I had the same or a similar warning on my Inspiron 5160 laptop. I was getting intermittent LAN connections. I'm on cable using an ethernet connection and when I pressed on the connector on the back of the computer it would help it to connect. Of course this said to me that there was a hardware problem although tech support had me run through some checks of software first which came out negative. And it was also suggested that I get a new ethernet cable which I did. I guess this cable is better but it didn't fix it.
Since its still under warranty they decided that I needed a new motherboard since the connector is apparently soldered to the motherboard. So the contract tech came out with the motherboard and installed it as well as the CD/DVD drive that I had previously received to replace one that wasn't working all the time.
Only thing is that the tech was just a hardware guy, although he did put in a CD and update the BIOS. But he didn't know to go in and make sure that the proper drives were selected as boot drives. He was having some trouble but got around it.
But even worse, he didn't know to reset the modem and all and didn't check to make sure that it was working and that I could connect to the internet. Couldn't. Called his co, but they said he was just hardware.
Had to call Dell twice because of 2 separate problems. 1st, right after he left--he should have done this before he left or I should have. he turned an intermitten problem into a total inability to connect.
1st call to Dell in the afternoon I got great help and they told me to disconnect the modem and turn it off and let it set for a couple of minutes. Then re-connect and turn it back on. It just needed to be re-set, but it was kind of lame that he didn't know that. That time it booted just fine.
Next day when I tried to boot it wouldn't as I recall. Had to call Dell again and again I did get good assistance. He directed me, with my help since its hard doing it without the screen in front of you so I had to tell him some of what was on mine. I think we were in F2 or one of those F key places. He had me check to see that the CD and the C drive were boot drives. They were not checked which I guess defaulted to something else when the BIOS was updated.
Probably more than you wanted to know right now, but if a wired connection, check that and see if jiggling it makes a difference. If it does, its likely a loose connector. I don't know if all of them are soldered to the motherboard but tech support could tell you.
Otiss
528 Posts
0
April 13th, 2008 17:00
check your router/modem, if you lose connection for any reason you will get that message.
are you wireless?
KathiMR
282 Posts
0
April 14th, 2008 08:00
I had the same or a similar warning on my Inspiron 5160 laptop. I was getting intermittent LAN connections. I'm on cable using an ethernet connection and when I pressed on the connector on the back of the computer it would help it to connect. Of course this said to me that there was a hardware problem although tech support had me run through some checks of software first which came out negative. And it was also suggested that I get a new ethernet cable which I did. I guess this cable is better but it didn't fix it.
Since its still under warranty they decided that I needed a new motherboard since the connector is apparently soldered to the motherboard. So the contract tech came out with the motherboard and installed it as well as the CD/DVD drive that I had previously received to replace one that wasn't working all the time.
Only thing is that the tech was just a hardware guy, although he did put in a CD and update the BIOS. But he didn't know to go in and make sure that the proper drives were selected as boot drives. He was having some trouble but got around it.
But even worse, he didn't know to reset the modem and all and didn't check to make sure that it was working and that I could connect to the internet. Couldn't. Called his co, but they said he was just hardware.
Had to call Dell twice because of 2 separate problems. 1st, right after he left--he should have done this before he left or I should have. he turned an intermitten problem into a total inability to connect.
1st call to Dell in the afternoon I got great help and they told me to disconnect the modem and turn it off and let it set for a couple of minutes. Then re-connect and turn it back on. It just needed to be re-set, but it was kind of lame that he didn't know that. That time it booted just fine.
Next day when I tried to boot it wouldn't as I recall. Had to call Dell again and again I did get good assistance. He directed me, with my help since its hard doing it without the screen in front of you so I had to tell him some of what was on mine. I think we were in F2 or one of those F key places. He had me check to see that the CD and the C drive were boot drives. They were not checked which I guess defaulted to something else when the BIOS was updated.
Probably more than you wanted to know right now, but if a wired connection, check that and see if jiggling it makes a difference. If it does, its likely a loose connector. I don't know if all of them are soldered to the motherboard but tech support could tell you.