[lug] NIC fact/fiction

[Brian Jarrett]

While it is definitely safer to make connections of any sort when everything
is powered down, it is just not practical in a lot of cases.  Also, much
technology is being produced around the idea of "hot-plugging" capability
(USB, SCSI drives, Redundant Power Supplies, etc.)

PS/2 ports used to require the system to be powered down before
connecting/disconnecting devices, but most other peripheral connections do
not require you to power down the computer.  Regarding most peripherals, I
will only power them on once it is connected to the computer.  Bringing the
computer down every time I connect a device would be an admin headache
(especially when the machines are servers!)

Brian

-----Original Message-----
From: John Dickerson [mailto:jedick at co.tds.net]
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2000 12:25 PM
To: lug at lug.boulder.co.us
Subject: Re: [lug] NIC fact/fiction


One should never, repeat never, plug in or unplug a cable with an electronic
system turned on.  John
----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Jarrett <BrianJ at storagesoft.com>
To: <lug at lug.boulder.co.us>
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2000 8:31 AM
Subject: RE: [lug] NIC fact/fiction


> I've never heard of this phenomenon and I disconnect cables from NICs all
> the time on our networks.  The machine itself won't harm the NIC if a
cable
> is not plugged in.
>
> My guess is that someone observed the effect of having a NIC burned out
> without understanding the true cause of the problem.  They probably
> disconnected the cable and then found that the NIC didn't work, but a
power
> surge or something else could've caused it.  The only other thing that
> _might_ be a possibility is if, when disconnecting the cable, someone
caused
> ESD damage to the NIC by grounding out to it.
>
> Brian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: matthew.w.mcillece at lmco.com [mailto:matthew.w.mcillece at lmco.com]
> Sent: Friday, August 04, 2000 9:00 AM
> To: clue-tech at clue.denver.co.us; lug at lug.boulder.co.us
> Subject: [lug] NIC fact/fiction
>
>
> Has anyone ever heard of a network card "burning out" from being
> disconnected from the ethernet for an extended period?  It seems silly to
me
> because I had my network card powered up in my box for months before I had
> anything to connect it to and it still works fine.  But I heard second
hand
> that if you disconnect the ethernet cable while the machine is powered up
> that it will burn out the network card.
>
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