My PC has been plugged into the ethernet for almost a year, and now I’m facing an issue where it does not read the network despite the LAN cable being connected. It just happened now and I’m unsure what to do. Any help is appreciated.
Look on your taskbar for an icon that looks like a globe/sphere. Right-click on it and then click ‘troubleshoot problems’. The Windows network troubleshooter will run and might suggest a fix or even fix it automatically. Let us know what it tells you if you’re unclear after it finishes.
For troubleshooting, you can give your PC temporary Internet access by plugging in your smartphone with a USB cable. Go into the Settings on your smartphone and look for ‘USB tethering’ to toggle it on. This will let your PC use your smartphone’s data plan, which is slower but might help for reinstallation and troubleshooting. Also, Ethernet cables can get damaged, so try swapping the cable or testing it with another device.
Go into device manager and remove the Ethernet adapter, then reboot your PC.
When plugged in, what IP address does your computer show? If it’s a 169.254.x.x address, then your DHCP server isn’t handing out IPs.
Unplug the router that the Ethernet comes from for a minute, then plug it back in and let it reboot. I had to do this recently when I lost my Ethernet connection. It could also be a damaged Ethernet cable, so test it with another computer if you can.
Had this happen after a thunderstorm. Best I could figure is that my card got fried by a surge while the modem/router survived. I tried different cables and ports, but now I’m wireless.
(Silly stuff) Restart everything: your PC, the router, and any Ethernet switch in between. Check all connections and see if you have a link light on both ends. If not resolved, use an Ethernet tester or swap out cables with known-good ones. If you have a USB Ethernet adapter, try that too. If it works, your port might be dead. Also, perform ‘NETCFG -d’ in command line to reset the TCPIP stack.
Have you tried turning it off and back on again?
I’m glad you worked it out! Sometimes the unplug and plug trick works great. It’s nice when the fix is easy!