Question : Troubleshooting LAN connection

My Vista PC will - suddenly - not connect to the LAN. Onboard LAN.

The link/activity lights on the NIC and the associated port on the switch do not come on. I've tried a new (known good) Cat5 cable and a different (known good) port on the switch. I've been into BIOS settings to check that the on-board LAN is enabled. I've been into Control Panel > System > Device Manager and it shows the NIC as present and working correctly.

NIC is shown as: Realtek RTL8168B/8118B Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.0).

Vista (Home Premium) is fully up-to-date. I rolled back the NIC driver but it didn't make any difference.

Not sure what to do next other than disable the on-board LAN and put in a separate card.

Any suggestions..?

Thx, Chris






When I power up the PC the link light for the associated port on the switch comes on briefly

Answer : Troubleshooting LAN connection

The new NIC was the answer. I accepted this as the solution as this course of action was what I proposed in my initial post - I was looking for alternatives. Thanks to all who contributed however.