Ethernet port conked out

That's hard to say without more details. What testing did you do?

Hello,

The Ethernet adapter is built-into the logic board (main board) in Macintosh computers.

It's not a separate card that can be replaced like it is on many PC's.

So, you cannot replace a faulty Ethernet port without replacing your computer's main board / logic board. That's going to be more expensive than just buying another computer.

So, your options are new computer or USB Ethernet adapter.

A USB Ethernet adapter is going to plug into one of your USB ports, and act as an Ethernet port.

You need to make sure you get one that is compatible with your version of the Mac OS.

Some Mac drivers for standard PC-type USB to Ethernet adapters are provided here:
http://sustworks.com/site/newsusbethernet.html

Of course, if you can find one that comes with Mac Drivers, then that would be much better.

Here are some alternatives for Wireless (WiFi) Ethernet adapters on the Mac:
http://www.afterthemac.com/

I hope this helps.

Let us know if you have other questions.


P.S., if you'd like, go ahead and click the "Helpful" or "Solved" buttons on any of the posts / replies above if you feel they were helpful or adequately answered your question.

If the port is really dead, there is one more option. Plug an Airport card into the internal connector and make it go wireless. 802.11b compatible wireless router required, of course, but you may already have one of those.

Please feel free to post the "testing" performed to determine that the Ethernet port was dead; someone here might have additional ideas.

Hello,

The IMac won't take an airport card, but are there
external cards that we could plug in through the usb
port that would work?

You can check out the links I provided previously, they are the only good sources I can find:

Wireless Ethernet USB adapters (will work just like the AirPort):
http://www.afterthemac.com/

Understand that the "AirPort" is just Apple's fancy name for Standard WiFi Networking. It's not anything special. Just Apple's implementation.

So, any WiFi Ethernet Adapter is going to be compatible with Apple's Airport network.

Also, there is the other site I linked:

http://www.sustworks.com/site/newsusbethernet.html

That one lists drivers that you can use with standard PC-type USB to Ethernet adapters.

The problem there, is that most USB to Ethernet (not wireless) adapters come only with Windows drivers. So, this website provides information and support to make those devices with with Mac OS X.

Otherwise, I have not found a pre-packaged USB to Wired Ethernet device that comes with Mac drivers.

But, the first website lists lots of USB to Wireless Ethernet adapters that come with Mac Drivers.

I hope this helps.

You did try resetting the PRAM, hopefully, at some point during the testing.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

NOTE: A 600 MHz G3 iMac should be able to use Apple's older (802.1b) Airport Card, but an adapter is needed.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86258

...then realized the connection worked fine with other computers, making us conclude that it was the IMAC that the problem.

The iMac does not have an auto-sensing Ethernet port while the other computers you tested do. Therefore the iMac requires the correct Ethernet cable (patch or crossover) for the situation.

I have used the Sustainable Software driver with an Airlink 101 USB adapter on an iMac with a dead ethernet port. It works, but requires manually setting link to 10 base-T/UTP and half duplex. Auto setup doesn't work for me. For file sharing, the MTU has to be reduced from 1500 to 1490 or so. It is for OS 10.3.x and 10.4.x only. I haven't been able to locate an OS 9 driver anywhere.