NIC troubles with T23

[pkdiaz]

I have a IBM Thinkpad T23 that has recently quit connecting to the internet. On the taskbar, on LAN connection, it says that the cable is unplugged. When I run ipconfig, it says media state: Media disconnected. I have this computer connected to the internet via a router..The lights on the back of the computer to the Ethernet port are blinking and so is the one on the router..I have tried to change out the cable and to directly connect this computer to the internet via the cable modem. Nothing works. In device manager, the Intel(R) Pro/100 VE Network connection says that the device is working properly. I read somewhere to try changing the configuration to link speed & duplex to 10mbps/Full Duplex, but that didn't help..In desparation, I tried system restore with no changes either..I am hoping someone here has a suggestion to help me with this problem..Thanks

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

I'd say the first thing you can try is to re-seat the two connections that you can easily get to:

- ribbon cable which plugs into the ethernet daughter card
- the ethernet daugther card itself

If you don't already have a copy of the Hardware Maintenance Manual, you can download it from here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4UYM3F

Flip the system over, remove the MiniPCI access panel. Remove the two silver screws from the tiny ethernet daughter card (it's about 1 3/4" x 1"). Carefully pull the card straight up. Remove the ribbon cable from the end of the card and then re-install it. Place the ethernet card back onto the socket on the motherboard and re-install the two screws.

If that doesn't fix the problem, then there could be three other things:

- the connection of the ribbon cable to the motherboard (requires complete disassembly of the system)
- bad ethernet daughter card
- some software issue

You can download a copy of PC Doctor for DOS from here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4YZM3F (3 diskette version)

http://www.kawakami-ca.com/ibm_t2x/ibmt22_pcdiag.iso (CD image file)

That diagnostic program has a test for checking the ethernet card. If it passes, then the card should be good but the connection to the back of the system can be a problem OR something in Windows got hosed.

[pkdiaz]

Reseating the ethernet daughter card and the ribbon cable solved my problem. I sure didn't expect to get a solution so fast, but I am relieved thats all it was. Thanks alot for your assistance.