T60 onboard ethernet died?

[tgice]

Hi guys. First post here. I've owned a T60 for just over three years (an extended warranty I'd bought just ran out in May, of course) and it appears that my ethernet interface has died.

The device still shows in Windows XP, but with a "network cable unplugged" message, and there are no link lights either on the Thinkpad or on the switch it's attached to.

This was working fine just a couple of weeks ago, but died not long after I installed a new 5 port Netgear gigabit switch. Naturally, I'm wondering whether that had something to do with it.

Anyway, looking for suggestions to confirm that the NIC is in fact dead and what my choices are outside of buying a PCMCIA or USB ethernet adapter (which I guess I'll do if I have no hope of getting my gigabit back). Meanwhile, I'm operating on WiFi, but I will want to get at least a 100 mb ethernet option available again soon.

From what I've looked into, it looks like the ethernet is embedded on the motherboard, so my only chance at a straightforward fix would be to replace that (a $300+ part new), and that's too much money and fooling around for my liking. Has this happened to others? Any simple fixes I could look into? How about not-so-simple ones?

Thanks.

[richk]

First, download the ethernet driver from Lenovo's site and put it somewhere on your disk, on case you need it. Then Go to the device manager (under control panel/administrative tools) and uninstall the ethernet device. Then reboot.

[tgice]

Thanks for the suggestion. I know I had been planning to do the most recent update to the E1000 driver, at least (I think I did do that during troubleshooting), but I followed your advice to be sure and fully uninstalled the driver first, shutdown and reboot and had the driver automatically re-install.

Short of right after the reinstall happens, when the systray icon goes into an animation that looks like it's querying DHCP for an address, there's no difference. The balloon pops up with "network cable unplugged" and I'm back where I was.

I should also mention that I've tried the obvious first things, power cycled the network equipment, etc. I even had the T60 all the way out of the port replicator I use and plugged directly into the onboard port (normally I'm plugged into the replicator). Also powered the T60 down and removed the battery for around an hour hoping that might help. It did not.

Does anyone have any estimate on how common this is (ethernet port dying at around 3.5 years of medium use) or any further suggestions?

Thanks.

[ssd_thinkpad]

1. Maybe you need the ethernet connection only on one place? Then - considering your ethernet is really defect - buy a dock, keyboard, mouse, display for less than 250 $ and you have an even better environment for working at this place.

2. If you like it cheap, just buy a usb ethernet adapter.

3. Other than that you can buy motherboard replacements from members within this forum. I also have a T60 x1300 motherboard to sell. But in your situation, I'd seriously consider taking the docking solution.

[spuddog]

Ignore this if you have already tried it. I assume you have tried bypassing the switch to make sure that's not the problem, or using a different port.

Scott

[craigmontHunter]

when you first turn on the system does it work? (boot from Lan) - this would suggest a driver problem. If it is the hardware, I don't think that a dock would work, since they are all labeled "passthrough" which I would assume means that they use the same motherboard hardware and just change the location of the port .

Good luck

[ArtShapiro]

This really strikes me as weird - for the device to be "good enough" to be recognized but not good enough to actually communicate.

I don't speak terribly much Linux, and perhaps others can chime in on this suggestion, but: what if you were to run off a Knoppix CD and see if the networking behavior changed? I've fought so many weird Windows networking problems that I would want to prove that this isn't some bizarre configuration issue.

Art

[tgice]

Thanks for the extra replies.

I should've explained better: I never get a link light on the T60 itself or on the port that passes through on the replicator I use. It's not there at boot up, it's not there if I remove the T60 from the replicator, etc.

I did try a Linux live cd image, and there was no difference there. The hardware appears in lspci, but there's no link light.

I've also tried multiple cables, so I *think* that simple possibility is out. Any thing we've not already mentioned?

[Harryc]

As a test, bypass the switch and plug the Thinkpad directly into the router. Run PC-Doctor tests on the ethernet adapter.

[GomJabbar]

Sometimes the pins get bent in the jack. Look inside the jack with a flashlight (and magnifier if possible). All the pins should be straight. I recall reading on this forum 2 or 3 years ago where a forum member found this to be his problem.

[dozer]

Sometimes the pins get bent in the jack. Look inside the jack with a flashlight (and magnifier if possible). All the pins should be straight. I recall reading on this forum 2 or 3 years ago where a forum member found this to be his problem.

Yes, good suggestion....I've seen that as well.

Also, check the 'configuration' of the card in network-connections. There are a couple dozen settings in the drop-down box....a few of which could cause no-connect.....although I'm not sure about the lack of lights...I can't recall if they should come on with ANY cable plugged in, even if a logical connection isn't being made, or not.

Also check the BIOS settings for the enet card and make sure they are right.

If you decide to get another machine rather than investing in new board etc., you might want to PM me. I'm currently gathering parts for a Franken-60 project...

good luck with it,

Richard

[tgice]

Ignore this if you have already tried it. I assume you have tried bypassing the switch to make sure that's not the problem, or using a different port.

Scott

Jeez. This ended up being the problem, or at least part of it. I took the T60 all the way downstairs to my Linksys router and new Netgear switch and plugged in right there and it worked, even directly in the new gigabit switch on the same port I'd been trying upstairs.

Sorry for not checking that earlier. Here's the part I don't get though.

a) I'm almost positive this worked for at least a few days after I first installed the new switch.
b) I ran the ethernet lines from the basement up to the office myself, so they're brand new. I'm pretty sure they're in good shape, they're actually cat6 even (better than cat5e which should also work for gigabit, I think).

I realize this may be drifting from the purpose of this forum, but does anyone have a suggestion on this one? Perhaps some of those driver settings that someone was suggesting earlier?

I would guess this must have more to do with hardware though, b/c the link lights would not come on (when up in the office) until I switched the cable in the basement to plug into the Linksys (100 mbit).

Thanks to everyone for suggesting things to try. Again, I apologize, I of course should've done the take it downstairs test first.

UPDATE: I just went into the Intel driver settings and forced "Auto-negotiate 1000Mbps" on the "Link Speed & Duplex" property and now that seems to make a difference! I get gigabit again on the port that's plugged into the gigabit switch. Weird stuff. I wonder if I have a partially flaky wire connection, if there's interference or if this is the Netgear switches fault.

I should also note that in the same room (running over a different run of cat6 wires), I have another desktop PC w/ onboard gigabit that I think has been connected the whole time with no problems to the same switch (it's fine right now, anyway).

So I guess now I'm just interested in hearing other possible explanations for this. Perhaps I should bug Netgear about it. It doesn't seem like I should have to force gigabit on the T60 to make it work.

[Harryc]

I suspect a bad connection. Recrimp your ends and double check the wiring as far as pinouts.