Broadband problem

diamond_dave

Hi All, remember my problem with "Network Cable Unplugged" flashing constantly? Well after trying several suggestions including removing the ethernet adapter on the PC and re inserting it.Today, I changed the value of the link speed and duplex mode to 10M Full Mode - whatever that means! and surprise, surprise the message has disappeared. The only thing is that the port on the router is now yellow instead of green which means that it is now set to 10 mbps. Is this a problem or should I reset things to original settings? More advice please.

espresso

Do you have an Auto-Negotiate option in Connection Type?

johngc

Hi dave.
I've not read your previous post but I wouldn't worry about the new setting. Your network port can only go as fast as the slowest one on the network so if your router is a 10mbit there is no need to have your pc any higher. For nor
al Internet usage 10 is more than ample. If you have a home network and are transferring massive files (eg video) a lot between computers then a faster setting may help speed things up.
All the duplex setting is doing is telling the port it can send and recieve at the same time. You have it set to full auto so should be fine.

diamond_dave

Thanks johngc, the problem started when I replaced the CMOS battery some weeks ago. The Network Cable Unplugged notice kept flasking and the connection was constantly dropping.I tried everything including removing the network card and refitting it but to no avail. My laptop seems to work ok using the same ethernet cable, etc. so I was baffled. I seem to have solved the problem, as I said, by changing the values in the Link speed and Duplex Mode window to "10M Full Mode".I have tried all the other speeds including the "Auto Mode" but this is the only setting that seems to work.As I said the light on the router (Netgear) is now yellow instead of green - which means that it is running at 10mbps I guess. The question is should the router be running at 100mbps as per the laptop and could this indicate another problem -say the network adapter? (Realtek Rtl-8139d PCI) Any suggestions? Thanks to all for all your help.

kwikbreaks

You have set your network card to run at 10Mbps and the light on the router just reflects that that port is running at 10 rather than 100.

It's a bit of a mystery why your card won't run at 100 correctly though - I seriously doubt it is the hardware as Noah probably had his arc networked at 100 so I think it must be a driver problem. Was it running at 100 before?

diamond_dave

Yes, all was fine if a bit slow.I've also tried turning off Zonealarm. Checking the LED's on the card only the Act one now seems to be lit permanantly & info says " flashing when packet transmit/receive through the RJ-45" Any ideas?

kwikbreaks

TBH I tend to ignore lights so I can't give any definitive answer on what they may mean other than I do know that the colours change - I have a separate Gbit router and the port the ADSL router is connected to shows up as a different colour because it is only 100Mbit - and they usually flash when data is passing.

Is it actually working now? If so and you don't do internal file transfers over your network and don't have ADSL2+ internet running over 10Mbit then I think I'd just leave it alone and worry about it if/when you need faster.

espresso

diamond_dave wrote: »

the problem started when I replaced the CMOS battery some weeks ago.

So you have obviously not configured the BIOS settings correctly!

:rolleyes:

diamond_dave

How do I check the BIOS settings and change them if necessary?

kwikbreaks

Just about the only setting applicable to network cards is available or not available for the ones built into the mainboard. Yours is a plugin one.

Getting into the settings varies from manufacturer to manufacturer but it will involve pressing esc del f1 f2 or some other key as the machine starts up. What one to press is usually displayed on the monitor. This is before it gets as far as normal or safe mode for windows.