Laptop Modem and Lan dead?

[allan]

My laptop has built-in modem and lan connections. A couple of months ago
the lan connection died and I replaced it with a usb adapter. Not having
used the dial-up for ages, I've now found that too is dead. I'm suspecting
that they died together.

Thinking the bios might have got scrambled, so I checked. There appears to
be no entry for either connection. The parallel port is there, as is the
infra-red, but nothing for the modem and lan.

Should there be entries for these connections, please?

Working on the assumption that both have been affected by a single fault,
does it sound psu-ish, or a dead chip somewhere, please? Just wondering if
I'm wasting my time opening up the laptop.

Thanks

Allan

 

[Grinder]

My laptop has built-in modem and lan connections. A couple of months ago
the lan connection died and I replaced it with a usb adapter. Not having
used the dial-up for ages, I've now found that too is dead. I'm suspecting
that they died together.

Thinking the bios might have got scrambled, so I checked. There appears to
be no entry for either connection. The parallel port is there, as is the
infra-red, but nothing for the modem and lan.

Should there be entries for these connections, please?

Not necessarily. I would have expected there would be some sort of
"Wake on LAN" setting that suggets a network connection, but it's not a
given. At any rate, it seems improbable that a "scrambled BIOS" would
lead to just modem and LAN related entries disappearing.

Working on the assumption that both have been affected by a single fault,
does it sound psu-ish, or a dead chip somewhere, please? Just wondering if
I'm wasting my time opening up the laptop.

I would investigate software causes first. Are either of the devices
listed, or are there any unknown devices, in your system settings?

Can you get a Linux boot cd to recognize either device?

 

[allan]

Not necessarily. I would have expected there would be some sort of "Wake
on LAN" setting that suggets a network connection, but it's not a given.
At any rate, it seems improbable that a "scrambled BIOS" would lead to
just modem and LAN related entries disappearing.


I would investigate software causes first. Are either of the devices
listed, or are there any unknown devices, in your system settings?

Can you get a Linux boot cd to recognize either device?

Hi 'Grinder'

No, there's no wake-on-LAN setting. However, there have been a development,
albeit not the wanted one.

On the question of system settings, on XP both devices appear as normal,
with no indication of error. The modem diagnostics appear OK, so it would
seem like the output/line side in trouble. There are no unknown devices.

Your point about Linux gave me another avenue, during which it transpired
that the dead LAN connection had sprung back to life. The trouble I had
with it lasted several days and eventually I replaced it with a usb LAN
adapter, which has been fine, so I had no cause to recheck recently. The
mainboard link is now working OK, but the modem is still U/S. The bios
still shows no entry for the reborn LAN, so I can discount that idea.
Perhaps the modem will 'wake on something or other' too, but I suspect that
lightning may have zonked it. I think it may be a mini-pci card, so I might
see how easily I can get to it to reseat it, just in case.

Thanks for your help.

Allan

 

[kony]

No, there's no wake-on-LAN setting. However, there have been a development,
albeit not the wanted one.

On the question of system settings, on XP both devices appear as normal,
with no indication of error. The modem diagnostics appear OK, so it would
seem like the output/line side in trouble. There are no unknown devices.

Your point about Linux gave me another avenue, during which it transpired
that the dead LAN connection had sprung back to life. The trouble I had
with it lasted several days and eventually I replaced it with a usb LAN
adapter, which has been fine, so I had no cause to recheck recently. The
mainboard link is now working OK, but the modem is still U/S. The bios
still shows no entry for the reborn LAN, so I can discount that idea.
Perhaps the modem will 'wake on something or other' too, but I suspect that
lightning may have zonked it. I think it may be a mini-pci card, so I might
see how easily I can get to it to reseat it, just in case.

Thanks for your help.

If you have the laptop's power management configuration
utility, run that and see if these are disabled under
certain power states and if so, try enabling them. If you
don't have the power management config util, get it from the
manufacturer (website), or maybe it's on the original discs
that came w/laptop.

 

[allan]

If you have the laptop's power management configuration
utility, run that and see if these are disabled under
certain power states and if so, try enabling them. If you
don't have the power management config util, get it from the
manufacturer (website), or maybe it's on the original discs
that came w/laptop.

Hi Kony

The laptop is over 4 years old and the origin is a bit obscure. It looks
much like the Elitegroup 732, but the site does not show a specific power
utility and my original driver disk doesn't have one either.

I no longer need it, but a friend showed some slight interest, and that's
why I was checking it. If he comes back, I may dig further, if not, I'm
fine with its broadband connection.

Thanks for your interest.

Allan