ethernet connection crashed and is now blinking

[miamia]

While I was online earlier tonight, my internet connection totally crashed all of a sudden. Since then, the notice that says "an ethernet cable is unplugged" is basically blinking on my screen. The icon for my connection in Network Connections blinks between on and off. I've tried several things to figure out the problem, but haven't had much success so far. Any suggestions about things I can look at to figure out what's going on here?

Things I've tried to do to fix/diagnose the problem:

I used the cable in a different computer (originating from the same outlet) and it works fine.
Restarted computer (didn't help).
Searched for similar topics online and found something about changing my NIC settings to half duplex. I don't know what this means exactly, but I tried it and it didn't work.
I went back to a system restore point from yesterday, and that didn't work either.

I'm running windows XP pro...not sure what other information you'd want to know. My ethernet cable runs directly into my computer, so there's no router in the way here. Thanks for your help!

 

[hjo3]

It sounds like your NIC went bad. Try swapping it with one you know works to test it... or just buy a new one; they're very cheap.

 

[daniel3168]

try re-installing your network card drives see if it clears up

 

[Pwnbroker]

Just curious, have you tried to reboot your modem?

 

[miamia]

Sadly, I have to return with the same problem I had two weeks ago. I took the advice of those who posted the first time and reinstalled my network drives, and that cleared things up until yesterday. Then I had the same problem come up, and now I'm totally unable to fix it. I reinstalled the drivers, rebooted the card, and tried 3 separate PCI ethernet cards I bought - none of which ended up working in any of my PCI slots. One of them was recognized by my computer, and I was able to install drivers for it, but after that was done it said the device could not start. I exchanged the card for another one of the same model and got the same message. I've repaired my installation of windows xp and that didn't do anything either. I called my mobo manufacturer (epox), and they told me to try disabling the auto detection of the onboard lan to allow my new cards to be recognized, but that didn't work either.

Basically I don't know what to do at this point. This is a mobo problem, and not a windows problem, correct? Thanks again for your help the first time, and any further advice would be greatly appreciated.

edit: i don't know if this matters or not, but I saw a green light when I installed the new ethernet adapter. I see a yellow light when I plug my cable into the onboard adapter. Neither works, though, so I'm not sure if that's telling or not.

 

[mechBgon]

Try doing a full reset on your modem, because it sounds like it's not renewing the lease on the IP address when the NICs ask for one. And I would strongly recommend using a router. They're not that expensive anymore.

 

[miamia]

Sorry - are you referring to a cable modem (I don't have one - my internet here is T1) or my ethernet card itself? If you mean my ethernet card, how do I do a full reset of that?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: miamia
Sorry - are you referring to a cable modem (I don't have one - my internet here is T1) or my ethernet card itself? If you mean my ethernet card, how do I do a full reset of that?

Your NIC has to get an IP address from something, unless you're manually setting it yourself. Try Start > Run > cmd to get a command prompt, then ipconfig /all and tell me what it says.

And I'd encourage you to get a router to put between your computer and your T1 equipment.

 

[btcomm1]

I don't think it's an IP problem. If it were then he would be getting limited connectivity message, he would not get the message that the cable was unplugged. That is very strange, you said you bought 3 different nics and none would work right? Well, I would say that it is most likely a motherboard problem OR it's a windows problem that cannot be fixed through a repair install, what you can do is install windows in a different directory, like windows2 and then when you boot up your computer will give you the option of booting into one install or the other. After a new install the first one highlighted is the new one. So you can boot into the new install, install the nic drivers and if it works without a problem you know your windows install is hosed.

 

[Tegeril]

Run WinsockFix.

 

[mobobuff]

Have you tried replacing the network cable?