Can't connect to internet at office

[bruceb]

Toshiba Satellite 1415-S105 ... XP Home Edition with SP1 and most
other windows updates ... internal NIC Card

At home, all works fine .. can connect to my router and internet ok

At work, I plug into a Known Working Internet Cable .. my NIC is
disabled at that point after bringing computer to job. Click on Enable
NIC and it says "unable to connect .. network cable unplugged"

I have checked all options and settings on the NIC with another laptop
that Will Work OK ... even trying those settings do not help.

XP Home will not allow user to add a second NIC Connection of the
same type (such as 2 Broadband LAN) ... Any way around that ? ?
Perhaps it will work if I can make a totally seperate connection.

Thanks

 

[ktwebb]

Have your tech look at it. Could be duplexing or a speed mismatch. Could be a hardware issue. Could be cable or a port. Could be alot of things. That's what techs' get paid for though so I'd recommend having yours give it the once over.

 

[bruceb]

Have tried multiple cable connections .. same result on all
As to it being a port problem, then why would my RJ45
NIC Card work fine at home ? ?

 

[ch33zw1z]

do you login to domain at work? XP home doesn't have these functions. If that's not the case, do what bruceb said and ask your techie...chances are they'll be able to fix it.

 

[ch33zw1z]

wtf double post.

 

[bruceb]

It is my personal laptop so I am reluctant to let a company IT tech mess with it.
As to the domain .. no we do not use them ... but our company does use a
Proxy Server, which I had populated all the boxes as compared to another
non company laptop, which Does Work Fine

The worst that would have happened if I had one or two settings wrong,
would have been access to Corporate (Intranet sites) only & not the outside
www (Internet sites) ... but my laptop wasn't even getting that far at work.
It would not recognize that an internet connection is present .. I have checked
a few other items last night & wil try it again when I return to site on Monday

 

[ch33zw1z]

Well, if you're not using an authorized system on your network at work...then i don't know why i'm trying to help you. It's your type that causes much headache for network admins. good luck.

 

[bruceb]

The system is allowed ... it is just not a company provided laptop
They have no issues with the instructors bringing their own pcs
Sometimes, it is easier that way .. if they did not want to allow us,
then even if you did connect, you would be limited to internal web sites.

 

[InlineFive]

Sounds like they are using managed switches with some sort of authentication. Which would explain why you can't connect.

You have no other choice but to ask your IT department. And they will undoubtly "mess" with your laptop if it is going to be allowed access to their network.

 

[RebateMonger]

If there's no physical link and the NIC is known-good, then the problem is either with cabling, connectors, or, as InlineFive mentioned, a managed switch system that's refusing to talk to your NIC.

 

[bruceb]

So what do they have to do to allow my NIC onto their "managed switch" ? ?
As far as I know another person (same as me, instructor / contractor) can
connect just fine & he did not mention any need to have anything special
installed on his laptop ... other than the fact that he someitmes will connect
from home thru a VPN link

 

[thirdlegstump]

Plug in AC as many laptops disable built in NICs on battery power.

 

[bruceb]

deathkoba ... that is a very good suggestion .. . and I must admit one I did not think of
Now that you mention it, I was trying to connect while it was on Battery Use
You would think that it would work as a laptop is designed to be Portable

 

[Tsaico]

Originally posted by: bruceb
So what do they have to do to allow my NIC onto their "managed switch" ? ?
As far as I know another person (same as me, instructor / contractor) can
connect just fine & he did not mention any need to have anything special
installed on his laptop ... other than the fact that he someitmes will connect
from home thru a VPN link

If this is the case, they would need your MAC address to the tables. If this is the case, you should get a link light but the NIC will report no connection. You will need the IT to do this modification. It takes about five second to add it to the config text file for the switch.

 

[bruceb]

I will find out when I return to the site again next week.
If that is what it needs, then I am sure IT will comply
will little or no prodding. Meantime I will go thru the
Toshiba options (power saver) very carefully to see
if anything there is turning the NIC off when the laptop
is on the batteries.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
Plug in AC as many laptops disable built in NICs on battery power.

I've seen it where a client couldn't get onto their internal WiFi network with their laptop. It was because the battery was low on the laptop and it automatically turned off the wireless to save power.

If it's a Sony Lithium battery, you can tell the laptop is on battery by the glow of the flames.

 

[skyking]

My new dell had the "disable network adapter when not on AC" ticked by default, and I uncheck that as soon as I found it. I was trying to troubleshoot and do some network configuration, and it was driving me nutz!

 

[bruceb]

Where would I find an option to disable the NIC when on Battery ? ?
I looked thru the Toshiba Power Settings and couldn't see anything
in there that would do it.

 

[skyking]

It was under 'internal NIC configuration' in the control panel on my dell.