NIC card: green lights/orange lights? 2

[cadenton]

I got a new Dell desktop. In the painful process of getting it set up with my existing home Linksys DSL wired router, I was able to get all the computers working w/the router...then a few hours later, I lost all connection w/the Internet. Sometimes I could get the new Dell to connect to the Internet by bypassing the router and plug directly into my DSL modem

After nearly 6 hours on the phone with both Earthlink and Dell -- and deleting the router completely from my setup --the Dell folks were able to get me back online (something about the computer assigning the old router IP address to my computer; we fixed the compter's "winsock"?).

My question is this: When I first had the new computer working online the two little lights on the NIC card (one green; the other orange) were both either on or flashing. Now only the orange light is lit/flashing. Can you tell me what these two lights mean -- and if the green on should be on? My Internet connection works fine, but I just have the feeling that the green light should be lit. It's an Intel 100 NIC card.

 

[bcastner]

The green light off suggest there is not a link. Replace the cable.

The orange light suggests you are attempting a link at 100mbs.

 

[aznluvsmc]

What kind of Linksys router do you have? I have the BEFSW11 that has 2 green lights and 1 orange light.

The top green light is labelled Link/Act, the green light under is labelled 100 and orange light is labelled FD/Col.

The Link/Act light should be on to indicate a link or flashing to indicate network activity. The 100 light is on when you're connected at 100Mbps and off when you're connected at 10Mbps. The FD/Col lights is on when you are running Full Duplex, off when you're running Half Duplex or flashing to indicate a collision.

_______________
Doing IT Right!

 

[aznluvsmc]

Sorry, I thought you were referring to the router. That was embarassing. Long day at work I tell ya.

_______________
Doing IT Right!

 

[hudr]

Seems like on the Intel cards the Green is solid denoting a 'Link' on the circuit (Basically that there is continuity between the card and the other hub/switch/device) and the Orange light will blink denoting activity (data xfer) on the wire.