After years of trouble free service this computer suddenly stopped connecting to the home (ARRIS TG-862) network. He had not downloaded anything recently; the only thing he did was to plug in the usb connectors for the Inland wireless mouse and keyboard which we have been using on the living room computer to watch sports games. It was at that time he noticed the internet fail symbol on the bottom right of his display. No change after disconnecting them. All other home devices-wired and wifi-still connect. Device/Properties/Intel Management Engine Interface (PCI bus 0 device 3 function0) shows status: this device cannot start (CODE 10). Device/Properties/Intel Active Management Technology-SOL (COM 3) shows: Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (CODE 43). Running diagnostics indicated that reinstalling the driver might fix this problem. After wasting hours-actually days-of research with MS, intel, manufacturer etc., I discovered-on this, Tom's Hardware forum:
THE SOLUTION, which was painstakingly easy-I TOOK THE CMOS BATTERY OUT FOR 1 MINUTE AND PUT IT BACK IN, RESET THE CLOCK, POWERED UP AND THE COMPUTER FIXED ITSELF! This solution has worked for a number of problems users had with the operating system not recognizing the network LAN on the mother board; indeed, Control Panel/System/Device Manager did NOT show “Network Devices” in its list until the battery solution was employed.
Like bob_mills did in his similar story, where I found this solution, I "rubbed my eyes in disbelief as I had a working internet connection which I'm using right now to post this." He hypothesized, "What I suspect happened:
Most likely - my PC experienced a power surge either from outside the house or inside which went through my router, down the network cable and into the LAN port on the motherboard. This then gave the motherboard a heart attack which disabled the network adapter, either accidentally or on purpose - if the motherboard is clever enough to disable misbehaving bits attached to it.
Less likely - I have heard that certain malware or viruses can mask the hardware so that it disappears from Windows, but the virus can still actually use it in the background. This way Windows doesn't think you have a network adapter so won't let you go online to fix the virus issue - clever.
I reckon that forcing the motherboard to reset its settings by removing the battery made it take a fresh look at what was connected to it, and this re-enabled the network adapter. It is also possible that if a virus was to blame - and the virus had changed the motherboard or network adapter settings to its own benefit then forcing the motherboard to use the default settings over-rode these nasty settings.
Either way, this worked for me." Me, too, Bob...may God smile on you for sharing this! ...and my brother, also, who advised "always try the simple solution before taking on a more time consuming and complex one.'
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