Missing LAN

Eleventh-Sun

I'm working on a friend's computer that randomly stopped getting internet while they were using it...

The day I went in to look at it, I poked around at common things like if its even plugged in, if the modem lights were correct, and if they could see other computers on the network.

It was correctly plugged directly into the modem, with all the lights looking fine. So I powercycled the modem. Still nothing. There were no other hard lined computers, so I just typed in ipconfig /all which returned to me saying everything was fine.

So I decide to restart the computer, as to not be fooled by an idiot mistake, and when I logged back in, it still didn't work, and I tried ipconfig /all again. This time, nothing came back. Not a thing. No network device. I looked in the network connection menu, and the Local Area Connection was now missing. The device manager didn't show it at all, and didn't even detect any hardware of the integrated LAN. Except for the fact that pinging 127.0.0.1 still showed it had a heartbeat.

I installed the device drivers thinking that they somehow got dropped. It finished unsuccessful with an Error Code 10 telling me to reinstall them. What was really odd though, was the fact that it showed up as Local Area Connection #2, as if it still detected the original which had returned on the Ipconfig i asked for an hour before.

I came back the next day and they decided to share the fact that someone in the family had tried switching the default modem with the ISP. They told them to change it back, but it still wasn't working. I thought about the issue with the driver and did a systam restore for them from the week before when it was working fine.

The restore went through, but the LAN is still missing, and still returning from a 127.0.0.1 ping. I have no clue what to do from here, and I'm a day away from just buying them a PCI NIC to replace it.

Yet, I really don't think it's that far gone, and I would love any help before I decide to cough up money for a NIC.

Sorry if I'm too wordy.
Thanks for your time.

Thrax

It really sounds like the LAN has simply gone tits up.

127.0.0.1 will respond regardless of a network card's presence.

Eleventh-Sun

Thanks for your input Thrax. I'm heading over to my local electronic store tomorrow for a PCI NIC if this doesn't work out.

But seriously, until then, I'm still hanging on to the idea that it can be salvaged. So if anyone else has input, shoot it this way please.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm certain that pinging 127.0.0.1 is still a valid and typical network device check. The loopback is one of the first things that can tell you if it either replies and is good, or fails and is bad. Though, if I've been wrong all this time, much thanks for the correction.

Eleventh-Sun

So I bought the network card yesterday. Walked it over there. They had an old computer from the garage hooked up for temp internet. I laugh to myself about how old it is, grab the patient, and head over to the table.

I break out my toolkit, network card, and am feeling pretty cool. Until I realize that the chassis and motherboard are a bit to close together, and the card wouldn't quite fit. So I took out the blank slots, and bent the case where the cards interface from a little. Quite professional, I know :P But it was my friend's idea anyway, so I'm assuming he didn't care.

After a few mins of struggle, It finally fit. I tipped it up, plugged it in, and powered it on.

To much joy, the new Network Card was found!
To much confusion, the old integrated one decided to come back with it!
Both worked!

You know, some people think that just 'cause you have A+ certification, it means you know everything about computers. It's kinda obvious that thats not true. The best guess I can come up with is that during the automatic installation of the new drivers, it corrected a system file that was corrupt and thus hiding the Local Area Connection.

My official diagnosis of the computer is that it, like so many precidents before it, just love to do random stuff so they can laugh at our reactions.

But, I'm still a little confused since I used system restore, tried to reinstall the correct driver, and I must have turned everything else I could do with a ultimate boot CD, windows cd, a modem, and windows itself.

So, now they had two working network connections. Me, being cheap, took back my card, and am now getting ready to head back to the store and beg for a refund.

Thanks for the help.

DJ_Evergreen

Wouldn't be the first time I'd had to fix that. Usually rebooting it enough times works or re seating any cards in it. Only once was the NIC actually dead.

Eleventh-Sun

Well, it was having problems for 4 days. The first day I happened to be there, and I must have restarted a dozen times to save changes, go to safe mode, and just to do it. The second day, I thought I came prepared with their driver, but it still didn't work. Again, dozens of reboots. I also had a boot disk with me, which added to the reboot count. Third day, I was busy. Fourth day, I came with the network card. Checked it out, turned it off, and did what I did. So, restarting probably wasn't the fix.

However, I did take out their modem card when placing the new network card. So you might have something with the re-seating fix. I'll be sure to try it next time something like that happens again. Thanks.