ethernet card problem

digiman

I have a problem with my ethernet card. Its built into my inspiron 8600 laptop. It won't retrieve an IP address for me and therefore I cant get onto the college network. I also have a wirless card and it has no problem going on the internet through the college wireless network. The ethernet did work last year on the network. I have rang dell and as usual I was put through to someone in India. He wan't me to reinstall windows which I certaintly dont want to do. I have already went to Computer Services in the college and they spent around an hour trying to fix it but couldn't come up with a solution. They tried manually giving me an IP address, switching off the bluetooth and wirless card but no difference. They said it had to be the card itself that is the problem but dell say it is a software issue with the TCP/IP and the fact that there is lights on the back of it they say it cant be the card that is faulty. I think myself that the card is the problem. I have a next buisness day guarantee but they wouldn't send someone out because I would't reinstall windows and check to see if that is the problem.

Optikus

Why not borrow an ethernet card off someone to check if it is a faulty onboard card.

digiman

how would i then connect it to my laptop? Do you get external ethernet cards? I dont know anyone who has one

leeroybrown

So basically it won't DHCP onto the network.

Firstly, when you're debugging networking problems in windows the best way to look at your settings is by opening a command prompt and running ipconfig /all.

Next. Unplug the network cable, disable DHCP and manually assign an IP address. Check that the IP address is properly set as shown above then if it is from the command prompt type ping x.x.x.x (where x.x.x.x is the IP address you set). If you get a response then your network card is probably working fine.

If you get a 'link light' when plugged into the network then your card is probably working.

If these don't work try to reinstall the driver and unfortunately if it still doesn't work you'll probably need to reinstall windows as it has a habit of messing up network card drivers (though normally they won't work then stop working).

Also, make sure that you've got the connection properties (link speed and link duplex) of your card set to Autodetect. If these are hard set (to 100Mbit full duplex for example) and you connect to a network that doesn't support this then it just won't work.

Optikus

digiman wrote:

how would i then connect it to my laptop? Do you get external ethernet cards? I dont know anyone who has one

You jus get a PCMCIA ethernet card it should jus slip into a port on ur Laptop, maybe the same one you use for the wirless card, unless its an internal.

digiman

i will ask about getting a pcmcia. If you bought one in peats or maplins would they take it back? I already manually assigned an IP address and then pinged it and did get a response. The lights are on at the back. Do you really think it could be a windows fault. The last thing I want to do is reinstall windows. If it is windows fault what could have made it happen?

Optikus

digiman wrote:

i will ask about getting a pcmcia. If you bought one in peats or maplins would they take it back? I already manually assigned an IP address and then pinged it and did get a response. The lights are on at the back. Do you really think it could be a windows fault. The last thing I want to do is reinstall windows. If it is windows fault what could have made it happen?

They are obliged to as long as its not to long, just ask in the store, but dont tell them your just buying it to test, say something like your not sure if its compatable with your system and if its not could you bring it back for a refund.

digiman

Optikus wrote:

They are obliged to as long as its not to long, just ask in the store, but dont tell them your just buying it to test, say something like your not sure if its compatable with your system and if its not could you bring it back for a refund.

Will try that. The thing about the problem is,if it was a software problem with the TCP/IP how would I be able to connect to the wireless network?

Optikus

digiman wrote:

Will try that. The thing about the problem is,if it was a software problem with the TCP/IP how would I be able to connect to the wireless network?

Probably is a hardware issue, try the differnt ethernet card jus to be sure

digiman

Will try going to peats tomorrow. Dell just dont want to send someone out until everything is covered. I told them that CSD at college tried everything but they just dont want to listen. I was on the phone for 45 mins. I hope it was a locall number or my mobile bill will be massive. Someone from ireland is supposed to ring me back. The thing is I cant connect to da LAN now because the lab is closed and the library fines you if you use mobile phones.

Optikus

PC World at liffey valley and blanchardstown is open till 8 i think, if not theres not much ya can do till tommorow.

digiman

Dell probably will not ring me back. Its not a major problem the fact that the wireless works but when you are downloading files the most you usually get is 500kB/s where as you get round 5mB/s an the LAN. You really notice it when downloading really big files

Optikus

Yeah its really annoying when you pay for something and are promised excellant tech support, which dosent live up to your basic expectations.

digiman

My hard drive failed before and I have to say it was excellent then. I rang and was chatting to a really nice girl from derry. It was after 5 so she wasn't able to get an engineer out the next day so it was the day after. He came and replaced the hard drive and no problems with it since. But this time it has been appallling. Was really pissed off on the phone. As im nearly sure it is a hardware problem it even worse. They mention reinstalling windows as like it was inserting a cdrom. And the likely hood is that probably wont even fix the problem. The biggest joke with them is that you have to pay something like 20 or 30 euro to speek to their software support. That is something I will never do.

Optikus

Did ya get the name of the nice girl from derry, you could of asked to speak to her again. Seriously though they just hire anyone who is good on the phone even if they dont know the first thing about computers, then the tech support people just ask the real technicians for advice, its the same at Alienware in athlone, and the majority of the tech support are ignorant c**ts. Thats why i build my own systems, then i have only myself to blame when something gos wrong, which rarely happens and if it dose you can enough advice on Boards, probably alot more then any smooth talking tech support wanker.

Mutant_Fruit

Can i point out that if you manually set an IP and got a successful PING response, your card is not broken. The simple fact that the card is transmitting and recieving data should really be a dead give away that its working...

I think your problem is with the network setup. For some reason your computer isn't automagically picking up the IP. My advice is to try a reinstall of the network card drivers. Remove everything to do with the card, get the newest drivers, and then reinstall the card.

If that doesn't work, something must be borked in windows and if you can't fix it any other way, then a reinstall of windows is the only option. But thats a last resort.

Optikus

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

Can i point out that if you manually set an IP and got a successful PING response, your card is not broken. The simple fact that the card is transmitting and recieving data should really be a dead give away that its working...

I think your problem is with the network setup. For some reason your computer isn't automagically picking up the IP. My advice is to try a reinstall of the network card drivers. Remove everything to do with the card, get the newest drivers, and then reinstall the card.

If that doesn't work, something must be borked in windows and if you can't fix it any other way, then a reinstall of windows is the only option. But thats a last resort.

Well recently had an old network card which had lights working on the back it was sending but not recieving,i couldn't ping myself or any one else on the network and no one could ping me, i went out and got a new card and it worked fine.

Mutant_Fruit

Optikus wrote:

i couldn't ping myself or any one else on the network and no one could ping me,

He said earlier he got a successful ping reply...

I already manually assigned an IP address and then pinged it and did get a response

Optikus

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

He said earlier he got a successful ping reply...

Ok didn't see that.. so that would indicate the card is both sending and recieving, so the next logical step would be to uninstall the cards drivers and then reinstall them.

digiman

Lads I already have reinstalled the drivers. Dell still havn't rang me back. I will probably go to peats or maplins tomorrow and buy a PCMCIA ethernet card and see if that will work. I will try some of the technicans in the college. You never know someone might have one that I can borrow.

leeroybrown

Even if you buy a PCMCIA NIC and it works all you are proving is that there is an undisclosed problem with your other network card.

Have you tried to test the card with just a crossover cable between it and another PC?

digiman

leeroybrown wrote:

Have you tried to test the card with just a crossover cable between it and another PC?

I might try that. If it worked what would that indicate leeroybrown? Obviously that the network card works, but what else?

leeroybrown

If the card works over a crossover then it proves it's working. It takes exactly the same level of functionality to communicate with a PC over a crossover as it does to do so with a LAN. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some kind of messed up setting somewhere in windows causing the problem.

Also, is there any chance your network card could have been MAC-locked off the network by plugging it into a restricted/locked port at some stage? Some colleges operate schemes where you're automatically banned for plugging into a restricted port.

digiman

leeroybrown wrote:

Some colleges operate schemes where you're automatically banned for plugging into a restricted port.

Don't think that could have happened. When I was at CSD I presume they would have told me that.

digiman

Tried the crossover cable. No luck with that either. So I rang Dell back again. Got through to India again. Went through the same stuff as yesterday. Eventually after several times of asking she agreed to send out an engineer. He will be out tomorrow, he will have to replace the whole motherboard. Would I need to do anything with my laptop before he does this. I presume I will still have the same harddrive as before, so I will not need to reinstall windows and I will still have all my files. Is this correct or will I need to start backing stuff up?

leeroybrown

It'll be the same Hard Drive. If theres anything vitail you have there it's probably best to back it up but the motherboard swap is extremely unlikely to damage you files.

Windows on the other hand may be a different situation. I'm not sure if you mentioned your Windows version previously in the thread but I presume it's XP home. I'm not sure how well it will react to being moved to what will basically be a new laptop. Since Win2kpro windows has been more closely coupled to the system it was installed on. You should be able to fix anything that goes wrong from the recovery console though.

digiman

leeroybrown wrote:

You should be able to fix anything that goes wrong from the recovery console though.

What do you mean by this? Its XP Home SP2 that I am using

Optikus

If he changes the motherboard the hardrive should work as long its the same make and model board, which i presume it will be, if not you might have to back everything up as a fresh install will be needed, so it better to be safe than sorry and back up your data.