"Network Cable Unplugged" and it's not... 5

[yellowlilax]

Computer was in sleep mode and wouldnt come back so I hard to hard shut it down. When I turned the system back on it gives me the "network cable unplugged" message and it's plugged in. I have ran diagnostics on the card and everything is fine with it. The light is on next to the port. I'm running on XP Home - it's a Dell Dimension.

Things I've tried that have NOT worked:
Plugging a different cable in from another computer
Uninstalling driver, reinstalling
Taking card out and putting in another slot
Repairing windows

Can anyone help? Thank you so much!

 

[proudusa]

Did you try running a repair on the NIC ? Right click LAN connection and select repair

 

[yellowlilax]

Yes, tried that. No problems come up at all with the NIC besides not being plugged in and it is. Someone said that since it was in sleep mode and powered down that it still thought it was connected to the network and caused it to be "stuffed"?? I dont know if that helps or not?

 

[mainegeek]

If you are connected through a router,hub or switch then try it in a different port. Also, try power cycling them.

 

[slipvermin]

Try deleting the nic from the device manager from the control panel. Do a scan for hardware changes. It should find it and reinstall the latest driver. IF that doesn't work, I would shut down the pc, pull out the NIC, if it's an add in card, and restart the computer. Then reinstall nic from scratch. If still not working try from the command prompt type: ping 127.0.0.1 -t. Let it run for 30 mins. Does it get any timeouts? If so, I would then suspect the NIC is faulty and will need to be replaced.

 

[edfair]

Those that I've followed required total removal of all network hardware devices,related mangler entries, and TCPIP from the system, power cycle, then reinstall.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[yellowlilax]

What is power cycle? I'm not completely clueless, promise but I'm not familiar with all of the technical terms. I did delete the NIC from the device manager and restarted the machine and let it automatically reinstall but it didnt help.

 

[yellowlilax]

Those that I've followed required total removal of all network hardware devices,related mangler entries, and TCPIP from the system, power cycle, then reinstall."

To do this, do I need to go into the device manager and delete all of the drivers and let the system reinstall them on restart? Do I run the risk of losing anything by doing this? I'm not sure what mangler entries and TCPIP or power cycle are. I'm sorry for not knowing - could you explain? I really appreciate everyone's help so much.

 

[BadFrog]

Power cycle simply means shutting the system completely down then turning back on.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[BadBigBen]

This may sound kinda strange...

but have you tried to CLEAR CMOS and then in the BIOS load the Default settings? I had to do this per phone with a guy that could not regain access to his PC after he shut down while his PC was in SLEEP MODE...

can't hurt to try anyways...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[gbaughma]

Try locking down your network speed to 10-base-T. It could be that auto-negotiation or inductance from florescent lights, motors, etc. are causing packet loss to the point that it thinks the cable is unplugged.



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

 

[yellowlilax]

If someone could step me through how to do these things I can figure it out. I'm not sure how to lock my network speed? Or how to "CLEAR CMOS and then in the BIOS load the Default settings"? I really appreciate everyone's help.

 

[stduc]

This may sound kind of odd too. But can't hurt to try. I've had it work for me.

Shutdown the PC. (Power off and power cord removed from the mains as some NIC's remain powered up when you switch off at the front panel)

Remove the cable.

Power up & re-boot

Open a DOS screen (Run/CMD)and type ping 127.0.0.1 to check out that the NIC card and TCP/IP stack are functioning. If it pings OK then.....

Plug in the cable.

If it doesn't connect straight away, try a re-boot.

If it doesn't ping then using control/panel hardware devices - remove the NIC card and power off the PC. Remove the card and re-boot. Shut down. Re-install the card, but not the cable and re-boot - Windows should find the card and re-install the drivers. Continue from the ping step above which hopefully will ping this time.

 

[edfair]

Kinda out of step with some others here but was suggesting in probable order:
Remove TCPIP
Network properties and remove all network devices
Shutdown the system and pull power cord
After 10 to 15 seconds reattach power
Let the machine boot and add the hardware back in
Add tcpip back in.

The line to pull the power cord is to get aroung the power that is always applied to the NIC to activate the wake on lan.

Your question about CMOS clearing is related to a basic setup usually as a "to enter setup press [DEL] splash screen on initial powerup, but depending on manufacturer it gets more complicated. Changing to defaults is a function of setup.

Locking Lancard speed is found in network connections, properties,advanced

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[yellowlilax]

Thank you so much for your help - I'm going to try tonight when I get home. One question before that - Ed you said to remove the TCPIP - is that just the cable or the card itself? Otherwise, I think I understand this all enough to try it tonight. I'm crossing my fingers - I need this computer up so bad.

 

[edfair]

TCPIP is a communication protocol that is used by the card. If you look in the network properties you will see several things, a client (what kind of network), an adapter (the hardware), and the protocols (how the card communicates).
Evidently, based on somebody else's experience, TCPIP doesn't get totally cleaned out when the adapter is removed as it was prior to XP. And that is the reason I suggested removing it specifically.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[wolluf]

yellowlilax - hope you sort this with suggestions above. If not, my 2p's worth would be to just replace the NIC (they're very cheap, and I've seen this as well - nothing wrong with card, just wouldn't work!)

 

[yellowlilax]

Alright, I tried it all. I think I did everything right. I couldn't figure out how to load the default settings in the BIOS - but I did put "use optimal settings" and saved and rebooted, but no luck. I'm not sure if I shut off the tcp/ip correctly though? I just went into the card and unchecked them and rebooted, then deleted it from the device manager and reinstalled it - no luck.

Do you think a new card would really fix this? Or is it going to be a waste of money because it's something on the computer end? I opened up my other computer and the card is built in to that one, so I can't try to switch them out and see what happens. Any other ideas? Or just get a new card and risk some more time and money haha

 

[edfair]

Assuming that everything was removed and re-installed correctly and still failing a replacement card would be a logical next step.

And after that is a rebuild of windows.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[BadFrog]

What kind of router or hub are you using and have you tried another port on it as mainegeek suggested? If you read this thread it wound up being the router that was bad.

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1191441

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein