Network Card settings disappear when cable unplugged

[dreamsoul620 via HWKB.com]

Hi all! I've been messing around with this problem about a week now and I'm
completely confused. I have two laptops, a Dell Inspiron 600M and the other
a Dell Latitude D610. The network cards are the same in both (Broadcom 440X
10/100 Integrated Controller). I used the Latitude to connect to cameras on
a machine. These cameras require me to change my automatic IP setting to a
static IP. This works great if I use the Inspiron. However, sometimes when
I unhook the ethernet cable from my laptop, the card completely disappears in
Network Settings. I cannot even try to change the settings. When I plug the
required crossover cable in, sometimes the card reappears, sometimes it takes
several restarts. I have uninstalled and re-installed the drivers. The card
also disappears when unhooking the crossover and going back to the straight
network cable. Basically, when I unhook a cable, it's a toss up of whether
my card will still be recognize in the Network Settings. Dell does not have
a solution and since the card works, they do not see this as a reason to
replace the card. Changing the IP on the Inspiron results in a lot of
downtime for my other applications while it's recording the images from the
cameras. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how I might fix this
problem? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Geoham]

Hi all! I've been messing around with this problem about a week now and
I'm
completely confused. I have two laptops, a Dell Inspiron 600M and the
other
a Dell Latitude D610. The network cards are the same in both (Broadcom
440X
10/100 Integrated Controller). I used the Latitude to connect to cameras
on
a machine. These cameras require me to change my automatic IP setting to
a
static IP. This works great if I use the Inspiron. However, sometimes
when
I unhook the ethernet cable from my laptop, the card completely disappears
in
Network Settings. I cannot even try to change the settings. When I plug
the
required crossover cable in, sometimes the card reappears, sometimes it
takes
several restarts. I have uninstalled and re-installed the drivers. The
card
also disappears when unhooking the crossover and going back to the
straight
network cable. Basically, when I unhook a cable, it's a toss up of
whether
my card will still be recognize in the Network Settings. Dell does not
have
a solution and since the card works, they do not see this as a reason to
replace the card. Changing the IP on the Inspiron results in a lot of
downtime for my other applications while it's recording the images from
the
cameras. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how I might fix
this
problem? Any help is greatly appreciated.

I don't know how relevent this is, but it's worth a go. Many of Dell's
laptops are set to disable the network card on battery to save power,
however the card will remain enabled if a network cable gets connected.
There are two ways to overcome this setting, firstly, go to Control Panel,
and look for Internal NIC Configuration or use the Quick Set software. Let
us know if this resolves your issue

Hope this helps

Geo