[dba-Tech] Network question - sort of...

> Hey,
> 
> A good while back I asked about a machine I worked on that was really
> slow, but I could find nothing on it.  The general consensus was a
> reformat/install.  The client did not want to do that at the time.  Well,
> he got a new pc and wants me to wipe his old machine.  So I brought the
> old pc home so I could do it without someone breathing over my shoulder.  
> 
Before the reformat, I hooked it up to my network so that I could copy some
data off of the drive first.  The connection light on my Linksys WRT54G for
the pc is constantly blinking as if I was doing a download on it.  I ran
WireShark on the PC and on my PC so see if I could spot any traffic. I could
not.  Could this be indicative of a bad NIC?  He had a cable modem connected
to the PC via a USB connection.

Data went VERY slow.  I ended up copying the needed data to a USB thumb
drive (even at USB 1.1, it was faster). 

I have reformatted and reinstalled XP Home and SP2. The NIC is getting an IP
address, the DNS server info looks correct, but I still can't browse the web
on it. I can ping the router and my machine.  Device manager does not show
any problems with the NIC.  I just checked, it is an on-board network
adapter.
Could the NIC get all that stuff but still be bad?

> Thanks,
> Bobby