Intel Gigabit NICs and MVP disconnects

[lseats]

I bought Intel gigabit Network cards for my Server 2003 PVR machine and for my XP workstations. For the server I got a PWLA8490MT PRO/1000 MT Server Adapter and for my workstations I got PWLA8391GT adapters.

They work great for communications between the computers, but they are nightmares for my MVPs.

I tried both the server adapter and the workstation adapter with the lattest drivers in the PVR machine. With either one the MVPs disconnect randomly while recorded shows or live TV is playing.

The server card was the worst. With it I lost connection a dozen times in an hour show. Using the workstation card it only disconnects on average 2 or 3 times in an hour long show.

I tired various advanced settings for the drivers with no change. Has anyone else had better experience with these cards and the MVP -- If so, please tell me what version of the drivers you are using.

[wtg]

Perhaps it's the switch that sits between the MVPs and the server. Whatever the case I don't think it's really the MVPs... they're not even connected to the Gb cards directly.

[lseats]

Perhaps it's the switch that sits between the MVPs and the server. Whatever the case I don't think it's really the MVPs... they're not even connected to the Gb cards directly.

I doubt it has anything to do with the switches since they have not changed. I was not having any drops in the middle of playback before and the only change was the Intel networks cards.

I know from experience in trying a borderline wireless connection that the MVPs are very sensitive to any brief drop in network connectivity, so I suspect that is what is happening with these network cards.

My switches do have stats, so I'll have to check those and see what error rates the cards are giving and what types of errors.

[steve232]

I just swapped 2 10/100 switches for gig switches and ran into all types of problems. When I wired my house with cat 5e, I only used 2 of the four wire pairs. The other two pairs were used for the phone.

It turns out gig uses all four pairs in the wire. When I rewired with the 4 pairs, all was well.

Also, I added a seperate 10/100 switch for the 5 mediamvp's with a wire back to the switch the GBPVR system is plugged into. It seems to have helped with the initial mvp's boot.


Steve

[andrewm]

off subject a little

what do you have to run the gbpvr on ?

I have a 2 G P4, and it seems to be having problmes running 4 MVP's, let alone 5.

[steve232]

I'm using a 3g P4 HT w/ 1gig of memory

Steve