Network cable unplugged (Really not!) Error Message

Question

Hi everyone, I need a hand here.   Got a Dimension 4700 Running XP SP2, came with the Intel 10/100 VE Onboard. Everything peachy since January. Today I tried to install my trusty old AHA-2940 Adaptec SCSI Adapter. Since that initial install, I have a message appearing in my taskbar that Network Cable is Unplugged.   Drat! Stop system, remove SCSI Card, Restart...   No luck. Checks with another cable, no luck, tried the old cable with another computer, works fine, so cable issue is ruled out. I figured maybe my drivers are messed, good I have a restore point from 2 days ago... Restore, system restarts... Network Cable Unplugged... *grr*   Got the Latest Drivers from Dell's site, put on USB Drive, moved over, updating them on the Dell 4700... restarts, nada. Rollback, restart, Nada.   Uninstall device... Scan for changes, it reinstalls... still Network Cable Unplugged...   Tried a few things I saw on this board: 1. The network cable really is unplugged. Nope, it's REALLY plugged 2. The network cable is defective. Nope it works fine on other machines, and other cables that are fine will not work on this Dell 4700... 3. It's plugged in, but there's nothing connected to the other end. Nope, DLINK DI-604 works fine for all other 3 machines, tried switching ports etc. nada. 4. It's plugged in and connected on both ends, but the device on the other end isn't turned on. It is 5. The cable is the wrong type. Connecting two computers directly, without a hub, switch, or router, requires a crossover cable. A regular, straight-through cable won't work. N/a 6. The cable is connected to the uplink port on a hub, switch, or router, instead of a regular port. Not the case. 7. Some hubs, switches, and routers disable the port next to the uplink port when the uplink port is in use. This has not changed, but I tried other ports to no avail. 8. The network card driver program isn't working right. Download and install the latest XP-compatible driver from the manufacturer's web site. Tried that, no luck 9. The network card is configured to automatically sense speed and duplex settings but isn't doing it correctly. Set those options manually, as shown here: http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/troubleshoot/networkcard.htm Tried that, amongst other things trying to set the speed and duplexing manually...no luck.   I can however ping 127.0.0.1, localhost or the machine name and it comes back, so loopback works fine... However pinging 192.168.0.1 (my Router) fails...   Just for the record the Network link is lighted up when the cable is inserted, and the Data link is sporadically blinking leading me to think that something is trying to reach out somewhere... Yes the NIC is enabled, I did not leave it disabled by mistake. What am I missing here?   Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm going crazy... Thanks!

Mantiss · Answer

One additional piece of info. In the System Event Viewer it shows the following:

Warning

Source E100B

Event ID 8

Description: Adapter Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection: Did not receive auto-negotiation advertisement from link partner. A full duplex connection may be available.

Not much but I hope if gives you all some ideas. It is the only warning or item standing out from the event log.

Thanks!

volcano11 · Answer

Since the problem started when you tried to install the SSCI adapter, I would suspect that something got messed up in the BIOS, you disturbed something on the motherboard which broke the network adapter. First, if the BIOS is confused, try clearing NVRAM using the procedure described in the following document:

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

Most network adapters come with diagnostic software. Check you Start > All Programs menu to see if their is a diagnostic utility. If not, you can download the utility from:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/type.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&SystemID=DIM_P4_4700&category=5&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=4030&devlib=5

Steve

Mantiss · Answer

Thanks Volcano, tried a few things, here is the outcome

Did the Bios reset, checked in the bios logs to see that it was properly done, and it was. System restart, unfortunately still the same issue with the NIC.

Got really tired and went to the Intel website where I got the latest drivers and diagnostic tools. Updated the drivers, ran the diagnostics:

EPROM Test : Passed

Register Test : Passed

Interrupt Test : Passed

PHY Loopback Test : Failed

MAC Loopback Test : Passed

So only the PHY Loopback test failed. however I also tried that on my Laptop which has a similar NIC (Pro/100 ME) and it came back with the same error, even if it is working fine so I am not sure what the PHY Loopback failure means.

Also I noticed that the NIC defaults to 10/half when I look at it in the diagnostics and that attempts to put it to 100/Full are not succesfull, not sure if that tells you anything.

In the meantime I got so fed up I dug out an old Realtek NIC and popped it in but that is hardly a solution, as I would really like to know what is going on with the onboard one...

Anyone with other ideas?

Thanks

volcano11 · Answer

My opinion, based on what you have said, is that the integrated network adapter has gone bad or the connector where the cable plugs in has gone bad. Steve

audiopho · Answer

I have the same exact problem happening to my 4700 right now that is driving me crazy which is "Network cable unplugged", it's really not. Although I have not tried as many methods as Mantiss has but I'm going to try a few more things before calling Dell Support. The 4700 & cable, netwotk were working fine until I installed the ATI TV Wonder (pci) card and I was doing some video capturing work from my camcorder to the ATI TVW. I believe the problem started to surface right after the video capture. I now have the ATI TVW card out of the system as well as its drivers, I then 'd rebooted to no prevail.

Any addtional help/advise wil be appreciated.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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