network issues: "Network Cable is Unplugged"

[Guest]

I've had this problem on and off, and it's infuriating. Every couple minutes
or so, a notification will suddenly pop up in the tray saying "Local Area
Connection - A Network Cable is Unplugged", or something to that effect.
It'll go away, only to pop up again a few seconds later, then go away again
and the PC will reconnect. there is no variation to this pattern. It alwas
pops up twice before resolving itself.

I've already tried repairing the connection in the network control panel,
and I am positive that the cable is, in fact, securely connected. What's the
deal with this?

Given the frequency with which it occurs, and the fact that I almost always
am doing something Internet-related on my PC (gaming, web browsing, etc.),
this is a real problem for me.

Thanks for whatever help you can give!

 

[Guest]

I forgot to include that I'm on a home LAN, behind a D-LINK DI-524 router.

 

[John Smithe]

I've had this problem on and off, and it's infuriating. Every couple
minutes or so, a notification will suddenly pop up in the tray saying
"Local Area Connection - A Network Cable is Unplugged", or something
to that effect. It'll go away, only to pop up again a few seconds
later, then go away again and the PC will reconnect. there is no
variation to this pattern. It alwas pops up twice before resolving
itself.

I've already tried repairing the connection in the network control
panel, and I am positive that the cable is, in fact, securely
connected. What's the deal with this?

Given the frequency with which it occurs, and the fact that I almost
always am doing something Internet-related on my PC (gaming, web
browsing, etc.), this is a real problem for me.

Thanks for whatever help you can give!

Perhaps your cable is bad, try replacing it.

Hint: Don't spend alot of money on fancy gold cables, they are a waste.

What is the router doing when this happens? Is the router's power cable
securely connected? Are the router's leds showing any unusual activity?
For instance, is the router resetting when this happens. Is this problem
continuous or does it go away after awhile? Also, try swapping the cable
to another port on the router, maybe the router's connector is bad. If
your PC has a second LAN connector, try swapping ports on the PC too.

As far drivers, you may want to try a complete uninstall then reinstall.
Use Driver cleaner to remove old driver bits from your computer after
the uninstall. DC Pro is free, PC Platinum is pay. Follow the
instructions carefully.

http://www.drivercleaner.net/index.html

Good Luck
JS

 

[Kerry Brown]

I forgot to include that I'm on a home LAN, behind a D-LINK DI-524
router.

Do you use MSN Messenger? Does this only happen when MSN Messenger is
running? If this is the case turn off UPnP on the D-Link.

http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=1996

Kerry

 

[Rick]

I've had this problem on and off, and it's infuriating. Every couple minutes
or so, a notification will suddenly pop up in the tray saying "Local Area
Connection - A Network Cable is Unplugged", or something to that effect.
It'll go away, only to pop up again a few seconds later, then go away again
and the PC will reconnect. there is no variation to this pattern. It alwas
pops up twice before resolving itself.

I've already tried repairing the connection in the network control panel,
and I am positive that the cable is, in fact, securely connected. What's the
deal with this?

Given the frequency with which it occurs, and the fact that I almost always
am doing something Internet-related on my PC (gaming, web browsing, etc.),
this is a real problem for me.

Thanks for whatever help you can give!

I get that message sometimes, if it returns to normal with out you doing
anything to it then I would think either your router or cable
connections have a problem.

 

[Guest]

Perhaps your cable is bad, try replacing it.

Hint: Don't spend alot of money on fancy gold cables, they are a waste.

What is the router doing when this happens? Is the router's power cable
securely connected? Are the router's leds showing any unusual activity?
For instance, is the router resetting when this happens. Is this problem
continuous or does it go away after awhile? Also, try swapping the cable
to another port on the router, maybe the router's connector is bad. If
your PC has a second LAN connector, try swapping ports on the PC too.

As far drivers, you may want to try a complete uninstall then reinstall.
Use Driver cleaner to remove old driver bits from your computer after
the uninstall. DC Pro is free, PC Platinum is pay. Follow the
instructions carefully.

http://www.drivercleaner.net/index.html

Good Luck
JS

I think the router is restarting. I didn't know before, since I didn't know
what signs would indicate that. While playing with some router settings to
try to fix the situation, the router had to restart to apply one of the
changes I had made. The response to this from the computer was identical to
the problem I posted about: the "Network Cable Unplugged" alert popped up
twice, then went away as the router came back on.

What could be causing this sort of thing to occur? I frequently use p2p apps
such as bittorrent... maybe it, combined with 2 different IM programs (Xfire,
Gaim) and a few different other things is hammering it too hard?

 

[John Smithe]

I think the router is restarting. I didn't know before, since I didn't
know what signs would indicate that. While playing with some router
settings to try to fix the situation, the router had to restart to
apply one of the changes I had made. The response to this from the
computer was identical to the problem I posted about: the "Network
Cable Unplugged" alert popped up twice, then went away as the router
came back on.
What could be causing this sort of thing to occur?

Sounds like a hardware problem. Could be the cable, the power
supply/wallwort, or internal to the router. Make sure the cable is firmly
inserted at both ends. Jiggle the cable to see if that causes a restart.
Make sure the power supply cord is firmly inserted. Jiggle the power supply
cable to see if that causes a restart. Is the wallwort getting very hot? If
you can't keep your hand on it continuously that's too hot. If you have a
voltmeter check the ouput voltage against the spec on the wallwort,
preferrably under load. Finally, your router may be bad.

I frequently use
p2p apps such as bittorrent... maybe it, combined with 2 different IM
programs (Xfire, Gaim) and a few different other things is hammering
it too hard?

You should not be able to hammer it too hard.

 

[Trooper]

Disable "QoS Packet Scheduler" in your network's properties page.
Enable "Show Icon in notification area when connected".

A defined Quality of Service may be required for certain types of
network traffic, for example:

* streaming multimedia may require guaranteed throughput
* IP telephony or Voice over IP (VOIP) may require strict limits on
jitter and delay
* Video Teleconferencing (VTC) requires low jitter
* dedicated link emulation requires both guaranteed throughput and
imposes limits on maximum delay and jitter
* a safety-critical application, such as remote surgery may require
a guaranteed level of availability (this is also called hard QoS).

These types of service are called inelastic, meaning that they require
a certain level of bandwidth to function - any more than required is
unused, and any less will render the service non-functioning. By
contrast, elastic applications can take advantage of however much or
little bandwidth is available.

 

[John Smithe]

Sounds like a hardware problem. Could be the cable, the power
supply/wallwort, or internal to the router. Make sure the cable is
firmly inserted at both ends. Jiggle the cable to see if that causes a
restart. Make sure the power supply cord is firmly inserted. Jiggle
the power supply cable to see if that causes a restart. Is the
wallwort getting very hot? If you can't keep your hand on it
continuously that's too hot. If you have a voltmeter check the ouput
voltage against the spec on the wallwort, preferrably under load.
Finally, your router may be bad.


You should not be able to hammer it too hard.

It could also be noisy power. Do you have a power conditioner or UPS. If
yes, is the router connected to it? I don't mean a power strip, I mean a
real 'power conditioner.