So a couple of months ago, about a month after I built this new computer, we had a "freak" thunderstorm and lightning strikes extremely close to the house. It woke me up from sleep to find that my computer, which I'd left on overnight, was off. I figured the power had probably gone out but I saw my clock was on, so I turned on the system. I won't lie. I was pretty scared that it wouldn't boot up or turn on. I've lived here for a couple years and not once has this happened before, but it WOULD decide to happen just as I got a new decent computer.
Well anyway. I turn on the computer, it boots up fine except, once booted, there's no internet connection. I keep trying to figure out what the problem is. It's not detecting the onboard LAN. So I'm starting to get scared and start looking up similar problems on my phone and they all say that it might be the onboard LAN got fried. I try not to panic and decide to call my ISP since my sister isn't getting any wifi, either. The modem/router is on and it looks fine, but no internet. They and the technician finds that the modem is fried, he gets a new one, replaces it, he tests the wireless out with his phone, and its working. I test it as well with my sister's laptop, and the same thing. But the thing is, my computer isn't getting any internet. I told him what had happened and so he goes down and gets a new ethernet cable from his truck saying that maybe the cable doesn't work as well. He hooks up the new cable and nothing. This is where I start getting scared. I had already checked the motherboard and other computer components to see if there were any scorch marks or anything burnt looking but nothing. So he tells me that it's most likely that the lan port itself was also fried. I figured, "Welp, that's it for that. Guess I'll have to buy some LAN card or something" but the guy goes back to his truck and comes back with a usb Wireless adapter to test on the computer, and it works. Then he says I can go ahead and keep it so I was quite surprised.
While I haven't had a problem with the wireless (as much as I dislike using wireless) I do notice a difference when gaming and I know I can just buy a LAN card, but I have no idea which. All I ever see reviews for are wireless adapters and gaming cards like the Bigfoot 2100 or whatever. From what I've read on the Bigfoot, it's not worth the price tag, plus all the cards I see on websites have different categories and to be honest I don't know much about that.
I don't want to end up buying a lan card that's even worse than a wired connection or one that's super slow. So the question. What is a reasonably priced wired LAN card that will work as well or better than onboard LAN without burning a hole in my pocket? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Well anyway. I turn on the computer, it boots up fine except, once booted, there's no internet connection. I keep trying to figure out what the problem is. It's not detecting the onboard LAN. So I'm starting to get scared and start looking up similar problems on my phone and they all say that it might be the onboard LAN got fried. I try not to panic and decide to call my ISP since my sister isn't getting any wifi, either. The modem/router is on and it looks fine, but no internet. They and the technician finds that the modem is fried, he gets a new one, replaces it, he tests the wireless out with his phone, and its working. I test it as well with my sister's laptop, and the same thing. But the thing is, my computer isn't getting any internet. I told him what had happened and so he goes down and gets a new ethernet cable from his truck saying that maybe the cable doesn't work as well. He hooks up the new cable and nothing. This is where I start getting scared. I had already checked the motherboard and other computer components to see if there were any scorch marks or anything burnt looking but nothing. So he tells me that it's most likely that the lan port itself was also fried. I figured, "Welp, that's it for that. Guess I'll have to buy some LAN card or something" but the guy goes back to his truck and comes back with a usb Wireless adapter to test on the computer, and it works. Then he says I can go ahead and keep it so I was quite surprised.
While I haven't had a problem with the wireless (as much as I dislike using wireless) I do notice a difference when gaming and I know I can just buy a LAN card, but I have no idea which. All I ever see reviews for are wireless adapters and gaming cards like the Bigfoot 2100 or whatever. From what I've read on the Bigfoot, it's not worth the price tag, plus all the cards I see on websites have different categories and to be honest I don't know much about that.
I don't want to end up buying a lan card that's even worse than a wired connection or one that's super slow. So the question. What is a reasonably priced wired LAN card that will work as well or better than onboard LAN without burning a hole in my pocket? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
