Ethernet not working on T41's (2) - everything else fine

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trent488 · #1 Post by **trent488** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 6:57 pm

I have been unable to get the Ethernet port to work on two different T41's - and I tried them both with two different cable internet providers. The O/S on both of the T41's in Windows XP SP3. The descriptions below apply to both of the T41's. Both of the people that have cable modems said that no configuration of their PC was necessary, they just plugged in the cable. They are also running Windows XP SP3.

When I plug in the network cable, the icon says "Acquiring Network Address" and a yellow ball continuously moves on the icon. After a minute or so there's a yellow ! and it says "Limited or no connectivity.

In a command prompt I do: ipconfig /release - that works (0.0.0.0 ...). I then do ipconfig /renew - and the yellow ball is moving again until it times out. The message in the command window is "An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection 15 : unable to contact your DHCP server. Request timed out."

In Advanced TCP/IP settings, it says DHCP Enabled.

I double clicked the connection icon in Network Connections, and it says Packets sent 156, received 0.

I ran the Windows Network setup wizard, and it completed okay. That didn't help.

I installed the 7ira09ww.exe driver from Lenovo (www-307.ibm.com), after entering the model #. (The name is "Intel PRO/1000 LAN adapter software.") In the Device Manager it's called "Intel(R) Pro/1000 MT Mobile Connection" - and it says "This device is working properly."

I tried other drivers, manually selecting them after getting past the warning message that Windows didn't think it matched - including the Pro/100 driver. No success.

Two different T41's that are otherwise working perfectly have bad Ethernet ports? So what am I doing wrong? (The model #'s are 2373-W4A and 2379-DJU.) Wi-fi works fine.

(These are the only T40-T43 Thinkpads I've had, so I've never seen it work.)

The firewall was off during testing.

Thanks

#2 Post by **richk** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:29 pm

What are you connecting to? Is the hub/router set to act as a dhcp server? Does the little light by the port go on? What about on the hub port? Are you sure the cable is good and is straight, rather than crossover?

ajkula66 · #3 Post by **ajkula66** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:32 pm

Does your BIOS page show a MAC address?

trent488 · #4 Post by **trent488** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:24 am

In both cases, a cable went from a cable modem to a desktop, and I moved the cable to the Thinkpad. (Two different cable modems, two different Thinkpads - 4 total failed connections.) I don't know if the cable modems are set to act as a DHCP server. Yes, the light goes on by where the cable plugs in on the Thinkpad (as described, the ball goes back and fort on the icon when you plug the cable in - "Acquiring network address...")

richk wrote:What are you connecting to? Is the hub/router set to act as a dhcp server? Does the little light by the port go on? What about on the hub port? Are you sure the cable is good and is straight, rather than crossover?

trent488 · #5 Post by **trent488** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:34 am

Yes, an Internal LAN MAC address is set.

ajkula66 wrote:Does your BIOS page show a MAC address?

#6 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 9:15 am

Contact the cable company. They may have to authorize the MAC address form either Thinkpad to access their network. It is common for cable companies to only allow one MAC address to access their Network, usually the original one that was setup. If you had a router there you could use MAC address cloning in the routers setup. That usually works, but not always.

trent488 · #7 Post by **trent488** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 9:53 am

Success. I manually changed the MAC address in the registry (then disable/enabled the device) to match the desktop, and now it works. (I had previously thought of that, and I used a MAC address changing program, but I didn't verify it changed the MAC. I have now discovered that the program fails to change the MAC on the Ethernet card (which the program sees), but it does work on my CardBus WiFi card.)

Thanks!

Harryc wrote:Contact the cable company. They may have to authorize the MAC address form either Thinkpad to access their network. It is common for cable companies to only allow one MAC address to access their Network, usually the original one that was setup. If you had a router there you could use MAC address cloning in the routers setup. That usually works, but not always.

#8 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 10:02 am

Sure, anytime. I am fresh off of that same problem because I recently struggled to get (3) macbooks working via a wireless router in a house with Time Warner cable.

Ethernet not working on T41's (2) - everything else fine

Ethernet not working on T41's (2) - everything else fine

Re: Ethernet not working on T41's (2) - everything else fine

Re: Ethernet not working on T41's (2) - everything else fine

Re: Ethernet not working on T41's (2) - everything else fine

Re: Ethernet not working on T41's (2) - everything else fine

Re: Ethernet not working on T41's (2) - everything else fine

Re: Ethernet not working on T41's (2) - everything else fine

Re: Ethernet not working on T41's (2) - everything else fine

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