weird issue with PCI NIC Card.

[Overwheat]

So I bought myself a TrendNet Gigabit switch and Newegg had a bundle deal to get a gigabit NIC card for free with it. I haz an old dell (p4 2.66ghz, 1gb of Ram) that i'm turning into a server rig to store all my music that I want to put this NIC card in. Well, with the NIC card plugged into any of the slots the computer will start turning on but immediately shut back off. My first thought was "shit, the card is bad, oh well it was free." I decided to throw it in my moms computer real quick just to see if it was actually the card, and lo and behold her computer booted up just fine, recognized card and was asking for drivers. I decided to try two other PCI cards I have laying around (Creative x-fi card and a usb 2.0 card) in my dell and the dell boots just fine with both the cards installed. Needless to say I'm confused as shit right now. Dell Specs:

Dimension 4600
Antec 350w Smart Blue PSU
Intel Pentium 4 2.66ghz
1gb (2x512mb) Corsair ValueSelect PC3200
nVidia GeForce 6800GS
1xWD Caviar Blue 320gb SATA
1xSeagate Barracuda 750gb SATA

[TheGeekRedneck]

I hate Dells for that very reason, they have incredibly weird and picky BIOSes and hardware. The first thing I would try is looking for a BIOS update for that machine (or the board in it).

If that doesn't work I would just pay for a genuine Intel GbE NIC, it will be MUCH better suited for a server anyway. Seriously, an Intel GbE will provide noticeably faster speeds than a plain jane GbE card. Save the cheaper cards for client PCs on the network.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6833106121

With that being said I believe I have a TrendNet GbE card in our home server box and it works with no problems. We also have a TrendNet 8 port gigabit switch powering the home network. Totally bulletproof. I love TrendNet stuff.

I wouldn't blame the card, I'd blame the Dell machine. Although that doesn't do you much good, lol.

[runt]

I agree w/ the Intel GbE NIC for a server. Speaking of that, I need to pick up one for my WHS box since I don't want to downgrade my desktop back to a Realtek based GbE card.....