"Half-dead" LAN port on an Asus X50GL notebook (any fix?)
Good day folks. I'm faced with a pretty standard, yet possibly difficult to solve issue, so I'd like some thoughts on this: for quite a long time now, the wired network on my Asus X50gl notebook has just stopped working and I have no idea 1. what could've caused this and 2. if there's any fix.
Some background of course: I haven't used the LAN port on this notebook for years on end, since I always go wireless, but one day I absolutely needed it for configuring a router or connecting to the network in university, can't remember, doesn't matter. I plugged in the cable, the little network icon in the system tray (Windows 7) began spinning and after a very long while (which immediately told me something's not quite right), it turned to the yellow triangle saying "unidentified network"...here commenced the usual troubleshooting procedures of any LAN, which I'm aware of, so please do not suggest them: the configuration of the adapter is correct as far as the IPs are concerned, the LAN cables, the router/switches, the whole physical network is fine and works perfectly on other computers, the LAN driver has been uninstalled and reinstalled several times, both from Asus and straight from Nvidia, even tried another Windows 7 from another hard drive (today in fact) - no changes ! The adapter is an Nvidia Nforce Networking controller. Another thing which to me indicates an issue is that, even with the "unidentified network" staus, the "sent" packets go up, while the "received" packets never go above 0. The laptop does not have a status LED, but the one on the device at the other end of the cable does come on and flash periodically like it normally would, it even indicates a "gigabit-capable" device, which is technically correct. I should also mention that I DID flash my BIOS to the latest version I could find once, but I don't know whether the LAN was working at that point or it had already bugged out. I've also upgraded the CPU twice, currently running an Intel T9600, though I believe it's irrelevant. Any way of doing a "chip-level" repair, perhaps replacing the chip entirely or any "fancy" repair ? Has anyone un-bricked a LAN adapter before ? ANY thoughts on the issue ? Cheers.
Some background of course: I haven't used the LAN port on this notebook for years on end, since I always go wireless, but one day I absolutely needed it for configuring a router or connecting to the network in university, can't remember, doesn't matter. I plugged in the cable, the little network icon in the system tray (Windows 7) began spinning and after a very long while (which immediately told me something's not quite right), it turned to the yellow triangle saying "unidentified network"...here commenced the usual troubleshooting procedures of any LAN, which I'm aware of, so please do not suggest them: the configuration of the adapter is correct as far as the IPs are concerned, the LAN cables, the router/switches, the whole physical network is fine and works perfectly on other computers, the LAN driver has been uninstalled and reinstalled several times, both from Asus and straight from Nvidia, even tried another Windows 7 from another hard drive (today in fact) - no changes ! The adapter is an Nvidia Nforce Networking controller. Another thing which to me indicates an issue is that, even with the "unidentified network" staus, the "sent" packets go up, while the "received" packets never go above 0. The laptop does not have a status LED, but the one on the device at the other end of the cable does come on and flash periodically like it normally would, it even indicates a "gigabit-capable" device, which is technically correct. I should also mention that I DID flash my BIOS to the latest version I could find once, but I don't know whether the LAN was working at that point or it had already bugged out. I've also upgraded the CPU twice, currently running an Intel T9600, though I believe it's irrelevant. Any way of doing a "chip-level" repair, perhaps replacing the chip entirely or any "fancy" repair ? Has anyone un-bricked a LAN adapter before ? ANY thoughts on the issue ? Cheers.
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