Network Connection Problem.

[Andromedon]

Again, I come to you guys for an answer to a problem that google just doesn't seem to cover. It could be a faulty network card but maybe with the combined experience of this forum someone might know of something to try.

Situation - I just bought a used laptop with windows xp home. Everything appears to be working great (it needed many optimizations) after a bit, I finally wanted to get connected to the internet. I hooked up the ethernet - a 10/100 connection port. The two computers in the lower right hand corner dissapeared...for a few seconds then reappeared for a few...then the process kept repeating until I unplugged the ethernet connection.

[Krell]

"I hooked up the ethernet - a 10/100 connection port."

tell me more about this, in detail


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[Andromedon]

Its a Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC. There appear to be no resource conflicts. The only thing I could possibly find that might be causing the problem was a checkmarked box under the advanced tab - power management that said "check this box if you want the computer to shut this device off to save power" I of course, unchecked it and restarted...only to find the problem persisted.

[Andromedon]

The problem itself, in more detail - I started the laptop without the ethernet plugged in. After some optimizations I tried to connect to the internet through the above mentioned device. After a few seconds, the computers in the bottom right hand corner connected. A few seconds later, it dissapeared and was replaced by the disconnected computer icons....this happened over and over every few seconds.

[Krell]

Is this at home, work, school? Are you sure you are using a good cable, not a crossover etc?

Are you set to DHCP on the TCP/IP properties? Everything to auto?


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[Andromedon]

Its at home right now. The cable is good, I just used it on another computer I had hooked up to it today. Yep, its set to DHCP and everything is on "auto".

[Krell]

Go to your network connections area, and access the connectoid from there

Is this Bridged with anything else?

Disable it, then re enable it, by right clicking

Also, are you running a firewall on that laptop?

If so, make sure it is set to Allow All traffic for now. (theres a reason)


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[Andromedon]

No firewall and I've tried to disable and renable it already. Still with the same result. There is a wan connection that is disabled....for I don't need dialup connectivity. And yes, I've tried to enable it while having the ethernet enabled too with the same problems.

[Malakai1911]

so by no conflicts, i think it would be safe to assume if you went to: control panel -> system -> hardware tab -> device manager. then double click the network card, the status is "This device is working properly." right?

If you type "ipconfig /a" at a command prompt, what does it read?

Have you tried setting everything manually instead of relying on dhcp?

Have you tried the XP built in troubleshooter? http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/troubleshoot/xp-built-in.htm

[Andromedon]

I tried all of that Malakai, seems how it being a new computer in my possession I thought I would reinstall the operating system. It is still doing the same thing after a fresh install. Its got to be hardware related. I'm not too experienced taking laptops apart but I'm sure I can find something or other online that will help me.

Thanks so much for all your help. Everyone combined covered all the bases.