Network cable unplugged

woodenboy · 01-04-2006, 05:34 PM

Hi guys, first post here, please be gentle

I know this seems to be a common theme but I promise I have searched the forum and can't find a solution to my problem.

I'm using two computers, which I am trying to connect simply to eachother, without a hub, using a crossover CAT5 network cable that I bought recently. Despite installing all the network card drivers for both computers, and connecting them using the cable, I still get an icon in my system tray of two computer screens with a big red cross over them, and when I mouse-over the icon it says "Local Area Connection: A network cable is unplugged". This is the same on both computers.

I can't work out what on earth I'm doing wrong, so I'm hoping you guys will be able to help me. I'll provide as much info as I can, including an ipconfig.txt from both machines, which I noticed was asked for in a similar topic and none of which I understand. Please help!!!

Computer 1:
OS: Win XP Home, SP2
AMD Athlon XP 2000+ 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM
VIA VT6102 Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adaptor (or that's what my device manager tells me)
On this computer I'm also using a USB modem, connected to a 1MB DSL internet connection.

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : general

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VIA VT6102 Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-E0-18-D1-67-05

PPP adapter Tiscali Broadband:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 80.44.122.157

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 80.44.122.157

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 80.225.249.178

80.225.255.58

Computer 2:
OS: WinXP Home, SP2
Intel Pentium 4 3GHz, 1GB RAM

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : music

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SiS 900-based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-D8-52-B9-90

Tunnel Adaptor Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::5445:5245:444f%5

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

NetBIOS over Tcpip . . . . . . . .: Disabled

**johnwill** · 01-05-2006, 02:55 PM

On computer #2, do this.

Start, Run, IPV6 UNINSTALL

Reboot and see if that helps.

woodenboy · 01-05-2006, 06:41 PM

OK, I've done that but unfortunately there is no difference.

**johnwill** · 01-06-2006, 02:04 PM

It sounds like the cable is either not really a crossover cable, or it's defective.

Here are some CAT5 wiring diagrams. CAT5 Cable Wiring Diagram #1, CAT5 Cable Wiring Diagram #2

woodenboy · 01-08-2006, 11:41 AM

OK, I've checked the cable against the diagrams on those pages, it's definitely a crossover cable. I'll check it on someone else's system and see if it works, and get back to you. Thanks.

**johnwill** · 01-09-2006, 08:11 AM

OK, let us know. :)

woodenboy · 01-11-2006, 01:57 AM

OK - I've checked the cable on a friend's system - same setup (2 computers using Win XP Home) and it works perfectly!

What on earth could be going wrong with my system???

**johnwill** · 01-11-2006, 02:22 PM

Let's try this on each system.

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows XP with SP2.

For these commands, Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt.

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog

Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ip reset reset.log

If that doesn't get it done, try this Automated WINSOCK Fix for XP and see if it gets it done.

woodenboy · 01-12-2006, 02:15 AM

Grrrr, no change!! I tried all your suggested fixes on both machines, and nothing has changed. It's very, very strange!

**johnwill** · 01-12-2006, 05:54 PM

Can we see another IPCONFIG /ALL for both machines?

woodenboy · 01-13-2006, 03:45 AM

Sure.

Computer 1:
Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : general

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VIA VT6102 Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-E0-18-D1-67-05

PPP adapter Tiscali Broadband:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 80.44.99.70

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 80.44.99.70

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 80.225.249.178

80.225.255.58

Computer 2:
Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : music

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SiS 900-based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-D8-52-B9-90

Interesting - since doing those last couple of things you suggested, Computer 2 no longer has that stuff about a "Tunnel Adaptor Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface", whatever that is. Anyway, hope you can glean some info from this

**johnwill** · 01-13-2006, 01:33 PM

The Tunnel Adapter is with IPv6, and all of that junk just screws up normal configurations.

At this point, I have to believe it's either one of the NIC's or the cable. Obviously, you've checked the connect LED's on the NIC's and they're all off, right? If you can find someone with a laptop to come over, you can substitute it for each computer and see which end has the problem.

woodenboy · 01-13-2006, 03:02 PM

Sorry - connect LED's on the NIC's? I'm not sure what that means.

ebackhus · 01-13-2006, 03:51 PM

There are tiny LED (Light emitting diode) lamps on the cards that light. One should light steady when a connection is made and there other flashes to indicate data flow.

To add more, my friend's PC did the same thing. We tried a few new cards and tested with cables that were being used on other machines with no problem. His PC would not work! We eventually wiped the OS and reinstalled. Not a problem since then.

woodenboy · 01-14-2006, 03:49 AM

I'm beginning to think that my computer must be from another planet, or that I'm simply just not getting something really obvious here.

I can't see any LEDs on the back of my machine, around the network cable socket or elsewhere. Could this have anything to do with it being built into the motherboard rather than as a separate card?

Wiping the OS and reinstalling is something I did just a few weeks ago, for other reasons. I had tried this before the reinstallation and had the same problem before and after.

So would you suggest I buy new network cards? Would it be better/worse/no different to think about using wireless cards? I'm really lost as to what to do about this.

**johnwill** · 01-14-2006, 10:25 AM

Since you have a wired network, I'd try a cheap wired card. You can try it in each machine, it's really doubtful that both are bad. Also, I'd make SURE the cable is good before you spend any money on NICs.

CAT5 wiring diagrams. CAT5 Cable Wiring Diagram #1, CAT5 Cable Wiring Diagram #2

woodenboy · 01-14-2006, 10:31 AM

OK, thanks I'll try that. Just to clarify - does this error come up when there is a disconnected cable anywhere in the network, or just on that card? i.e., if the card is working on computer 1 but not on computer 2, would computer 1 still say "network cable unplugged"?

**johnwill** · 01-15-2006, 12:45 PM

Well, if you had two machines connected with a crossover cable and removed the connection, I'd expect both to indicate that they had a "network cable unplugged".

woodenboy · 01-19-2006, 10:07 AM

Right then, thank you everyone for your help with this. The problem is now solved. I bought a cheap network card, as suggested, and tried it in computer 1 - hey presto, things started happening! First of all I was getting a "limited or no connectivity" error on both machines, and I thought - great! that's better than "a network cable is unplugged"! Anyway, I found another thread where someone had the same problem and someone suggested manually inputting the IP addresses, I did that and everything kicked into action. I now have two connected computers!!!!

Thanks everyone so much for your help, you're really kind to be helping people out like this.

01-04-2006, 05:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
woodenboy Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 18 OS: WinXP Home	Network cable unplugged Hi guys, first post here, please be gentle I know this seems to be a common theme but I promise I have searched the forum and can't find a solution to my problem. I'm using two computers, which I am trying to connect simply to eachother, without a hub, using a crossover CAT5 network cable that I bought recently. Despite installing all the network card drivers for both computers, and connecting them using the cable, I still get an icon in my system tray of two computer screens with a big red cross over them, and when I mouse-over the icon it says "Local Area Connection: A network cable is unplugged". This is the same on both computers. I can't work out what on earth I'm doing wrong, so I'm hoping you guys will be able to help me. I'll provide as much info as I can, including an ipconfig.txt from both machines, which I noticed was asked for in a similar topic and none of which I understand. Please help!!! Computer 1: OS: Win XP Home, SP2 AMD Athlon XP 2000+ 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM VIA VT6102 Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adaptor (or that's what my device manager tells me) On this computer I'm also using a USB modem, connected to a 1MB DSL internet connection. Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : general Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VIA VT6102 Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-E0-18-D1-67-05 PPP adapter Tiscali Broadband: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00 Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 80.44.122.157 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 80.44.122.157 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 80.225.249.178 80.225.255.58 Computer 2: OS: WinXP Home, SP2 Intel Pentium 4 3GHz, 1GB RAM Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : music Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SiS 900-based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-D8-52-B9-90 Tunnel Adaptor Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::5445:5245:444f%5 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : NetBIOS over Tcpip . . . . . . . .: Disabled

01-05-2006, 02:55 PM	#2 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,802 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	On computer #2, do this. Start, Run, IPV6 UNINSTALL Reboot and see if that helps. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

01-06-2006, 02:04 PM	#4 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,802 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	It sounds like the cable is either not really a crossover cable, or it's defective. Here are some CAT5 wiring diagrams. CAT5 Cable Wiring Diagram #1, CAT5 Cable Wiring Diagram #2 __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

01-09-2006, 08:11 AM	#6 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,802 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	OK, let us know. :) __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

01-11-2006, 02:22 PM	#8 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,802 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Let's try this on each system. TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows XP with SP2. For these commands, Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt. Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ip reset reset.log If that doesn't get it done, try this Automated WINSOCK Fix for XP and see if it gets it done. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

01-05-2006, 06:41 PM	#3 (permalink)
woodenboy Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 18 OS: WinXP Home	OK, I've done that but unfortunately there is no difference.

01-08-2006, 11:41 AM	#5 (permalink)
woodenboy Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 18 OS: WinXP Home	OK, I've checked the cable against the diagrams on those pages, it's definitely a crossover cable. I'll check it on someone else's system and see if it works, and get back to you. Thanks.

01-11-2006, 01:57 AM	#7 (permalink)
woodenboy Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 18 OS: WinXP Home	OK - I've checked the cable on a friend's system - same setup (2 computers using Win XP Home) and it works perfectly! What on earth could be going wrong with my system???

01-12-2006, 02:15 AM	#9 (permalink)
woodenboy Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 18 OS: WinXP Home	Grrrr, no change!! I tried all your suggested fixes on both machines, and nothing has changed. It's very, very strange!

01-12-2006, 05:54 PM	#10 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,802 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Can we see another IPCONFIG /ALL for both machines? __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

01-13-2006, 03:45 AM	#11 (permalink)
woodenboy Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 18 OS: WinXP Home	Sure. Computer 1: Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : general Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VIA VT6102 Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-E0-18-D1-67-05 PPP adapter Tiscali Broadband: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00 Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 80.44.99.70 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 80.44.99.70 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 80.225.249.178 80.225.255.58 Computer 2: Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : music Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SiS 900-based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-D8-52-B9-90 Interesting - since doing those last couple of things you suggested, Computer 2 no longer has that stuff about a "Tunnel Adaptor Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface", whatever that is. Anyway, hope you can glean some info from this Last edited by woodenboy; 01-13-2006 at 03:47 AM.

01-13-2006, 01:33 PM	#12 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,802 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	The Tunnel Adapter is with IPv6, and all of that junk just screws up normal configurations. At this point, I have to believe it's either one of the NIC's or the cable. Obviously, you've checked the connect LED's on the NIC's and they're all off, right? If you can find someone with a laptop to come over, you can substitute it for each computer and see which end has the problem. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

01-13-2006, 03:02 PM	#13 (permalink)
woodenboy Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 18 OS: WinXP Home	Sorry - connect LED's on the NIC's? I'm not sure what that means.

01-13-2006, 03:51 PM	#14 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,303 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	There are tiny LED (Light emitting diode) lamps on the cards that light. One should light steady when a connection is made and there other flashes to indicate data flow. To add more, my friend's PC did the same thing. We tried a few new cards and tested with cables that were being used on other machines with no problem. His PC would not work! We eventually wiped the OS and reinstalled. Not a problem since then. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

01-14-2006, 03:49 AM	#15 (permalink)
woodenboy Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 18 OS: WinXP Home	I'm beginning to think that my computer must be from another planet, or that I'm simply just not getting something really obvious here. I can't see any LEDs on the back of my machine, around the network cable socket or elsewhere. Could this have anything to do with it being built into the motherboard rather than as a separate card? Wiping the OS and reinstalling is something I did just a few weeks ago, for other reasons. I had tried this before the reinstallation and had the same problem before and after. So would you suggest I buy new network cards? Would it be better/worse/no different to think about using wireless cards? I'm really lost as to what to do about this.

01-14-2006, 10:25 AM	#16 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,802 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Since you have a wired network, I'd try a cheap wired card. You can try it in each machine, it's really doubtful that both are bad. Also, I'd make SURE the cable is good before you spend any money on NICs. CAT5 wiring diagrams. CAT5 Cable Wiring Diagram #1, CAT5 Cable Wiring Diagram #2 __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

01-14-2006, 10:31 AM	#17 (permalink)
woodenboy Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 18 OS: WinXP Home	OK, thanks I'll try that. Just to clarify - does this error come up when there is a disconnected cable anywhere in the network, or just on that card? i.e., if the card is working on computer 1 but not on computer 2, would computer 1 still say "network cable unplugged"?

01-15-2006, 12:45 PM	#18 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,802 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Well, if you had two machines connected with a crossover cable and removed the connection, I'd expect both to indicate that they had a "network cable unplugged". __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

01-19-2006, 10:07 AM	#19 (permalink)
woodenboy Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 18 OS: WinXP Home	Problem solved Right then, thank you everyone for your help with this. The problem is now solved. I bought a cheap network card, as suggested, and tried it in computer 1 - hey presto, things started happening! First of all I was getting a "limited or no connectivity" error on both machines, and I thought - great! that's better than "a network cable is unplugged"! Anyway, I found another thread where someone had the same problem and someone suggested manually inputting the IP addresses, I did that and everything kicked into action. I now have two connected computers!!!! Thanks everyone so much for your help, you're really kind to be helping people out like this. Last edited by woodenboy; 01-19-2006 at 10:08 AM.