Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
3 Posts
0
3206
November 30th, 2016 12:00
Ethernet Port not working - new Alienware Alpha
I'm already regretting this foray back into the Windows world.
My Ethernet port is not recognizing that a network cable is plugged in. Cable is good, router is good, etc.... Can unplug cable from Alpha and plug into adjacent device and it works fine. Issue is definitely the Alpha.
Brand new AA R2. 256GB SSD PCI HD. No doubt the answer is going to be to install drivers, and I just want to state that my Macs and Linux machines do not require such ridiculousness to work out of the box.
So, first step at getting my ethernet port operable? I'm past my 30 day return window, having let that thing sit new in box for, wait for it, 31 days. ***.
No Events found!
knyost
3 Posts
0
December 1st, 2016 09:00
Any thoughts? Can this be anything other than a bad port?
Windows is up to date. Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller driver is up to date. Network Adapter is enabled.
All I get is "Network cable is unplugged". No flashing lights indicate that adapter recognizes cable is plugged in when I plug/unplug it. Clicks in snugly. Cable is fine. Switch/Router is fine.
I'm at a loss for what to do about this. Wifi is not a good option in its location. I doubt it's software, but are there other drivers that might work?
Help!
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
•
17.1K Posts
0
December 1st, 2016 17:00
Hesitant to post because I know little about that machine ... But looks like no-one else is. Lets assume it's a standard WinTel machine.
First, I wonder why you don't just call warranty phone support. I'm guessing you have some computer skills since you know enough to use available wired Ethernet instead of WiFi.
Have you tried deleting Ethernet device from DeviceManager, and see what driver Win-10 tosses you on reboot/re-detect?
I would narrow it down to software or hardware. I suggest a clean install of Windows as a test. You could Macrium Reflect Image the system or just swap in a temp spare HDD/SSD.
You could try a bootable Linux distro, but who knows if it has support for the unique machine.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
•
17.1K Posts
0
December 1st, 2016 18:00
Sure sounds like a dead port doesn't it. It's rare, but it does happen.
If soldered into motherboard, that's a board-swap to fix (if you are denied a full-out return). Personally, I would replace the OS as temp test, but that's easy for me.
knyost
3 Posts
0
December 1st, 2016 19:00
Thanks. I bounced around on support for 45 minutes before getting fed up and punting.
I just hate to spend precious time I don't have on figuring this out, but I'll probably next boot to an ubuntu image and see what I get.
I was kind of hoping someone would say "the default realtek drivers ***, download these instead...." and the problem would go away, but that was wishful thinking I guess.