Urgent help requested: "Network Cable Unplugged" when it isn't unplugged

[Philip Lane]

Hi there

For 3 months, i have been running an network with my
father's computer perfectly, until i tried to search for
something on an internet page yesterday morning

The page hung internet explorer on my pc and forced me to
close the program several times (i should have probably
given up after the same thing happened 3 times...) before
it was too serious and i had to shutdown my pc to get the
thing to respond, sadly, i hibernated it by mistake,
rather than doing a forced-shutdown and now my father's
pc which is my ICS Gateway is insisting that my network
cable is unplugged and is saying that the media state
is "Media Unplugged" when i run ipconfig yet my pc is
happy and thinks the cable is plugged in and gives an ip
address and everything (169.254.40.133) yet i can't ping
my machine from my fathers (no response) and i can't ping
my fathers (192.168.0.1) from mine ("destination is
unreachable" or something similar)

Both machines insist that their adaptors are working
perfectly (and i hope so as mine is built on to the
motherboard...) and yet they both suggest that one of
them isn't working (and yes, the cable IS plugged in)

Anyone seen where the microsoft online assistance thing
has gone? they've been very helpful in the past but don't
seem to exist anymore...

Thanks

Philip Lane

 

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

Philip Lane wrote on 20-Sep-2004 1:50 PM:

Hi there

For 3 months, i have been running an network with my
father's computer perfectly, until i tried to search for
something on an internet page yesterday morning

The page hung internet explorer on my pc and forced me to
close the program several times (i should have probably
given up after the same thing happened 3 times...) before
it was too serious and i had to shutdown my pc to get the
thing to respond, sadly, i hibernated it by mistake,
rather than doing a forced-shutdown and now my father's
pc which is my ICS Gateway is insisting that my network
cable is unplugged and is saying that the media state
is "Media Unplugged" when i run ipconfig yet my pc is
happy and thinks the cable is plugged in and gives an ip
address and everything (169.254.40.133) yet i can't ping
my machine from my fathers (no response) and i can't ping
my fathers (192.168.0.1) from mine ("destination is
unreachable" or something similar)

Both machines insist that their adaptors are working
perfectly (and i hope so as mine is built on to the
motherboard...) and yet they both suggest that one of
them isn't working (and yes, the cable IS plugged in)

Anyone seen where the microsoft online assistance thing
has gone? they've been very helpful in the past but don't
seem to exist anymore...

Thanks

Philip Lane

That popup balloon almost always means that there is a hardware issue.
Your description sounds like you have your PC plugged directly into the
other PC which is acting as your Internet gateway. You need a cross-over
cable for this. If you moved things around and picked up the wrong
cable, that could be your problem. You can recognize a straight-thru
cable because each plug has the wires in the same order. A cross-over
cable is obviously not the same wiring order on the plugs.

Does either of the LEDs on your adapter plug light up when you plug in
the cable? If so, you have some kind of basic hardware connection.

If you have a hub/switch in the middle, then you need to debug those
cable connections and look at the lights.

Of course, your crossover cable could be smushed. Did you pinch it? Did
you ram the computer up against the wall and smush the cable against the
plug?

Is it Tuesday? Is it raining? Is your laundry still hanging out on the
line? No, forget that. Let's eliminate all hardware culprits before
turning to the software.

 

[Philip Lane]

Lol! It IS Tuesday but miraculously not raining!

I haven't changed any hardware in months so it's not the
cable (yes, it is P2P and yes, i am using x-over). I
didn't ram it into the wall (yet) so it's not that BUT
neither network adaptor lights up when i plug a cable in
to it (though i can't remember if mine even has a light
and i can't easily check) and i know it's not switched
off as i just flipped a setting yesterday so windows
couldn't switch it off...

If it were the cable, surely both pcs would report it as
being unplugged?

Phil Lane

 

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

Philip Lane wrote on 21-Sep-2004 3:19 AM:

Lol! It IS Tuesday but miraculously not raining!

I haven't changed any hardware in months so it's not the
cable (yes, it is P2P and yes, i am using x-over). I
didn't ram it into the wall (yet) so it's not that BUT
neither network adaptor lights up when i plug a cable in
to it (though i can't remember if mine even has a light
and i can't easily check) and i know it's not switched
off as i just flipped a setting yesterday so windows
couldn't switch it off...

If it were the cable, surely both pcs would report it as
being unplugged?

Not necessarily. You can disable DHCP Media Sense in XP, so that you
won't get the balloon. You could also have a fault that disables one
adapter in one way and the other adapter in another way. Stop me if I'm
being too technical here.

Can you try another cross-over cable or temporarily substitute a
hub/switch and a couple of straight-thru cables?

Also try flipping that setting you changed yesterday back. It might not
be doing what you think it be doing.

 

[Philip Lane]

It was all faulty before i changed that setting but it's
too late now anyway - i'm leaving tomorrow. I'll just
have to make-do

Thanks for your help

 

[Guest]

Hi Philip
I could be wrong, BUT what i have noticed is, u've said
"

happy and thinks the cable is plugged in and gives an ip
address and everything (169.254.40.133) yet i can't ping
my machine from my fathers (no response) and i can't ping
my fathers (192.168.0.1) from mine ("destination is
unreachable" or something similar)

"

here i see 2 different network address, 169.254.... and 192.168.....
shouldn't both pcs be in the same net.