Bought a Vostro 220S about 2 months ago. After about three weeks, while I'm using it, the integrated NIC dies. All of a sudden I get the "Network Cable Disconnected" pop-up. No LEDs lit by the network jack. Contact Dell support who decides it's the motherboard.
They send a tech out to replace it.....problem solved.
Three days later, the exact same failure. Contact support again. This time they want me to re-install Windows (yeah...right). I refused since the motherboard fixed it the first time. They finally agree to replace the motherboard again. Again....problem solved.
Eight days this time........same deal.
Using the same router and cable that worked for years with my old computer. After the first failure, I switched ports on the router. While waiting for the motherboard replacements, I had installed an old PCI NIC I had laying around. Worked fine...still is.
I'm not about to re-install Windows, which is what I know they'll want. I'll stick with the PCI card. Both of the people at Dell support as well as the tech they sent out told me they've not seen this before.
We recently bought 50 of these...the NICs I am having trouble with only fail intermittently. I get the... " All of a sudden I get the "Network Cable Disconnected" pop-up. No LEDs lit by the network jack"...I have disconnected the machine and moved it to my workbench...as soon as I reboot at a new location, the NIC works fine. A quick 'ipconfig /release' and moving the system back to its original location....usually starts it working again. This has happened with different machines on different switches/hubs and the same move has worked. This is a bit of a pain however....
I don't understand how they could not have seen this issue before as there are many many threads in various forums regarding same issue
I, too, have gotten the same "Network Cable Unplugged" message. Called Dell Tech Support, was told to shutdown the PC, then press and hold the power button for 10 seconds to clear out some cache or something, then unplug the AC power cord for five minutes to let any remaining power drain from the PC. I did this and it did correct the problem.
Now I am getting sporadic IRQ conflicts when looking at the Realtek diagnostic utility. When this happens, the network icon in my taskbar shows its connected to the network, but I cannot ping any other nodes on the network. I can ping the PC's NIC. A soft restart usually fixes this issue, but the problem happened again after just a few minutes.
I've read in another thread that there is a BIOS update that has solved the "Cable Unplugged" problem for some, but haven't had time to try it yet.
Thanks to all of you for you answers, but the problem is solved.
The problem was the motherboard. Since the Dell technician has changed the motherboard for the new one (Revision B?), it works very well. If someone else is affected by this problem, just call Dell. The is no other solutions.
(Note to Orange-N-Blue: I updated the BIOS and it does nothing)
UY2009
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Posted April 17th, 2009 16:00
Yup, two machine NIC Card failed within a week, seems to be a defect.