# Network Cable Unplugged Message with Wireless Card



## pamsuegun (May 7, 2005)

Can anyone help - I am stuck. I have a Belkin wireless card that I have been using to connect a laptop to my 2WIRE router ( 2 other computers are wired to this router as well). All was well until my kids gummed up the laptop with spyware. My husband had his place of work clear off the adware and get the labtop operating again, but now everytime I try to connect to the internet the LAN information says "network cable unplugged" (although there is no "cable" since it is a wireless connection!) There are lots of message boards about this type of problem but I cannot make sense of them for my situation. By the way, the laptop connects just fine to the interent at my husband's place of work - just not at home anymore. The laptop is running Windows 2000. I have the Belkin card correctly configured with the router WEP code.

Thanks.


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## -i-Ver$ioN (May 1, 2005)

Have you removed all of the spyware? If you haven't, then I'd suggest you download Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition 1.05 - update it, and run a scan. Or, if you have already removed the spyware, then try the following:
1.Disable the NIC in Device Manager 
2.Shut Down the Computer 
3.Power Cycle the Modem (Switch off the modem and unplug all the cables and reconnect after 10 seconds) 
4.While power cycling just Swap the ends of Ethernet Cable. 
5.Restart the Computer. 
6.Enable the NIC in Device Manager. 
7.Restart the Computer again if the OS is other than Win XP. 
8.Create a Broadband Profile and Connect through that Profile. 
If you need more detailed instructions, let me know.


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## rumpo (May 6, 2005)

I've come across this at work.

If you have a wireless network connection in Network Connections along with a regular NIC, you need to disable the regular NIC so that only the wireless network connection is enabled. Only have one enabled at a time. If a NIC is enabled and capable of an ethernet connection, but has none in it, it will display "A network cable is unplugged" every time. Also, a lot of wireless cards will not connect so long as there is another NIC enabled. 

Give it a try, hope it works.


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## tracy moore (May 11, 2005)

hi im kindof computer illiterate and cant seem to figure out what the problem is with my comp. i have aol amd i can connect to the internet with no problems but i have an icon at the bottom of my screen that says network cable unplugged .when i go to network connections it says both my dail up and aol have been disconnected but alas im online i can instant message and go to sites but i cannot participate in any chat rooms or voting of any kind im completely lost when it comes to tech support , any help is welcome and appreiciated. thanks


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## ORI0N (May 12, 2005)

The 2wire router has a built-in firewall. If you have a software firewall on the laptop that will cause problems connecting.

Check for firewalls and disable any.

Reconfigure the wireless client manager for the wireless card


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## JBotAlan (Apr 30, 2005)

Ugh..spyware? Wipe the hard drive and re-install! Hopefully you have some kind of disk that came with the laptop to clear the drive and put Windows back on there. I say this only because I have had absolutely zero luck uninstalling spyware and have never had any utility work for me.


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## yto_daniel (Mar 25, 2005)

I agree with the recommendation to simply try disabling the regular network adapter, after you've disabled the regular adapter, Check your belkin wireless software to see if its detecting the local wireless access point and see if you can connect to it.

Daniel - YourTechOnline.com technician
[email protected]_spam_yourtechonline.com (remove no_spam_)


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## dep37 (May 26, 2005)

I just had the same problem with my wireless NIC - I kept getting a message that my network cord was unplugged. The reason, after hours of scratching my head, was that the "PassPhrase" I was using for my secure network had been removed somehow on my router. Perhaps it was because my router runs an auto-update for firmware. Anyway, simply adding my passphrase back solved my problem. My laptop connected as soon as I saved my settings.


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## sayitisntso (Jun 1, 2005)

Okay...what is NIC and where do I find it in the device manager? I have a wireless router that works fine, but once in awhile I get the "unplugged" message. I can hook to the Internet, yada yada yada, but now I can't access my main puter files. I will ck the firewall too. Meantime what the NIC and how do I disable it?


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## Memnoch322 (May 11, 2005)

Someone already mentioned that if you have a Local area connection and a wireless connection and are using the wireless connection with no cable in the ethernet port, you local area connection is unplugged! and behold you get the "a network cable is unplugged" right click the connections icon in the system try and select open network connections. In network connections right click the local area connection and select "disabled"


If you are having problems connecting wirelessly do this.

Goto netowrk connections and right click wireless network connection and select status, and then the support tab, whats the IP address,?


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## sayitisntso (Jun 1, 2005)

I've got Cox Cable internet on my main computer. I have a Lysis router. I wasn't having any problems accessing my main computer until the other day. My laptop got hung up when I was accessing photos on the main pute. Whatever happened, happened and I got that message. I had it before and I'm not sure how I fixed it. I believe I had that unplugged message. I'll try what you suggested when I get home from work. Thanks!


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## dep37 (May 26, 2005)

I agree with the fact that if you are hooked up to a Local Area Network using a wireless network card (NIC) and if you also have a card that requires a cable (CAT5 cable with RJ-45 Jack), you can receive a network cable unplugged message. But, if you are not able to connect to the internet, or to LAN computers using a wireless network card, disabling the standard network card will do nothing. It will simply turn off something that you are not using anyway . If you are running a computer that has both Wireless and wired network cards, (like my laptop), if you look in your Device Manager under Network Adapters, you will see two network adapters. Turning off one you are not using anyway, (standard ethernet card) will not cause the other (wireless card) to work all of a sudden.


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## sayitisntso (Jun 1, 2005)

Unless someone gives me 1,2,3, instructions, I'm a little lost. I can't disable any of the network connections on my main computer as that knocks out the Internet. So, do I do this in the laptop? I have new main computer (tower) with XP Professional with a cable connection. I have Linksys 2.4 broadband router for the laptop which has XP Home edition (probably the REAL problem). There, that's a little clearer. My network connections are visable on the laptop but when I try to access them I get an error message that they do not exist. Yes, I get the internet on the laptop with no problem. I can't access files. When I try to repair the connection, I get the unplugged message. Thanks for any advise. I'm not getting a clear picture on these messages as to how to fix it... It took me awhile to even find the device manager in XP Pro. I'm not that familiar with Pro as I am Home.


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## dep37 (May 26, 2005)

-go to "My Computer", right click and select properties, then network identification.

-check that the two computer that you are trying to network are in the same workgroup regardless of whether they are wireless or not...

-if they ARE in the same workgroup, open "Network and Dial-up Connections". Right click which ever network connection is connected, and go to properties. Check to see if Microsoft file and print sharing appears along with TCP/IP. If it does not, add it by clicking install, then services.

-Make sure any folders that you are trying to share are correctly shared, they will appear with a hand under it.

If all else fails, make sure that if you are running any type of software firewall, i.e. zone alarm, or any other program that will restrict network access, that it is configured to allow your computer to connect with another in a local area connection.

Good luck! :up:


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## sayitisntso (Jun 1, 2005)

Thanks. I'm sure something isn't right. Though I got it to work (don't know how), I have a lot of router issues with the laptop!


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