[lovitt]

Hello,

My EMAC last night would not connect to the internet and in system preferences, it said the cable was not plugged in which is odd as I had not unplugged it since it last worked. The router was working fine and the other computer hooked to it was connected. I thought it was a cord issue so I put in the cord from the other computer into it and it was still saying the same thing. I reset the computer a few times, the router a few times and no luck. I then ran disc utility and it found no problems. I also ran tech tools (i think that is the name of the apple care disc they send?) and it found no issues with the hard ware at all. Any suggestions on what it could be and what else I can try to fix it? Any help would be great.

Brian

[ghporter]

Open Network Utility and select your Ethernet adapter. It should tell you what's going on with the card itself with the "Info" button selected. If it shows information like an IP address, then something really odd is going on. More likely it will show no IP address, but it should show a hardware address, indicating that the card is operational.

The next thing to do is to get a small toothbrush or something similar, and after turning off the computer and unplugging the cable, scrub that Ethernet port! Over time, dust and humidity can cause problems in this sort of connector, and while the connector is similar to phone jacks, it's bigger and can thus trap more gunk. We also use computers in places that get less air circulation—and can thus collect more humidity— than phones, so this can also contribute to the problem.

It really looks like a hardware problem, and if it's not the connector (and you've proven it's not the cable), then it may be that the Ethernet adapter has failed.

[olePigeon]

Also, sometimes those ethernet jacks can been pretty tough to put an ethernet cable in all the way (MacBooks come to mind.)

[idykenano]

Just as an aside if you can't get the port operational again... you can get a usb to ethernet adaptor to renetwork your emac.
I know that the ethernet cards in emacs are a part of the logic board and can't be removed/replaced without the whole logic board, which is unfortunate.