Help! "Network Cable Unplugged" error on both nics.

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can help me out on this one. This is a really strange
problem. I'm running Windows 2000 server with Service Pack 4 installed. I
have a 3com NIC installed and it's worked flawlessly previously. Today,
after adding a SCSI raid card and drives, and removing an IDE raid card, the
computer was having trouble booting up once it hit the "preparing network
connections" point. Originally I thought it was the SCSI card install, so I
uninstalled it. Still the same problem. I would remove the network cable
and it would boot up fine. I beleive that I reloaded the card driver,
plugged the cat5 back into the NIC, and get a "Network Cable Unplugged"
error. I ping loopback, it's fine, I ping the IP address (192.168.1.111)
it's fine, when I try to ping the gatway, nothing. I figured it was a
faulty cable, so I replaced the cable (twice) still the same problem. So I
figured maybe it's a pin in the nic or something in the nic, I replaced it
with the exact make and model, still the same problem. So I thought maybe
it's the PCI slot (long shot, doubt it, but it's worth a shot). That seemed
to work fine, until the next reboot, then, the same problem. So, I figured
maybe it's the driver or the model of card. I completely switched the model
of card I was using to a Netgear card. It worked, briefly, then the same
problem. I have no idea what's going on, but I can't seem to get any
logical reason what's going on. I also switched router/gateways have
replaced every possible hardware / driver item in the critical path, and it
seems to be an OS problem. At one point, both nics were installed, and the
one nic kept oscillating between "Network Cable not plugged in" and
"Enabled" about every second it would swap back and forth, but not enough to
display a web page. Any ideas?

Thanks!
Rick

Hi,

Can you make a RJ45 loopback adapter and put it on network card.

http://www.ossmann.com/5-in-1.html

Is connection in this case stable?

Mike

"RWC" <hemmingway427_SPAM_O_NATOR_@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:rr5_c.313610$gE.117935@pd7tw3no...
> Hello,
>
> I'm hoping someone can help me out on this one. This is a really strange
> problem. I'm running Windows 2000 server with Service Pack 4 installed.
I
> have a 3com NIC installed and it's worked flawlessly previously. Today,
> after adding a SCSI raid card and drives, and removing an IDE raid card,
the
> computer was having trouble booting up once it hit the "preparing network
> connections" point. Originally I thought it was the SCSI card install, so
I
> uninstalled it. Still the same problem. I would remove the network cable
> and it would boot up fine. I beleive that I reloaded the card driver,
> plugged the cat5 back into the NIC, and get a "Network Cable Unplugged"
> error. I ping loopback, it's fine, I ping the IP address (192.168.1.111)
> it's fine, when I try to ping the gatway, nothing. I figured it was a
> faulty cable, so I replaced the cable (twice) still the same problem. So
I
> figured maybe it's a pin in the nic or something in the nic, I replaced it
> with the exact make and model, still the same problem. So I thought maybe
> it's the PCI slot (long shot, doubt it, but it's worth a shot). That
seemed
> to work fine, until the next reboot, then, the same problem. So, I
figured
> maybe it's the driver or the model of card. I completely switched the
model
> of card I was using to a Netgear card. It worked, briefly, then the same
> problem. I have no idea what's going on, but I can't seem to get any
> logical reason what's going on. I also switched router/gateways have
> replaced every possible hardware / driver item in the critical path, and
it
> seems to be an OS problem. At one point, both nics were installed, and
the
> one nic kept oscillating between "Network Cable not plugged in" and
> "Enabled" about every second it would swap back and forth, but not enough
to
> display a web page. Any ideas?
>
> Thanks!
> Rick
>
>