Frustrating networking problem...

[JulesMaximus]

I have a Windows 7 machine I built a couple years ago. It is an i7 Quad Core system with 8GB RAM and an MSI P55-GD55 motherboard with onboard LAN. I've been using this computer for years now with no trouble but last week it stopped connecting to my network. The connection monitor shows a red X and it says either no network detected or if I open network manager it says there is no networking device installed.

At first I thought I might have a virus because I've made no changes to this system recently but that was not the case. I've tried swapping out the network cable, plugging it in to different ports on the router, I've reset the router and cable modem, I've tried reinstalling windows, I went out and purchased a new NIC and installed it along with the drivers (yes, I did disable the onboard LAN in the bios before I did this) but same results. Every other computer in the house connects fine except this one.

Odd thing is that if I open device manager there is no network device listed but if I click view and click show hidden devices it appears and it appears to be working, even though it doesn't. There are no hardware conflicts or devices that aren't installed correctly that I can see.

I'm not sure what more I can do at this point...

Any suggestions?

Update: Changing to a different PCI slot worked. Not sure why but I'm back up and running.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[JackMDS]

The Hidden devices belong to the system, if their is No regular LAN entry in regular Device Manger presentation it means that your Network card is either Off (in the BIOS) or busted.

Example,

In general Onboard LAN cards are Not very durable, the best solution mighi be switching off (in the BIOS)and buying an Humble PCI or PCix Network card.

 

[JulesMaximus]

The Hidden devices belong to the system, if their is No regular LAN entry in regular Device Manger presentation it means that your Network card is either Off (in the BIOS) or busted.

Example,

In general Onboard LAN cards are Not very durable, the best solution mighi be switching off (in the BIOS)and buying an Humble PCI or PCix Network card.

I tried that but it's not working either. I bought a Netgear PCI card from Frys for $20 yesterday. Installed it, booted to windows, installed the drivers but it still says no network device detected. The card has 4 lights on it and they light up when I plug in the network cable but I still can't connect. I even tried re-installing Windows again after installing the card but it still doesn't work. I disabled onboard LAN in the bios (maybe that's the one that is hidden in device manager).

I am running Windows on a solid state drive (about 1 year old) but I haven't had any issues with that before.

Maybe I'll try switching the PCI NIC to the other PCI slot and see if that works.

 

[mammador]

Is your motherboard working in general?

Are there issues with the PCI slots?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Is your motherboard working in general?

Are there issues with the PCI slots?

Not that I'm aware of. No hardware conflicts show up in device manager.

 

[piasabird]

Might try reinstalling the chipset drivers. Sometimes Microsoft sneaks in a driver on an update.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Do you have McAfee or Verizon security suites installed? Try uninstalling them.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Do you have McAfee or Verizon security suites installed? Try uninstalling them.

No, this is a fresh install of an OEM copy of Windows. Nothing else is installed yet.

Might try reinstalling the chipset drivers.

I've tried that too. For some reason Windows isn't recognizing the PCI card but it does see the onboard LAN, although, it is hidden despite it being disabled in the bios.

I think I'm going to have to go through MSI with this problem. I'll try calling them tonight I guess.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Booting from a Linux Live CD will tell you if it's hardware related (still doesn't work) or a Windows/software issue (works fine in Linux).

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Also, are you using DHCP or static IP? If DHCP, it's possible you've run out of addresses due to addition of new networked devices. I recently had a minor issue due to this because I had limited my router to a maximum of 7 DHCP addresses. I've since increased the limit.

 

[RobDoc]

I had exactly the same problem that nothing would solve and was about to buy a PCI Ethernet card, when I read a post by Anonymous on Tom's Hardware Shack that solved it for me and lots of others.

If the motherboard has the feature 'Wake on LAN' then the ethernet interface is still powered when the motherboard is off. Simply powering down the system will not reset the chips, which can be in a mode from which driver software cannot recover.

Unplug the machine, press the start button to drain any capacitors, and leave it for 10 - 15 minutes before powering on.

I was amazed that such a simple procedure could solve a problem that had me baffled for days.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I had exactly the same problem that nothing would solve and was about to buy a PCI Ethernet card, when I read a post by Anonymous on Tom's Hardware Shack that solved it for me and lots of others.

If the motherboard has the feature 'Wake on LAN' then the ethernet interface is still powered when the motherboard is off. Simply powering down the system will not reset the chips, which can be in a mode from which driver software cannot recover.

Unplug the machine, press the start button to drain any capacitors, and leave it for 10 - 15 minutes before powering on.

I was amazed that such a simple procedure could solve a problem that had me baffled for days.

I have that disabled in the bios, besides, I had the computer unplugged when I installed the PCI NIC I bought and it still didn't work.

I changed the network card I bought to a different PCI slot and it works now.