Ethernet connection help

For the past few days I've been trying to troubleshoot my onboard ethernet port not recognizing the cable that's plugged in. I've done a reset of my modem and router, although the cable is now plugged directly into the modem. I made sure the ethernet cable is still good. I checked that the driver was installed. Removed the driver and reinstalled it. The device is recognized, but still doesn't recognize the cable/signal. I've cleared CMOS and updated the BIOS.

Trying to avoid RMAing the board, I installed a PCIE LAN card. Everything for the card is working, but again it also eventually stopped responding.

The weirdest part is that during the whole process the internet has come back now and then. No idea why and I obviously can't recreate it. I have no idea what could be effecting both the onboard and the card. I'm very frustrated and looking for any other options before I have to tear down the system and send it back for a replacement.

Is it "nothing plugged in" or "limited internet"?. Sounds like you've been reasonably thorough from your computer --> the end of your ethernet cable, so it might be the router or simply your provider having a shoddy period.

I'd call your provider and see if they have issues in your area.

If you suspect deeper driver issues, you could try loading up Ubuntu or Mint on a USB stick and see if the problem persists. Also, do double check the cable if it's "nothing plugged in" ;) It sucks if you try an alternative cable, which also happens to be broke.

Connect an Ethernet cable from one computer to another (computer to computer) , try to transfer data , if it works correctly then the modem/router is the problem.

Note:Network handling in Windows Vista and newer is quite easy , if you are using older version , Google How to create networks on the specific OS.

So i tried connecting my laptop to the desktop via another ethernet cable. The desktop recognized the connection but I wasn't able to figure out how to easily transfer any files as the desktop in Win7 and the laptop is Win8. Anyways, this still seems like good news because the desktop at least saw that it was connected. Now I'm starting to think the regular ethernet cable I use to the desktop is no good, even though every time I hook it up to the laptop it works fine.

@MlauTheDaft I'm getting the "nothing connected to ethernet port" error. I'm not sure how it could be an issue with my service or the modem or router as it seems to be working fine for everything else in the household.

It was the F-ing cable!

Still not sure why it would work for the laptop, but anywho. I pulled up the carpet, pulled out the old cable and saw the fray that was probably causing the issue, ran the new cable. and now everything is good. What a pain in the ass.

@quikdash6:

Glad you double checked the cable and got it fixed :) Enjoy your internet matey!

It's probably because your laptop's port is 100 mb/s and that only requires one pair to work. Desktop was probably trying to connect at 1 gb/s which requires all 4 pairs to be working.