Network Cable Unplugged

[Ratsima]

This is driving me nuts....

A friend has an IPstar satellite internet connection. He just uses the IPstar box with one computer connected via an Ethernet cable. Works fine. He bought a new computer. Plugged it in. Works fine. No configuration necessary.

He also has a laptop. Plugs it in to the known-good Ethernet cable which is connected to the known-good IPstar box. Gets the "Network Cable Unplugged" message.

Brings the laptop to my house, I connect it to my router and, voila, it connects right up. No configuration necessary.

Takes it to another friend's house with a different router and, voila, it works fine. No configuration necessary.

So, we have a known-good IPstar box, a known-good Ethernet cable and a known-good laptop. Trouble is, they don't work together. What could possibly be wrong with the laptop such that it gives the erroneous "Network Cable Unplugged" message? I've tried letting XP set up a new network connection. I've tried fiddling with the Ethernet adapter settings. Nothing works.

Any ideas?

[BudM]

This is driving me nuts....

A friend has an IPstar satellite internet connection. He just uses the IPstar box with one computer connected via an Ethernet cable. Works fine. He bought a new computer. Plugged it in. Works fine. No configuration necessary.

He also has a laptop. Plugs it in to the known-good Ethernet cable which is connected to the known-good IPstar box. Gets the "Network Cable Unplugged" message.

Brings the laptop to my house, I connect it to my router and, voila, it connects right up. No configuration necessary.

Takes it to another friend's house with a different router and, voila, it works fine. No configuration necessary.

So, we have a known-good IPstar box, a known-good Ethernet cable and a known-good laptop. Trouble is, they don't work together. What could possibly be wrong with the laptop such that it gives the erroneous "Network Cable Unplugged" message? I've tried letting XP set up a new network connection. I've tried fiddling with the Ethernet adapter settings. Nothing works.

Any ideas?

Most Ethernet port will have LED to show that the cable is properly plug in, do you see any LED lights up?

[Ratsima]

^There's no LED. We know the Ethernet port is physically OK because it works fine where ever else we've tried it. We've also bought two brand new cables to make sure that's not the problem.

[BudM]

^There's no LED. We know the Ethernet port is physically OK because it works fine where ever else we've tried it. We've also bought two brand new cables to make sure that's not the problem.

I am not familiar with IPSTAR box, does it have multiple ethernet ports, and does it have router built-in with DHCP server to allow you to hook up multiple computers and server the web at the same time? This is surely a good mystry.

[Ratsima]

The IPstar box is a router, but it has only one Ethernet port. It does DHCP, NAT, etc.

[BudM]

The IPstar box is a router, but it has only one Ethernet port. It does DHCP, NAT, etc.

Well, please keep us up to date on what you find to fix the problem, hopefully your cables are not cross-over type. It just doe not make sense.

[Ratsima]

^No, it doesn't make sense. Not a bit.

[monty]

The iPSTAR box does not have an auto sensing/switching LAN port, so that means that generally you'll have to use a cross-over LAN cable to hook it up to a PC (or laptop) and a straight LAN cable when connecting to a router.

Most PC's today also have an auto sensing LAN port so they can compensate for the old style iPSTAR LAN port, but some slightl older hardware might not be able to connect to the iPSTAR box with a straight LAN cable...

[Ratsima]

^Interesting. Of the two desktop machines that do work with a straight cable, one is brand new, the other at least six years old. The laptop that doesn't work is less than six months old.

However, we will try a crossover cable. I think I have one in my miscellaneous cable box....

[Ratsima]

^Second thought. If we put an Ethernet switch in between the IPSTAR box and the laptop, we could use straight-through cables for both connections, right?

[RKASA]

I use a cheap 400 baht four port switch works great.

PS they used to place the voip between the Ipstar and CPU and that had auto cable matching in it. The SMB brand switch I use also does.

[Ratsima]

I haven't been at the machine yet, but the owner let me know that the NIC is a Realtek RTL8139D(L): Realtek RTL8139D

I can't tell from reading the specs if it supports auto crossover detection or not.

[tariq786]

Hi

It seems like the notebook is configured for 100 mbps or Gigabit and IP star ethernet port may not be matching with the speed.

Make speed of Lancard to full auto negotiation.

I hope this will work.

[Ratsima]

I just got e-mail from my friend with the laptop. Over the weekend I'd given him both a crossover cable and a small switch.

Both worked. So, it seems that the laptop's LAN card cannot do automatic crossover detection.

[monty]

I just got e-mail from my friend with the laptop. Over the weekend I'd given him both a crossover cable and a small switch.

Both worked. So, it seems that the laptop's LAN card cannot do automatic crossover detection.

Nice.

Never could figure out why the iPSTAR box confuses some (but not all) autodetect LAN ports on PC's (or hubs)...

[Ratsima]

Thanks for your help. It never occurred to me that such a new computer wouldn't be able to auto detect crossover problems.