Cannot recognize network card

Question

Tricky problem...   Dell Inspiron 1150 Laptop with Broadcom 440x 10/100 NIC card   Upon boot-up 19 times out of 20 computer does not even know card is there (no entry in device manager etc...), but it does recognize it once in a great while and it works fine, so cannot be fried hardware.   I have installed all recent drivers and updates including BIOS, Chip Set, Device Driver, XP, etc...   I have also burned a CD DOS boot disk to run the asset utility to reset service tag, etc...   Interestingly, after booting from the CD, there is a much greater chance of recognizing the NIC card.   Last symptom... I cannot disable the password utility in BIOS (A07) even by entering <>.   My guess is that XP is somehow overwriting the BIOS NIC enable flag, forcing the system to not recognize the card.  I do not know how to check this hypothesis...   Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

fireberd · Answer

Although this concerns connecting to the network, it sounds more like a specific Inspiron issue.  You may be better off posting in the Inspiron hardware section.

JoiseyBill · Answer

Try re-detecting all in the bios or reflashing it.

If you can't get the password to work, you may have to call Dell support for help, or check your service manual.

Reflashing - just reload the current or latest version of the BIOS.

The re-detection is easier:
get into Setup [F2 on start?]
turn on all 3 lights: scroll lock, shift lock, num lock
then
erase [Ctrl+E]
flash [Ctrl+F]
reboot [Ctrl+B]

the restart will take a longer time - as every piece of hardware gets re-detected.
This could 'fix' it.

If this is an intermittent problem that continues there can be other causes:
- card has come loose. power down, take static precautions & remove then re-seat the card.
.... try again in a different slot if available.

- card has a fault that happens when hot / cold / humid
If Dell Diagnostic CD indicates bad card, replace it.
try using canned air to cool the card in testing
( !!upside-down can may cause frostbite - be careful! keep the can right-side up. )

- power supply can't handle all components on startup.
If you have added video cards, CD/DVD or new hard drives - this adds load to the power supply. Many of these aren't built to stand any extra load - and can get 'weaker' with age. Try unplugging (removing) components you don't need to start up, and see if less power drain helps.
: if this is the case, you need to look for a replacement Power Supply and most places don't sell Dell-compatible.
Check Dell parts, or PC Power & Cooling.

BakerMS · Answer

Thanks for the suggestions...  Here's what happened...   None of the 'lock' lights change in the BIOS   BIOS only recognized CTRL+F and performs a factory reset including the system clock...The Onboard NIC then becomes a boot sequence option (A bit of progress here!), but the system still does not recognize the card during boot up...drat...Upon next boot up, BIOS no longer has the NIC in the boot sequence...   Card is on motherboard, so cannot try another slot...   Dell diagnostic CD does not 'see' the card either...   I unplugged the USBs from the laptop, leaving only the AC power supply and the Ethernet cable...no help   What does 'Loading PBR descriptor 2...done' mean? It flashes on the screen for a micro-second immediately after the BIOS system check.  It says something very similar to this but flashes so quickly I cannot be sure...   Personally, I think giving the operating system the ability to change the BIOS is a big mistake.  The B stands for Basic.  They should have kept it that way...

JoiseyBill · Answer

Well, this doesn't look too good.

>>

BIOS only recognized CTRL+F and performs a factory reset including the system clock...The Onboard NIC then becomes a boot sequence option (A bit of progress here!), but the system still does not recognize the card during boot up...drat...Upon next boot up, BIOS no longer has the NIC in the boot sequence... <<

This could be typical. The network card never gets fully detected, but the original code allows a boot option from the NIC. After the second time, now the system has a record of what boot devices are/not available, so they are eliminated from the list.

Between this and the " Dell diagnostic disk doesn't see nic either" would likely mean you qualify for a warrantee replacement - if you are under warrantee. The Mobo should be replaced, since the nic is integrated. Be sure to preserve your hard drive if you go this route.

If you aren't under warrantee, get a USB-ethernet connector for between $25 - $50.

>>What does "Loading PBR descriptor 2...done" mean? It flashes on the screen for a micro-second immediately after the BIOS system check. It says something very similar to this but flashes so quickly I cannot be sure...<<

Not 100% sure, but I think this is just a status message, loading the primary boot record.

I'm guessing that since these are mass-loaded by Dell, there is probably a group of possible configurations these hard drives could be in. There may be 3 - 5 configurations that this will see, so each possible one gets a "descriptor".

You are just seeing a quick status message - the system code matches descriptor #2, so that the next set of instructions.

At this point, I think you've exhausted the practical possibilities for fixing this.

Since a new NIC card - even a name brand one is relatively cheap, you probably don't want to spend too much more time on this.

Good luck.

BakerMS wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions... Here's what happened...

None of the "lock" lights change in the BIOS

BIOS only recognized CTRL+F and performs a factory reset including the system clock...The Onboard NIC then becomes a boot sequence option (A bit of progress here!), but the system still does not recognize the card during boot up...drat...Upon next boot up, BIOS no longer has the NIC in the boot sequence...

Card is on motherboard, so cannot try another slot...

Dell diagnostic CD does not "see" the card either...

I unplugged the USBs from the laptop, leaving only the AC power supply and the Ethernet cable...no help

What does "Loading PBR descriptor 2...done" mean? It flashes on the screen for a micro-second immediately after the BIOS system check. It says something very similar to this but flashes so quickly I cannot be sure...

Personally, I think giving the operating system the ability to change the BIOS is a big mistake. The B stands for Basic. They should have kept it that way...

Message Edited by JoiseyBill on 11-19-200601:57 PM

BakerMS · Answer

Thanks for all the help.  I am pretty much ready to throw in the towel which is disappointing.   You are correct that the PBR is a Partion Boot Record that the system gets from the Master Boot Record.  Since Dell, in its infinite wisdom, loads a TON of extra stuff on the hard drive for emergency repair/diagnostics it seems that XP boots from partition 2.  I checked and rechecked the hard drive with all the system utilities etc...  Nothing wrong.  It is simply an info message from Service Pack 2.   I have not built a computer from scratch in more than 20 years, and cannot believe how badly these systems are designed.  They are over-engineered.  Oh well.   My ultimate guess is that after all the design, the BIOS could not recognize the NIC card on the prototype, and Dell had to burn the password! EPROM at the factory to tell the BIOS explicitly that an NIC card was indeed on the motherboard - so much for auto-detect.  Once my EPROM got improperly flashed, the BIOS keeps getting told that there is no NIC card..   Sounds like my only solution is to pull the EPROM and re-burn with the proper settings, or find a utility like nicset.exe that will do it for me.  Of course, Dell does not hand out these things like candy.   Gone are the days when Michael Dell used to do all this stuff himself!  That is when the product rocked.

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Cannot recognize network card

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