I have a Proliant 1600 (dual 450MHz) with the onboard 10/100 NIC. And... I'm fairly new to Compaq servers.
When I go through the Hardware Configuration tool on the System Partition, it identifies and activates the NIC. I get link lights on my switch. If I review the hardware settings, it is also set to "enabled".
However, when I reboot the machine, the NIC stops working. The link light goes away, Windows 2003 doesn't recognize any Network or even unknown adapters, so it really looks like it is disabled in BIOS/NVRAM still.
I have repeated the Hardware Configuration step several times with the same results.
Any other place I need to go to enable the NIC? Or any ideas?
It's the one that came with the system cage on board. I believe it's the NC3131. However, the problem is that it is not enabled after post. I am used to seeing link lights on my switch almost immediately after a server POSTs. I do not get a link light on my switch, and windows does not even see the card. Even if it didn't know what it was, Windows would at least list it as unknown hardware if it was enabled.
The onboard NIC on the Proliant 1600 is a Netflex 3. This card is not supported by default in the Windows 2003 installation so you have to load the Windows 2000 driver. This driver works fine in Windows 2003, it might not be digitally signed that's all.
Please download and run the following Netflex 3 driver. This should resolve your problem.
Brian, thank you. It is, in fact, the Netelligent driver. Now it does come online under Windows. However, it keeps resetting now so the network becomes momentarily unavailable. I have it connected to a 100mbit Linksys switch. In addition to the automatic settings, I have also tried manually specifying duplex and speed settings to no avail. Anyone else had problems like this?
There are 2 -3 versions of driver for netflex-3(or netelligent fast ethernet, both drivers are same)NIC. try to upgrade the driver you have installed or get the latest one from ths supports & download section.
I would really check for an updated driver for the NIC that is supported under Windows 2003.
Also, have you checked for port speed/duplex mismatch. I know you mentioned that you have played with the speed on the card but what about on the switch end? Try setting them to both 100Mbps/Full duplex (if thats supported by your network) on the NIC and the switch port end.
Thanks for the great ideas. I got the absolute latest NetFlx3 driver (5.x.22) specifically for Windows 2003 (not available yet from HP) and the problem didn't go away. I gave up and disabled the onboard card, put a 3C905 in and my problems went away.
