local network connection cable unplugged

I have Win XP Home Edition and I recently had a problem start and I have no clue as to how to fix it. Last week my system started giving me the error that my "local network connection cable unplugged" and now I cannot get my network to connect.

Here are the specs of my computer: AMD XP 2200 CPU; Biostar Motherboard model: M7VIQ Ver 1.2 with VIA VT6103 lan chip; 768 PC2700 DDR memory. I run a VCOM (System Suite 5 Utilities) firewall and virus checker. I have a broadband connection (Motorola Surfboard SB5100 Cable Modem) that runs through a 4 port router (Network Everywhere, Linksys NR041). I have 3 computers networked through the same router and modem and no other computer has a problem with connecting to the internet, or to one another.

Here are the attempts I have made to try and fix this problem but was unsuccessful (first I disabled the firewall and virus checker):
1. I've checked cable and it was plugged, tried a differnet connection on router and no success. Tried new cable, still not success.
2. I thought maybe a game my brother loaded (Heavy Gear II) could have overwrote some important networking files since it is an online game, so I uninstalled the game. No success.
3. I tried 3 different restore points prior to the loading of the game and still no fix.
4. I ran XP's repair current Windows utility and this still did not fix my network connection.
5. I've tried a different NIC (Realtek RTL8139/810x Fast Ehternet PCI card) and it does the same thing as the onboard lan connection by giving me the same error.
6. When I go to the hardware manager, it says that both devices are working properly.
7. I pinged 127.0.0.1 and nic checks out fine.
8. When I do a "ipconfig /all" at the command prompt, I get that both NIC cards "Media state" are disconnected.
9. I've done research on the internet on this problem and have not yet found an answer. I even went to Heavy Gear II site and did not find anything that would help. I'm not even sure that the game caused the problem to begin with, but I'm out of guesses.

I would like to go the Windows update and run the updates on my system but I cannot get on the net to do so. I did load new drivers from a floppy for the Realtek NIC but that didn't work either.

Can someone give me any suggestions on what to do next??

im not sure exactly how to help. i had the same motherboard Biostar M7VIQ and i had the same exact problem on my dads computer until i formatted and reinstalled the drivers. i then had the same problem again and i replaced the motherboard and it worked fine. so the only thing i could think of since you tried all of that is to either low level format or repartition and then go from there. sorry if i didnt give much help.

OK, Im not a wiz on the whole networking thing, but are you running a firewall, or some other type of software which could be blocking ports?

I thought the firewall could be a problem, but when I deactivated it I still had the same errors.

Everything was working fine until last weekend and the only thing I could think of that may have had an adversre effect on my PC was the loading of the Heavy Gear II game. I suspect that it overwrote some XP files and without use of the internet on my machine, I really don't know how to update the drivers. I could download them to a disk if I knew what drivers could have been damaged, but that is my problem. I have not a clue as to what drivers to look at. If my connection was working, I would have done a Windows Update scan and downloaded any necessary files.

Do you have any suggestions on what files I could reload??

I hoping that I can find another solution. I hate having to take this route but if I must I will. I recently upgraded to a bigger hard drive and had to go though all the reloading and I just don't want to have to do that again.

Thanks for the input.....it may be what I will end up doing.

(^^;?( You have done most of the possibility.)

The point is whether, I think, it is possible to make the cable unplugged by software or not.

Couldn't you use Knoppix or lite linux (as 1fd linux, floppyfw, coyote etc.) If one of these support your hardware, it half-automatically setup itself and use network. If it works, XP is wrong. If not, still hardware?

Have you run Signature Verification <tools<SystemInformation or sfc /scannow?

Have you checked eventviewer, though it is obsolete, let's catch at a straw.

If it is software I would try to reload windows and do a repair. Both XP and 2K have this option. ( if your booting from cd or boot disks) If it is files that are corrupted this should fix the problem. There are some viruses out there that will shut down your antivirus and kill your connection at the same time. This happened to me about 2 months ago. I ended up reinstalling completley. The patches are available but you're right without the net it's difficult to update.
Good luck

I used to have a second drive in my system with Linux (Mandrake 9.2) loaded and I could never get my network up and running on it so I don't think the lan is compatible with linux. I tried to find a driver and was unsuccessful.

Last night I changed my local connection configuration from Auto Negotiate to 100T Base connection and the unplugged error went away but the connection only sends data and does not receive. I again reloaded my XP (repair current windows) and no luck.

I'm going to try another NIC one more time and if it does not work I will probably have to reformat my drive and start again.

Thanks for the help......any more suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for the suggestion funnibabe but I have done the repair twice. And as for the virus, I don't think that is the problem. I keep my virus protection up to date and I had just run a full systems scan recently and no viruses were detected, only some spyware which I removed promptly.

What was the virus that attacted your machine??
I would like to see if some how it could have gotten past my defenses. I run VCOM's virus protection and firewall. The software seems to a good utility. I usually use Norton's and my subscription ran out and I thought I would try VCOM since it did a lot of the same things that Norton's did at a much cheaper price.
Any other suggestions you may have are welcomed.

The virus I had was one of the Sasser viruses. It kept rebooting my computer and after I was able to find a patch for it on the microsoft site ( none of the utilities I had would detect the virus, including but not limited to - Trend Online Scan, Norton Antivirus, PcCillin) all of which were updated with the latest virus definitions. I was able to find a website that had removal information and was able to detect and delete it myself. After which it shut down all of my network connections and I was unable to connect to the internet. Microsoft came out with an update on their website for it and I was able to get the patch from work and install it on the home pc which took care of the network problem. I then cleaned the system again with System Mechanic and did another repair install which seems to have fixed the problem. for now... My roomate however is the virus devil herself I don't think there's one trojan or virus out there that I haven't cleaned off that machine in the last 6 months..
Unfortunatley I can't find the documentation on the virus I had as I apparently didn't think it important enough to keep at the time? I do however still have the patch at home on a floppy somewhere.

Sasser!!! I know those viruses as well. A friend of mine had a couple on her computer. I had to clean them off for her. I made sure that my virus software was updated when these strains came out. I also went to Microsoft and download their security patch as well, so I doubt this could have been the reason for my recent dilemma. I do feel that some files were overwritten some how and it is a matter of finding out which files need to be reloaded and how.

I appreciate the response and hope that viruses plague you no more....at least for a while.


Thanks

hey evilwoman. if youre still having problems ill try to send you upgraded drivers and everything see if that helps.

Another thought is to try rebooting your router. Reboot your computer while you're at it. Also, try Disabling then Enabling that connection in My Network Places.

Just a couple more things you can try.

Unrecognized NICs in Linux are common. But Realtec is usually recognized.

When you set 10/100 to 100, the unplugged is gone. It means that the cable connection was recognized at least. Though most of the recent Hub can distinguish between 10 base and 100 and deal with them well in the same network, but older ones sometimes couldn't do this. Recent Broadband Routers always have the huv function.

For the time being, we can't specify which the main cause is, either the router can't deals with bandwidth or XP can't distinguish the routed signal. We may have the clue whereabouts.

Although, I'm not so familiar with NT-line services. The following services may be checked, disabled or manual > auto

Application Layer Gateway
Network Connection
Network Location Awareness
Remote Access Connection Manager
Internet Connection Firewall / Internet Sharing

Note: Repairing XP keeps older settings mostly. But you can make the registry into After Installation State, by copying from Repair folder system, security, sam, default, software into \windows\system32\config in CD repair console.

Thanks, I'll give these a try and let you know the outcome!!