No wired connection - running out of ideas.

Topic: No wired connection - running out of ideas. (Read 2376 times) previous topic - next topic

No wired connection - running out of ideas.

October 13, 2010, 09:34:17 PM

Alright. Last week, right before I went on vacation, my ethernet port on my desktop mobo seemed to kick the bucket. I say "seemed" because it seems to be working everywhere else (router lights flash with activity, and shows the correct connection [by color] - gigabit). Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit shows no connection. Looks like there is no cable plugged in at all.

There was an update that night when I shut her down. I tried rolling back the update. No dice. Tried restoring further back. No dice. Ran a diagnostics and Windows says there is a potential driver issue with the network adapter. Drivers are up to date - and say they are working fine? Tried rolling back the drivers. No dice. So I just assumed I needed a NIC.

Ran down to best buy to get one. Instead of grabbing the cheapo Dynex store brand I grabbed the Linksys. Silly me. Forgot how much Cisco hates making 64-bit drivers for their older equipment. After fighting that losing battle for the rest of the day, I called it quits and got ready for my vacation trip.

On my return I waited a couple days to order my high-end gaming NIC from newegg. Before I even received a tracking number, I decided to try out the cheapo Best Buy store brand NIC for curiousity's sake. It installed right away, and still no connection. WTF!?

Trying to rule out a potential virus, I tried swapping HDDs with my HTPC (Win7-64-Home) and couldn't get it to boot up. I am about ready to reformat this thing!!!

But, if I reformat, I want to upgrade to SSD. Financially, I am not ready to make that commitment yet. Credit cards are outside of my comfort zone right now from the trip. Anyone else have any better ideas before I go nuclear?

No wired connection - running out of ideas.

Reply #1 – October 13, 2010, 09:41:03 PM

That's pretty strange. You're posting, so I assume you're on a wireless laptop? Try to plug into the port and see if it works. Maybe the ethernet cable is bad. Try another cable if you haven't already.

And about the HDD swap, each installation is linked to the motherboard it was installed in iirc, so it's not surprising that it didn't work. Worst comes to worst, back-up anything you want to keep and format, reinstall.

No wired connection - running out of ideas.

Reply #2 – October 13, 2010, 09:47:38 PM

I am at work now. Can't work from home until I get this fixed. I tried switching cables. Verifed they work by plugging them in on my old laptop. Wireless works. Cables work. It is definitely within my Win 7 Pro machine. The one I put the most TLC into. Go figure.

No wired connection - running out of ideas.

Reply #3 – October 13, 2010, 11:12:31 PM

Try knoppix or one of the other live linux boot CDs. It will usually autodetect most hardware. It is a live OS on a bootable CD, so you can see if it will get connected without making any changes to your current setup.

http://www.knoppix.net/

No wired connection - running out of ideas.

Reply #4 – October 13, 2010, 11:35:05 PM

I will try that out. Thanks!

No wired connection - running out of ideas.

Reply #5 – October 14, 2010, 12:33:33 AM

I would say just go ahead and wipe it.

No wired connection - running out of ideas.

Reply #6 – October 14, 2010, 01:15:29 AM

Normally I wouldn't give it a second thought. But I have so much corporate software on that thing now, that it is a PITA to get all my programs reinstalled. It's really the tedious little things that I hate about reformatting. Seems like it takes me a week to get back to normal because I forgot all the little tricks needed to get some of this software up and running.

I've always wanted to try Ubuntu. Now I have a good reason to. :D

No wired connection - running out of ideas.

Reply #7 – October 14, 2010, 02:53:37 AM

Internet works with Ubuntu... you Windows!

No wired connection - running out of ideas.

Reply #8 – December 22, 2010, 05:49:34 PM

I stopped using wired internet and got a cheap g plus mimo adapter and made a parabolic dish to capture the free wifi. I say no to cable as a company. Budget fix.