[SOLVED] Internal NIC dies, lights off att "Configuring firewall"

Damned

TLDR:
Replaced the NIC, so far so good.

First of all, I'm not really a network guru, nor know very much about Linux. With that being said:

I used ClearOS for a while, but for some unknown reasons the port forwarding module stopped working so I decided to switch to pfSense, hoping I could learn something in the process as well.

Anyway, a few weeks or so ago my internal NIC just randomly died. Lights went off and everything. Rebooting the machine didn't help - I had to power off the machine and then power it on again.

Everything worked fine for another week, then the same thing happened again. So i powered down, and powered up.

Another week passes, and it again dies. This time power down/up doesn't work.
The lights on the NIC are on during boot-up, and as far as I can see the light go off when pfSense does "Configuring firewall".

I then tried updating to the latest release last night (I use the ipv6 beta release) - to no avail.

Then I proceeded to reset to factory defaults. But my internal NIC was dead the entire time here …

My External NIC works fine, and is integretaed in my desktop Dell Optiplex 760. I believe it's an intel-card of some kind.

My Internal NIC is Realtek os some make. I don't know how to find out their exact versions.

Another weird thing is, last night, I made the reset to factory defaults. The Nic lights were off and I gave up and went to bed.
When I woke up, it was on and stuff seemed to work fine.
Now however, after I went through the configuration guide through the web interface it died again :(

So what's wrong? Do I need to replace the internal NIC (I'd rather not) or can I solve this in another way?

EDIT: Internal NIC is Dlink DGE-528
External NIC is Intel pro 7.3.2

I found this when googling:
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/02/06/2024251/intel-gigabit-nic-packet-of-death

Could that be it? I don't understand it, stuff has worked fine for months. Is it a virus? How do I fix it? :/
Sadly I don't know how to find out if I have 82574L or not.
Packet of death ... meh.

EDIT#2: Just reformatted and installed 2.0.3 - everything looked fine, but again at "Configuring firewall" the light on both the NIC and the switch went off.

tim.mcmanus

Try installing 2.1. There is broader chipset support in it.

Damned

@tim.mcmanus:

Try installing 2.1. There is broader chipset support in it.

I've tried 2.1 RC0 without success.
Just so you don't misinterpret me - pfSense has worked flawlessly since April - and only now started acting up. Or maybe it's my NIC. Anyway, I ordered a new one and hope it'll help.