Ethernet suddenly stopped working. Totally stumped.

HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
edited December 2012 in Hardware
Hey guys,


So I was watching some TV online last night and my Ethernet connection decided to stop working. I've restarted the PC, the router, made sure all connections were solid, replaced cables, installed drivers, reinstalled drivers, updated the BIOS, checked settings, everything I can think of. I even tried the Windows troubleshoot option, which throws up something rather curious.
http://clip2net.com/s/2DwEQ
I tried searching the forums, but Microsoft posted their usual "Have you tried ?", to no effect.

I have no idea what's wrong with this thing, or what to do. Any and all help appreciated, though if the answer is just to buy an Ethernet card I'll run out the door this moment, pyjamas or no.


HALP.

Comments

  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    You say the connection just stopped working. So you were watching TV and the stream just ended? You can't access the internet at all from the effected PC? If that is the case, then the NIC just died... I wouldn't think you could resurrect it.
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    My wireless still works, though my wireless is the reason I got power line adapters :p The ethernet port is built onto my motherboard and I'm using a wireless card to find out what's wrong; "Use rock to break glass to get wrench to break glass to get rock" - Clank
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    Any lights on the port while an ethernet cable is plugged in? If not, it may have indeed just died. Confirm that it shows up in Device Manager and is enabled. If you don't get anything out of that, you can get a cheap PCI ethernet card. List your mobo and I can get a link to something on Amazon that will be compatible.
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    Asrock Z68 Extreme4 - the light at the back comes on when the cable is plugged in, and it flashes every now and again, as though it's taunting me >.>
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    Check device manager, as @Tushon posted, does it show there and the driver is installed? Is it "disabled"?
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    Through the magic of the internets, we determined that powerline adapter was the issue, so he is looking at it's settings now
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    :cool:
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    It's FUBAR, picking up a new one tomorrow - thanks guys, I wouldn't have called that
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited December 2012
    Replaced the powerline adapter and the problem is persisting, same error. Ethernet cable directly from the PC to the router doesn't work, but using the power line adapter doesn't work any more. I had made no hardware of software change at the time the error first occurred.
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    Doing a clean install, because sod everything.
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    Details about network adapter diagnosis:

    Network adapter Local Area Connection driver information:

    Description . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet
    Manufacturer . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom
    Provider . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom
    Version . . . . . . . . . . . : 14.6.1.0
    Inf File Name . . . . . . . . . : C:\Windows\INF\oem4.inf
    Inf File Date . . . . . . . . . : 24 December 2012 14:53:30
    Section Name . . . . . . . . . : DEV_KEY8.NTamd64.6.1
    Hardware ID . . . . . . . . . . : pci\ven_14e4&dev_16b1
    Instance Status Flags . . . . . : 0x180200a
    Device Manager Status Code . . : 0
    IfType . . . . . . . . . . . . : 6
    Physical Media Type . . . . . . : 14


    -----------------------------------

    Issues found
    "Local Area Connection" doesn't have a valid IP configuration"Local Area Connection" doesn't have a valid IP configuration Detected
    Reset the "Local Area Connection" adapter Not run
    Investigate router or broadband modem issues Not run

    I don't know if any of this is useful, as you may have guessed the clean install didn't work
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    Fixed it. Sorry for all the spam
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    How'd you fix it?
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    Turns out everybody's reports of working LAN were incorrect, so the assumption that it had to be my adapter that wasn't working was false - turns out it was the one at the router. Disaster averted :p
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    I lied. It broke again. Beginning to think that my router is fu... Ddled
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    On a whim I decided to swap out the new adapter for the old "broken" one, and the network is back up. I don't even.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    If you can now swap them back the other way again and have it work, something in the power conditioning on the power line itself may be bad-- like a surge every now and then, or a router PORT might be going bad and feeding back junk at the line conditioner. Low probability things just got higher probability given what is happening.
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    Yeah, still not sure what it is. Every 3-5 days it seems to cut out, and swapping them over fixes it. If it works, I guess.. :p Always happens at 4-6am, too
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