Annoying problem that needs fixing.

I have NTL Broadband 1Mbps
My mate has BlueYonder Broadband 1Mbps

Were both having a problem with this coming up: ''Network Cable is Unplugged''

Im running XP Home, he's running XP Pro

We both download criticals as soon as theres a critical to download.

He found out that XP had lost his home network.
I simply went into the control panel, clicked network connections, update driver, said there wasnt any better ones, i clicked ok, and it was back on.

Any fixes/tips/suggestions to get rid of this annoying thing.
It hasnt been happening until we've downloaded the latest critical.
Looks like an xp c0ck-up on a critical to me.
Should I uninstall the latest critical?

What do you guys think?

 

What network cards are in use?

Are the computers identical otherwise?

 

He is on a home network with 2 computers and its connected through an rj-45 (I think) and my broadband is through my USB port

 

Very different situations, huh?

That makes it more mysterious. My suggestion was going to be that you should go to the sites of the NIC manufacturers and look for new drivers. That still may not be a bad idea. MS does not update all drivers with the most recent versions through the update process (neither from Windows Update nor from the Device Manager updater).
If you are using a USB connection, try the manufacturer of the modem.

You could, of course, uninstall the update to see if it helps.

 

Geordie - 3 most common causes of the "cable unplugged" error:

1. The cable is unplugged/loose or the physical port is bad/marginal.
2. The cable is marginal (most often seen if the user put on the ends)
3. Speed/duplexing negotiation problem between two devices.

The solutions to 1 & 2 are obvious (and with your having USB you won't have #2 in any case).

And truthfully I can't speak to #3 for USB since I have zero experience with it for networking.

But for regular NICs, the usual cause is a failure of two devices to agree on an operating speed. The usual problem seems to be with the "Auto" speed/duplexing setting on the NIC or on the switch if it has the feature. Best bet is to set both to the same values if possible and if not, set the NIC to a value that will work. 100Mbs full-duplex is fastest but sometimes the connection is more reliable at 10Mbs half-duplex (slowest choice) or 10-full or 100-half. Since all are much faster than the internet connection, it certainly won't cause performance issues there.

 

well my mate has had his 1Mbps connection for around 6 month now, and Ive had it for around 2 month, and weve never had any problems before so I wonder why its just started happening now.

 

Geordie - sorry but I still don't have the first clue about USB networking except to know that as a general rule I prefer to stay away from it. Some folks have great luck with it but the reality is that USB is excellent for many applications but IMO networking isn't among them. But glad you got yours working again.

As for your mate - it would help to get some details on his setup.
- direct cabling/hub and ICS or using a router switch?
- and could you get copies of a couple of informational files from him and post here? From each of his PCs (assuming all are NT systems)
start~run~cmd
ipconfig /all > pc1.txt (or pc2.txt or whatever as long as there is a file from each PC).

Post the results of those here if you would.

 

Geordie,
This may not apply to your problem(s) but it may be worth a try.
You mentioned in your original post that your mate "lost his home network ".
I have two XP Pro machines connected with a Xover cable and occasionally the Guest machine looses it's connection to the network (Host machine). I have found that I need to run the network setup wizard again and the network and the mapped folders/drives suddenly work again. This happens when both the NIC's are still talking to each other OK as well. Annoying when it occasionally happens but easily fixed!

As Abraxas has suggested make sure both cards are using the latest XP compatible drivers and reseat the connecting cables incase some dust is between one of the contacts, particularly on the RJ45 connectors/sockets.

 

But Im through USB and its done it to me as well.