NIC (embeded) has all ZERO MAC address!

SKJoy2001

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Sep 6, 2008
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MAC address is all 0 (ZERO) in the BIOS! Thus, fails to get recognized by the OS and the controller on the other end (router).

I don't know how it happened, but due to some BIOS flashing? Sometimes, specially when resumed from hibernation, the NIC is completely missing from the Device Manager, as if it were never there! Then I have to UnPower the total system for a couple of minutes and then it comes back (thanks to some ANNONYMOUS witty guy I found adviced the method over the internet), still with the ZERO MAC.

I have set the ADDRESS manually in Windows (from the device properties) to make it work, and it is works perfectly. But the real trouble begins when the system recovers from a power failure and/or hibernation, especially when I am not at home, as the system needs to remain active and online 24/7.

Any idea how this can be fixed?

NIC: Realtek 8111D chips (10/100/1000 Mbit), embeded into maniboard, latest driver is installed as Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R Rev 1.0 (BIOS F12Q) (Gigabyte)
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 with SP1