Cannot connect with ethernet cable, only wireless?

Question

I have a Dell Latitude D630 that will not connect to the internet through a cable.  It connects fine using a wireless connection.  I tested the cable system on another laptop which was able to connect just fine so this is definetly a problem with my laptop not the cable system.  When I plug the cable into my laptop, a small red light and small flashing yellow light turn on just next to the cable plug in spot (when I plug the same cable into another computer that is able to connect, I see a green light and yellow flashing light).  I disabled my wireless network connection (under Control Panel, Network Connections) and also ran the 'repair' function on my local area connection.  When I ran the repair function, a message popped up that said it could not repair the connection because it could not renew the IP address.  I have 'Obtain an IP address automatically' selected under Internet Protocols (which worked fine on the other computer). I then tried to manually enter the IP address using the information from the working computer.  No luck.  I have had this problem before with this computer and someone solved it and I was able to connect using a cable for several weeks.  But since then I wiped the  laptop and I can't figure out how to do it again.  Thanks for any suggestions you may have.

Davet50 · Answer

Open Device manager and make sure that the adapter is listed under network adapters with no (!) or (X) next to it. You might need to just reinstall the driver.

Also boot into the bios and make sure that the internal NIC is set to on.

gregerson13 · Answer

Thank you Dave.  That bios suggestion seems right.  I remember now that the person that fixed it before was on that funky kind of screen and he said that normally that thing is automatically set to on but for some reason on this computer it is not.  i figured out how to boot into bios (press F12 during start up).  Then I had a list of 4 things to choose from  including 'onboard NIC' which I assume is the thing youare talking about.  But once I highlight 'onboard NIC' I don't have any options (like to see if it is on or off) except to boot up from the onboard NIC.

Larry R · Answer

F12 is the boot device menu. You want to press F2 instead to enter the BIOS (aka System Setup) to make sure the NIC is enabled.

Also, make sure the NIC isn't being walled off by a firewall. This exact problem happened to me just a weeks ago on a system where I uninstalled the trial version of McAfee using Add & Remove programs, and it left behind the firewall settings. Until I used McAfees uninstall utility I could only connect wirelessly.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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