Can't connect to the internet anymore (hardware and/or software issue)

[cmasupra]

I am having trouble connecting to the internet now. I spent the last 2 days trying to get rid of a virus on my desktop computer, but I'm not sure if the virus and my loss of internet are related.

I connect to the internet using Ethernet. I stopped being able to connect maybe 16 hours ago while I was running various Linux live CDs to try to remove the virus. At first (2 days ago), the CDs were able to connect to the internet, but then they all of a sudden stopped being able to. I thought, "Oh, well. I don't need them to connect anyway". Now, the virus is removed, but I can't connect to the internet in Windows 7, any Linux live CDs, or OS X (hackintosh).

I'm not sure if this is a hardware or software problem. I don't know if the virus could have screwed something up to cause all of my OSes to not be able to connect to the internet, or if I just got unlucky and my motherboard's built-in NIC died while I was dealing with a virus. Can anyone help me run tests or give ideas on how to fix the issue?

Extra info:
1) If I plug the same Ethernet cable into my laptop, my laptop is able to use it for internet, so the cable isn't a problem.
2) I can't even connect to my router from my desktop computer (the computer with the connection issue).

 

[strongvpn]

There are a lot of reasons,such as NIC driver is broken

 

[inzone]

With trouble shooting you have to take one thing at a time and then go to the next because if you jump around trying different things you'll never get it fixed.
Start with the adapter driver and make sure that it's ok , delete it and the reload it. First download the current driver from the support page of the adapter and save it to your desktop so when you delete the one you have you can load the new one. Before loading the nw one empty the recycle bin so Windows don't grab it back.

Even though you tested the ethernet cable you should try another to make sure.

After loading the new driver go into device manager and make sure it says that the device is working properly.

Do a hard reset of the router , that is unplug it and then plug it back in, waiting 10-20 sec before re-pluging it in. Also shutting down the computer at this time and restarting it once the router is back on.

Once you have done all this take a look at the Lan port with the cable pluged in and see if there are any lights on. There are two small leds on the adapter that will tell you that the adapter is on and that traffic is maoving through it. One will be green and on all the time and the other will be orange or yellow and be blinking.

 

[cmasupra]

I followed all the steps and also ran the Realtek Ethernet Diagnostic Utility before your steps and after your steps. Realtek Ethernet Diagnostic Utility said all the hardware was working fine both times. However, I still can't get a network connection after running your steps.

I don't have a green or orange light near my Ethernet port. I don't think I've ever had a green light (maybe the bulb was out, or the orange one was simply much brighter so I didn't notice a green light). I definitely used to have an orange light, though.

Do you or anyone have any other ideas? Is there any setting that could be in the Realtek Windows network driver and possibly affect its working ability in all 3 OSes? I've listed all the driver settings and their current value below in case you or anyone sees anything that is obviously wrong:

Auto Disable Gigabit: Disabled
Flow Control: Enabled
Green Ethernet: Enabled
Interrupt Moderation: Enabled
IPv4 Checksum Offload: Rx & Tx Enabled
JumboFrame: Disabled
Large Send Offload v2 (IPv4): Enabled
Large Send Offload v2 (IPv6): Enabled
Network Address: Not Present
Priority & VLAN: Priority & VLAN Enabled
Receive Buffers: 512
Receive Side Scaling: Enabled
Shutdown Wake-On-Lan: Enabled
Speed & Duplex: Auto Negotiation
TCP Checksum Offload (IPv4): Rx & Tx Enabled
TCP Checksum Offload (IPv6): Rx & Tx Enabled
Transmit Buffers: 128
UDP Checksum Offload (IPv4): Rx & Tx Enabled
UDP Checksum Offload (IPv6): Rx & Tx Enabed
Wake on Magic Packet: Enabled
Wake on Pattern Match: Enabled
WOL & Shutdown Link Speed: 10 Mbps First

I have WOL enabled because I use it on this machine just for convenience (when I have a connection). In the Windows settings, I used to have IPv4 set to a static IP, but I changed it back to dynamic when this problem started. Neither one works right now, though.

 

[inzone]

If you don't have the lights on the lan port then there is something wrong with the Lan adapter. There are two things it could be , the Lan connector is defective and thus broken or danaged and second it is disabled in the bios.
Have you checked the status of the Lan controller in the bios ?

 

[cmasupra]

Everything looks good to me in the BIOS. Here are all the network-related settings:

Onboard H/W LAN: Enabled
Green LAN: Disabled (while the Windows setting is enabled, so that's interesting)
Onboard LAN Boot ROM: Enabled

The only interesting thing I see there is that Green LAN is disabled in the BIOS, but it's enabled in the driver in Windows. I manually disabled it in the BIOS years ago (so I could use WOL).

 

[cmasupra]

Little update: I went out and bought a cheap Asus PCI NIC (Asus NX1101) and it's working in Windows only. I would still like to get the motherboard's built-in network card working again if possible.