with a tester or in ohmmeter mode. For a device with an n-p-n structure, both junctions (collector and emitter) must open at a positive voltage at the base, and for a transistor with a p-n-p structure, at a negative voltage. In reverse polarity, the transitions should close. For a digital multimeter in ohmmeter mode, the minus is usually located on the black probe, for a dial tester it is the other way around. Be sure to check the instructions from the measuring device for the short-circuit current in ohmmeter mode. It should not exceed the maximum permissible for transistor transitions.

Connect the collector of the n-p-n structure transistor to the positive of a power source with a voltage of 3 - 4 through a circuit of a 1 kilo-ohm resistor and an LED (anode to positive). Connect the emitter to the negative of the same source directly. The LED should not light up. Now connect the plus of the power supply through another 1 kilo-ohm resistor to the base of the transistor. The LED should light up. If you are testing a transistor of the pnp structure, reverse the polarity of connecting the power supply and the LED.

Before you write “nothing works for me,” try to find out what specifically doesn’t work for you.

If you decide to leave a message on the forum/VKontakte, please note that the message is not considered an official request to the technical support service; contacts for the technical support service are located on the main page of the site.

Please read at least a few thread messages on the last page before writing - it is possible that this problem has already been solved or is already being solved!

Diagnostic commands:

*Executed in a previously opened “command line” window. (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt)
For Windows Vista/7: Win+R ===> cmd ===> Enter
For Windows NT/2000/XP/VISTA: "Start" - "Run" - "cmd"
For Windows 95/98: "Start" - "Run" - "command".

Copying text: right-click on this window - “edit” - “select” and “edit” - “copy”.

ipconfig /all
nslookup
ping [host address (for example, ya.ru) ] [-n 20]
pathping [host address]
tracert [host address]

ipconfig /all shows network interface settings.
Everything that is indicated there must be checked with the user manual (if the manual is old, then check it with the data that was issued by technical support). See how to set up a connection on the website.

ping [-t] shows the response time from the specified host. Large delays can indirectly serve as an indicator of a slow resource (loaded channel, weak resource hardware, and similar problems). The [-t] key is used to execute a command before the user interrupts it by pressing "Ctrl+C". By default, without this key, ping will only be executed four times, which is not always enough.

pathping Shows the response time and the number of missing packets along the entire route to the host.

tracert
To display problems graphically, you can download the PingPlotter program from the local network

nslookup
Check DNS operation.

Check algorithm: Error "Network cable is not connected"

1. Check the cable connection in the network card
2. Check the integrity of the cable to the shield.
3. Call Tech. support.

The network cable is connected, but there are no incoming packets.

1. Check the cable connection in the network card (you can remove and insert the cable into the socket).
2. Disable all firewalls (firewalls), if you have them.
3. Ping the gateway (take the address from the connection settings or from the connection information in the control panel).
4. Call Tech. support.

The network cable is connected, there are incoming packets, but you cannot access internal services:

1. Disable all firewalls (firewalls), if you have them.
2. Check the operation of DNS (nslookup).
3. Check connection with these servers (ping)
4. Check connection with central servers. (ping online.vo, ping 192.168.0.250, ping_your_gateway_address)
5. Check your browser settings
5.1. Internet Explorer -> "Tools" menu -> "Internet Options" -> "Connection" -> "Network Settings" -> check if the "use proxy server" checkbox is disabled
6. Call Tech. support.

DNS check:

The nslookup server command should return the IP address of this server. For example, the command "nslookup vo47.ru" should return the address "193.106.108.68"

Diagnostic commands

Don't know what network card is used on your computer? No problem! To find out, you don't even need to install third-party programs. Everything can be done using the tools built into Windows.

How to find out the network card model through Device Manager

The easiest way to find out which network card is on your computer is to use a tool called “Device Manager”. To open Device Manager, go to Control Panel, and then go to System and Security - System. Here, in the left side menu, there will be a link to “Device Manager”.

You can also open Device Manager using the command “mmc devmgmt.msc”. To do this, press the key combination Windows + R, in the window that appears, enter “mmc devmgmt.msc” and press the enter key.

Well, users of Windows 8 and Windows 10 can open the “Device Manager” by right-clicking on the “Start” button.

After opening the “Device Manager”, you need to open the “Network Adapters” section. There you can see which network card is on your computer. In our case, this is the integrated Qualcomm Atheros AR8152 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller network card.

It should be noted that in the “Network adapters” section virtual network cards created by various programs can be displayed. But, they are easy to distinguish from real network cards, since they are named by analogy with the programs that create them. In our screenshot (above), such a virtual network card is the Virtual Box Host Only Ethernet Adapter.

Using the command line to obtain information about network cards

The second way to find out which network card is on your computer is through the command line. To use this method, open the Start menu and enter the “CMD” command into the search. So you should open Windows Command Prompt. In the command line that opens, you need to enter the command “IPCONFIG / ALL” (screenshot below).

After executing this command, information about all network connections on your computer will be displayed on the command line. For each of these connections, the “Description” section will indicate the name of the network card that is responsible for this connection.

How to find out what network card I have using the msinfo32 command

Another option for obtaining information about a network card is the "msinfo32" command, which opens a tool called "System Information". To use this tool, press the key combination Windows + R and in the window that appears, enter the command “msinfo32”.

I have already written about what it is and how to check under what address the outside world sees you. However, often this information is not enough to understand what address is assigned to your network card, as well as to diagnose connection problems. I will give a list of commands that can be used. (you can also read about visual customization on my website)

First you need to open the command line. This is done like this: press the start button, select “run”.

An alternative method is to press the Win key (between Ctrl and Alt) and R at the same time, this method also works on Vista

A window appears in which you need to enter cmd and click OK

The same command line appears

In it you can type and “enter” commands by pressing Enter. The results can be copied - if you press the right button, you can select the desired piece, then you need to press the right mouse button again.

ping command

The first team you need to get to know is ping, which checks the availability of a given address. Enter the command ping 127.0.0.1. It should look something like this (if the command is not ping does not work, then perhaps the instructions for fixing the cmd no command error will help solve the problem):

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ping 127.0.0.1

Exchange of packets from 127.0.0.1 to 32 bytes:

Response from 127.0.0.1: number of bytes=32 time

Response from 127.0.0.1: number of bytes=32 time

Response from 127.0.0.1: number of bytes=32 time

Ping statistics for 127.0.0.1:

Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

As we can see, 4 packets were sent to address 127.0.0.1, and they all reached the target. What kind of address was this and why was I sure that the packages would arrive? The answer is simple - the packages were not sent anywhere, but remained on your computer. This address is specific and is used for loopback packets that do not go anywhere outside. Great, we can now “ping” the address of this site: 212.193.236.38

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ping 212.193.236.38

Exchange of packets from 212.193.236.38 to 32 bytes:

Reply from 212.193.236.38: number of bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=55

Reply from 212.193.236.38: number of bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=55

Reply from 212.193.236.38: number of bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=55

Ping statistics for 212.193.236.38:

Packets: sent = 4, received = 4, lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip time in ms:

Minimum = 3ms, Maximum = 3ms, Average = 3ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

You can notice only one difference - the packets did not arrive instantly, but in 3 milliseconds. I hope you also didn’t experience any delay in delivering packages, and most importantly, you didn’t see a line like

Timed out request.

The appearance of such lines means that some packets are lost. This indicates problems on the line or on the server you are accessing.

ipconfig command

The next important command is ipconfig. Enter it. I got it like this:

Ethernet - Ethernet adapter:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

In this case, the address turned out to be 192.168.17.139. You can also ping this address (you ping yours) - packets should arrive instantly. The default gateway is the address to which a computer sends packets when it does not find a suitable address on its network. So, in my case, all packets except those on 192.168.17.* will be sent to 192.168.17.240, and that computer must decide what to do with them and where to forward them next. Note: the local network, that is, those addresses to which packets are not sent to the gateway, is determined using a mask - the zero in the last place and 255 in all previous ones just means that the last number in the IP address can be arbitrary.

One of the standard steps when troubleshooting connection problems is to ping your gateway. If the packets do not reach it, then, apparently, the problem is somewhere nearby, for example, the power cord is damaged or poorly connected. It’s also worth knowing where the computer with your main gateway is physically located - at the provider, somewhere in the house, or maybe it’s in your apartment. Note: Some computers are configured not to respond to ping requests. Therefore, the absence of ping is not a 100% guarantee that there will be no connection with the address.

More detailed information can be obtained with the command ipconfig /all. I managed:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ipconfig /all

Setting up the IP protocol for Windows

Computer name. . . . . . . . . : sander

Primary DNS suffix. . . . . . : MSHOME

Node type. . . . . . . . . . . . . : mixed

IP routing is enabled. . . . : No

WINS proxy is enabled. . . . . . . : No

Order in which DNS suffixes are viewed. : MSHOME

Ethernet - Ethernet adapter:

The DNS suffix of this connection. . : srcc.msu.ru

Description. . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller

Physical adress. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-D4-63-03-65

dhcp is enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Auto-tuning is enabled. . . . . : Yes

IP address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.17.139

Subnet mask. . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Main gate. . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.17.240

DHCP server. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.17.240

DNS servers. . . . . . . . . . . : 212.192.244.2

212.192.244.3

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

I have highlighted the most useful information in bold. allocated me a dynamic address based on my MAC address or physical address. Mine are 212.192.244.2 and 212.192.244.3.

Other commands

Team tracert allows you to trace the path of packets from your computer to the target. Try, for example, tracing the path to this site: tracert website. The lines in the trace output are the points through which the packet passes on its path. The first point will be your gateway. Using the tracert command allows you to find the source of problems when communicating with any address. Packets sent by the tracert command have a TTL - time to live - positive integer. Each router on the path decreases this indicator by 1, if the TTL drops to zero, then the trace ends. By default, an initial TTL of 30 is used; you can set a different value with the option -h.