two network Interface cards in a PC

[rookie1010]

Hi
My integrated network interface card keeps playing up. I have put in an extra NIC PCI card.

are there any problems with having two network cards in a PC?
they are both enabled at the moment

if i am to retain this configuration, can i derive some benefit out of this configuration

 

[amjay]

never tried that b4 but theoretically if both NIC's are working properly then you should be able to do 2 pc to pc connection ...sharing files (not sure if it would be able to share files among 4 pc's) and internet should be able to be shared among the 4 pc's .....

 

[HoLoCroN]

Hi
My integrated network interface card keeps playing up. I have put in an extra NIC PCI card.

are there any problems with having two network cards in a PC?
they are both enabled at the moment

if i am to retain this configuration, can i derive some benefit out of this configuration

rookie1010,

You don't have anything to fear, having two network cards won't do any damage or cause delay in your computer.

As a matter of fact, most enterprise level organizations have multiple NICs on their servers for redundancy/bandwith load balancing.

If you have both NICs enabled and plugged into a cable, then you will have seperate IP address for each NIC. This won't really help you much as far as internet speed because you are limited by your internet connection... which I doubt its anywhere near 100 mbps.

It will help you if you are using bandwith intensive applications such as database programs that synchronize between two or more computers.

Again, there is nothing wrong with having both NICs on your computer, it shouldnt degrade your system performance especially if it is not being used.

 

[CrashAbbott]

Hey Rookie

this is called "Multi-Homed",, you have two nics, and yes they have separate IPs,,

If you have multihomed and XP box, the benefit of this is that on the one NIC,, you connect with the ISP,, and on the other you connect to a hub,, this will enable you to use your Internet Sharing features in XP, and enable your XP box to act like a router,,

If you feel that you will not be doing any network expansion in the immediate future,, then I would disable the on-board NIC, and have only the one that you installed running,, this will speed up the boot process as "ACKs" are not sent out by the other card broadcasting for an IP,,

Just remember, that if you get to a point where you wish to use the Second NIC,, that you reenable it,,

cheers;

 

[rookie1010]

Hi Crash
which one should i disable, the integrated one or the PCI one
and how can i disable it ?

 

[hilowe]

At my work, we have servers that have two NIC cards. On one NIC card, we'll put a private IP address, and the other one will have a public IP address. I don't remember what software we put on it anymore, but it's a gateway for our customers. They're on a secure private network, and this computer allows them to get onto the internet. We can check their bandwidth to see who's eating it up (most likely because they have a virus), and we can remotely log into it real easy.

Absolutely no problems.

rookie, sorry, I don't remember the exact process to disable it, but I'll give you a couple of methods to check. I don't usually get to play on XP boxes.

1. Right click My Network Places. Select properties. This will open a new window. If there are icons of two computers talking, right click on the first connection, and select disable.

2. Open My Network Places. If there are icons of two computers talking, this is the right spot. Right click on the first connection, and select disable.

 

[hilowe]

Sorry, I didn't answer the first question. I would disable the integrated NIC, since you said that it keeps acting up.

 

[HoLoCroN]

Yup go ahead and disable the integrated LAN card (You can do this at the BIOS level) This will save you time from removing it from windows.