'lost' wired/ethernet connection, but wireless is working ok

AbbieCadabra

i've been trying to sort this out for the past 4 hours with no success so i'm really hoping someone can point me in the right direction!

we have an old pc that i do all our business accounts on, turned it on today & the wired connection for broadband has disappeared. i have a suspicion that a recent XP update is the cause of this (i try to have auto updates turned off as they seem to cause more problems, but they seem to turn themselves back on somehow) , but i could be clutching at straws. nothing has changed since the pc was last used & the wi-fi broadband on the laptop is working fine.

in networks, the ethernet connection symbol that previously appeared under LAN, just isn't there. the wireless symbol is there & shows connected (for some reason, this old pc hates the wi-fi connection & can only manage around 54mbps (?) speed so is pretty un-useable without the ethernet connection).

a quick search lead me to try the following to resolve, all have failed -
i've tried various system restore points & re-boots that have made no difference,
i can't un-install service pack 3 (?) that's showing under add/remove programmes as it doesn't have a 'remove' option (probably wisely as i don't really know what i'm doing! )),
i have tried to find the option to change 'internet adapters' but have failed to find anything that looks like this & nothing is 'greyed out' for me to right click & repair.
in system, devices, hardware - the network adapter shows the correct router & appears to be working ok, no red cross or anything showing.
i've tried adding a new network connection as per the microsoft help pages, it hasn't worked & the new connection icon appears under broadband instead of LAN so i have a feeling this is wrong anyway.

i am pretty much novice level where this stuff is concerned but can usually find an answer on the net & fluff my way into correcting whatever has gone wrong, but this one has me completely stumped & pulling my hair out...

any help gratefully received

Figment

The ethernet port on the back of PC should have an LED. Is this on, flickering or off?

Is the ethernet adapter listed under network adapters in Device Manager?

54mbps is the maximum speed of some older wifi adapters, and should be sufficient for most 'normal' use.

in system, devices, hardware - the network adapter shows the correct router & appears to be working ok, no red cross or anything showing.

Which network adapter are you referring to?

closed

54 mbps is faster than your internet connection.

check device manager and cabling

start, run

cmd

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig

Figment

Also check the LEDs on the front of the router. Find which port the PC's ethernet cable goes into. With the PC running is the corresponding LED alight ?

AbbieCadabra

Figment wrote: »

The ethernet port on the back of PC should have an LED. Is this on, flickering or off?

Is the ethernet adapter listed under network adapters in Device Manager?

54mbps is the maximum speed of some older wifi adapters, and should be sufficient for most 'normal' use.

Which network adapter are you referring to?

port at the back of the pc - i won't have time to have a look at this again now until tomorrow, so will report back when i've fired up the PC again.
the network adapter is in device manager, i click the + next to it & the router info then appears (it's an old sky netgear one, ASUS 802. ?? but don't quote me, i'll check tomorrow).
i must have 54mbps wrong as our max line speed is only 1mb & on the wi-fi connection on the pc i've given up trying to load a page after i've waited for 10 mins & the green progress bar at the bottom only shows 2-3 bars.

closed wrote: »

54 mbps is faster than your internet connection.

check device manager and cabling

start, run

cmd

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig

what am i checking on device manager? sorry to have to ask but my knowledge is very limited. the cable should be ok, nothing has been moved since the pc was last used, i did check the connection into the tower & the router were ok (also re-booted the router after i'd dis-connected & reconnected the cables). i'll try the ipconfig when i have the pc on again tomorrow, will that actually do something or is it to just give me the current info?

Figment wrote: »

Also check the LEDs on the front of the router. Find which port the PC's ethernet cable goes into. With the PC running is the corresponding LED alight ?

will do, i do know that the no.1 light that is usually showing green on the router isn't showing at the moment (perhaps a vital bit of info i missed out earlier?!).

thanks for the replies & apologies for my ignorance & lack of terminology, feel like i'm trying to fly the space shuttle without a manual here!

Figment

AbbieCadabra wrote: »

port at the back of the pc - i won't have time to have a look at this again now until tomorrow, so will report back when i've fired up the PC again.
the network adapter is in device manager, i click the + next to it & the router info then appears (it's an old sky netgear one, ASUS 802. ?? but don't quote me, i'll check tomorrow).
i must have 54mbps wrong as our max line speed is only 1mb & on the wi-fi connection on the pc i've given up trying to load a page after i've waited for 10 mins & the green progress bar at the bottom only shows 2-3 bars.



what am i checking on device manager? sorry to have to ask but my knowledge is very limited. the cable should be ok, nothing has been moved since the pc was last used, i did check the connection into the tower & the router were ok (also re-booted the router after i'd dis-connected & reconnected the cables). i'll try the ipconfig when i have the pc on again tomorrow, will that actually do something or is it to just give me the current info?



will do, i do know that the no.1 light that is usually showing green on the router isn't showing at the moment (perhaps a vital bit of info i missed out earlier?!).

thanks for the replies & apologies for my ignorance & lack of terminology, feel like i'm trying to fly the space shuttle without a manual here!

54mbps is the speed of the connection between laptop and router and has no bearing on the speed of your internet connection.

The LED on the router being out when the PC is on serves to confirm there is no data being transferred between router and PC. (The LED on back of PC will also be off) Re-check the ethernet cable is fully connected at both ends. If possible, try a different cable.

closed

the ipconfig commands tell your pc to get an ip address from the router, essential for it to work. if your local ip address starts with 169, then the pc isn't picking up an ip address properly

however if no lights are on the router connection, cabling or a faulty network card/driver are more likely

AbbieCadabra

ok, done a bit of crawling around & banged my head on the desk a couple of times...

where the ethernet cable connects to the tower, there is a little space next to it that could well be an led, but it definitely isn't lit (so it's a bit hard to tell if it is an led or not?!). the led next to the wi-fi antenna is flicking on & off. the actual connection of the ethernet cable seems fine, as does the connection into the back of the router. i've tried the cable in a different port on the router & this made no difference. the no.1 that usually lights up green is not lit.

i've done the ipconfig on the pc & the no. i recognise for the router page came up, 192.168 etc, so presume this means all is ok.

on the pc the wireless connection status = signal strength excellent, speed 54.0 mbps, but i'm convinced it isn't connected as i've just tried to update my AVG & it failed 'unable to connect to server'. it's almost as if the connection is there for a split second, then it's gone again. it takes quite a few attempts for anything to appear when i open internet explorer, then it just won't update to anything else. not a complete loss of connection, more that it's so unstable it just won't work.

i've looked at the info on the router page & i'm sure one of the settings has changed. ADSL Port, network type states MER, i'm sure it didn't say this before, perhaps PPPoA? (which is what i recognise from trying to set up a new network connect yesterday, it stated PPPoA).

it took a few attempts to log in to the router page too, like my password was wrong, but it wasn't. i can usually log straight in.

has something gone weird with the router? but why is the laptop ok on wi-fi? is it worth getting a new ethernet cable? or has something failed on my pc??

i'm even more confused than i was yesterday!

edit: just having a browse on the skyuser forum to see if i could find anything similar, had a brainwave & have just connected my laptop via the ethernet cable, turned off the wi-fi on the laptop & made sure it was the wired connection - all connected & the no.1 light has lit up green on the router. so it's my PC...now i really am lost if that's the case

Toxteth_OGrady

If it's an old pc, I'm guessing it has a pci ethernet card fitted. It probably died, although you could try re-seating it.

You can get a replacement for less than a fiver on ebay.

If the ethernet is integrated into the pc's motherboard it's more of a problem.

On the PC is there anything showing in Device Manager for 'Network adapters?'

AbbieCadabra

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

If it's an old pc, I'm guessing it has a pci ethernet card fitted. It probably died, although you could try re-seating it.

You can get a replacement for less than a fiver on ebay.

If the ethernet is integrated into the pc's motherboard it's more of a problem.

On the PC is there anything showing in Device Manager for 'Network adapters?'

i think the PC is about 5, possibly 8 years old, i have no idea on the specifics of the card.

in device manager, network adapters > ASUS 802.11g network adapter. right click > update driver, disable, uninstall, scan for hardware changes (did that yesterday), properties. in properties > general > location PCI slot 1 (PCI bus 1, device 6, function 0), 'the device is working properly'. under Driver tab > driver date 11.02.05 (i guess that's how old the PC is then!), driver version, digital signer, then options to update, roll back or uninstall.

hope that means something, gibberish to me i'm afraid

Toxteth_OGrady

The 802.11g is the PC's wireless card.

It will look something like this on the back of the PC:



A wired ethernet pci card will look like this:



Do you have both?