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Darrell Allen

Q: Non-acknowledgement of plugged in Ethernet Cable

Greetings!

This evening, when plugging in my laptop to the LAN network at my work, I encountered a problem that I am afraid may be signaling the need for expensive repair. Although I plugged in a working Ethernet cable (I verified on this computer!), the laptop's network status insisted that the cable for Built-In Ethernet was not plugged in. Is this a hardware failure?

PowerBook G4, Mac OS X (10.3.x)

Posted on Oct 31, 2008 11:40 PM

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Q: Non-acknowledgement of plugged in Ethernet Cable

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  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Nov 1, 2008 10:46 AM in response to Darrell Allen
    Level 9 (60,884 points)
    Desktops
    Nov 1, 2008 10:46 AM in response to Darrell Allen
    Not necessarily. That is a catch-all description roughly equivalent to "It ain't workin' at all".

    Exactly which powerBook makes a difference -- older ones require the correct cable (straight or cross) before they can function. The far more common straight cable has the same-colored wires in the same order at each end of the cable. Look through the clear connector body at the tiny wires inside.

    There are also many configuration problems which could give you that result. Many corporate set-ups are using DHCP, so your System Preferences > Network > Built-In Ethernet must be configured to use that.

    An IP Address must have been assigned, either automatically through DHCP, or manually. 192.168.xxx.yyy is the "self-assigned" IP Address range, which indicates you are talking only to yourself.
  • by Darrell Allen,

    Darrell Allen Darrell Allen Nov 1, 2008 2:04 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 1, 2008 2:04 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Hi Grant:

    Thanks for your reply. I’ve been hooking up my laptop to my work’s network collection without incident since Spring 2006, so the cable is not the issue. My preferences are set to DHCP, which eliminates that potentiality. The thought did occur to me to manually type in an IP address before connecting the Ethernet cable yet again, but that produced the same result. So, that leaves me still back at Square One.
  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,Helpful

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Nov 1, 2008 5:16 PM in response to Darrell Allen
    Level 9 (60,884 points)
    Desktops
    Nov 1, 2008 5:16 PM in response to Darrell Allen
    I was assuming that you were plugging this in for the very first time.

    Plugging and unplugging a cable every day could possibly have caused one or two of the wires in the cable to break -- especially if the cable uses solid wire rather than the much more flexible and less common stranded wire. I would try to obtain another cable before blaming other Hardware. If no joy, then work with your support people (if any) to use a cable tester or another laptop to check the cabling in the wall and the port on the Switch. Ports on switches do sometimes wear out. Try your laptop in another location, too.

    Before long you will spot the trend -- the problem will likely follow your laptop, your cable, the wall wiring, or the port on the switch.