XP says "Network Cable Unplugged" But it isn't

[superdrumr]

So, after restarting my computer today, XP is telling me that i do not have a network cable plugged into my computer, despite the fact that i do. I have tried disabling and reenabling the connection, uninstalling the device, and upgrading the driver, nothing has worked, anybody got any ideas.

Notes:
LAN card is built in gigabit ethernet on my motherboard, wired into a gigabit swtich which then uplinks into my router. I tested two different cables both into the switch and router.
Setup was working fine until today when it suddenly gave this message.

[Steve]

Have you tried a new cable between computer and switch?

Maybe try going from computer to router, bypassing the switch.

[superdrumr]

yes i tried two different cables, running both to the switch and the router and a loopback jack.
also, the lights on the switch and the jack of the network card are lit up.

[Steve]

Have you tried going to network connections, highlight the correct connection and click "Repair this connection"?

[superdrumr]

i tried to do that, but it will only let you repair if there is a network cable plugged in.

[Steve]

Can you ping the switch or router?

Do you have a laptop or other computer that you can swap with the problem unit? That would allow you to nail it down to whether it's the computer or not.

Do you have a recent restore point that you could go back to?

[superdrumr]

I can't ping anything, the computer believes its not connected.

I hooked my laptop up to the same cable and it worked fine, so its definately the computer.

I've tried a number of different restore points but none have worked. I also tried upgrading the bios, but also to no avail.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Go into safe Mode as admin. Go to device Manager and unload the ethernet drivers. Reboot into Safe Mode and reinstall them. Reboot into regular Windows.

Any luck? I'm hoping your onboard nic is not DOA but it could be.

[superdrumr]

GAHHHH, still no luck, this is really getting to me now.
I guess my onboard NIC might be dead, but if it were dead, would windows still see it and think it was alright?

[Steve]

FTT may be pointing the way to the inevitable conclusion here. I hope not. Of course, if it really is a hardware failure on the MB, a pci network card could solve the problem.

[superdrumr]

Yah, i am going to try and pick one up from another machine later. The only thing that really annoys me about that is that i really like having gigabit ethernet and if i have that on my pci bus along with my raid controllers (which are add ons built into the motherboard so i assume they are likely on the pci bus) plus my tv tuner card, i am worried about the bandwith available.

[Steve]

BTW, did you try a restore point. If you can regain function by going to a restore point it would eliminate the hardware as the problem.

[superdrumr]

Yah a tried setting it back about a week but with no luck.
I think the OS might have gotten confused though, because between the time of the restore and the current setup, i upgraded the bios. I tried restoring the previous bios along with doing the restore, but again, no luck.

[Steve]

hmmm...did this all come about after the bios update?

[superdrumr]

sort of. I updated the bios, but i ran for a couple days with no problem before this happened.
I also updraded a bunch of drivers, including the network card. However when i upgraded the network card one it had a really weird side effect on my computer, however i didn't at first realize it was the network card so i did the system restore back to a previous point and all kinds of other stuff before i realized what it was. Once i finally figured it out and got the right driver loaded, this problem started.

[Steve]

Well, I know this isn't politicaly correct around here but seeing that you have already spent a day or two on this, a quick backup of your important data and a format and reinstall will let you know within the hour whether you're going to get it back.

If it comes back, great. If not, try a pci device.

[Paul Komski]

Running a Repair Installation (http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm) could be worth a shot since it "reinitialises" all the hardware and should leave your data intact.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

OMG!!! :eek: STEVE!!!

A reinstall? But THEN what will HJT think? :p :p :p

Superduperdrummer,

I updated the bios. That word is-be 'flashed' around these parts and it's a last ditch effort for fixin almost e-v-e-r-y-t-h-a-n-g...!

'Eileen' (would be my 'girlie' name if I was one ;) ) towards Steve's idea of Gitterdun!

I've witnessed w-a-y too many 3 to 4+ weeks of working on fixing junk, some combo of spyware and 'viruses' ( I realise it's virii but, I speak English, not Latin :rolleyes: ). Newbies doing desperate things, not adhering to instructions, not knowing or trusting just which way (or forum) to turn,,, As much as my avatar or sometimes sig's nature suggests, I avoid confusion like the plague... :eek:

Restore disks, Harddrive replacements and reinstalls are the only things I'll guarrantee free of spyware/virii. All else, if this did not cure it, must be hardware.

Playing with 92 & +/- 1/2 programs just to remove a pile of spyware is a Royal PIA IMO!

But so is any DDO software too! (My apologies to Alex,, ;) )

Yoda's sig was: "Press to enable, release to detonate.." Myy sentiments, exactly...

[superdrumr]

well since i really want to avoid reinstalling my os i used a windows pe boot disc and found that the adapter doesn't want to communicate with anything. This definately is making me think that its a hardware or bios level problem.
As far as reinstalling goes, at this point it doesnt seem worth it. I'll be getting my new hard drive in week and a half so ill probably try it then, but for now, Anybody got any other ideas.

PS: Thanks for all the help so far.

[superdrumr]

well i tried doing the winxp repair installation also, unfortunately no luck.

[PrntRhd]

Possibly a bad NIC, at least it won't be too expensive, usually under $25, rather than have to replace the MB.

[superdrumr]

yah, i think i do actually have an extra lying around, the thing that annyos me though is the problem with saturating the pci bus. I really dont want to have to give up gigabit ethernet.

[superdrumr]

Well, the NIC now seems to not work at all. It's lights wont even turn on. I guess the question of what was causing it is now answered.

[Steve]

Yep, sounds like the hardware gave up. Don't forget to check the warranty on that motherboard. There might be an RMA in your future... ;)

[superdrumr]

well its out of warranty now, but i guess its not that big a deal. I finally stuck a pci card in there and it work fines (in fact im using it right now). I wanted to upgrade my system fairly soon anyway, so it gives me a good excuse. Come the end of summer im thinking dual core athlon with 2 video cards (no sli, just wanna be able to drive 4 monitors).

[hoezaycuervo]

Glad your up and running again....but one quick point that was not mentioned.

After you upgraded your bios, did you check to see whether the upgrade disabled the onboard NIC in the bios settings?

[superdrumr]

The NIC was on and detected by windows without a problem. It seems that there was simply a hardware defect the developed in it.