Motorola Cable modem keeps disconnecting

Chances are good that that Dell does not have the latest drivers for your NIC on their website.

Please:
1) go to Control Panel.
2) Double-click on Device Manager.
3) Expand the Network Adapters and tell me what entry is in there for your Ethernet NIC.
4) Double-click on the Ethernet NIC and go over to the Driver tab. Please tell me the Driver Date and the Driver Version.

I will then check to be sure you are using the latest driver for your NIC.

 

I made a pic so I wouldn't screw up any numbers in the drivers description. The date is old. BTW- the 'update driver' button finds nothing.

 

I checked the Intel site as well and got the info in the picture - no longer supported.

 

You're absolutely right; your older Intel Ethernet adapter is no longer being supported by Intel. I did some intensive Internet searches and found no newer drivers for your adapter.

What I would do if I were in your shoes would be to purchase an inexpensive USB-to-Ethernet adapter like this one, install it and it's drivers, and see if your disconnect problems go away:

http://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-USB-...49899491&sr=8-4&keywords=usb ethernet adapter.

You can use the adapter of your choice; I have had good luck with the Trendnet adapter in the past, so that is the one that the Amazon link points to.

 

Thanks for all your research and information. I will check into the solution you suggest. Since uninstalling trend micro safe sync I have had no further disconnects, so I wonder if that program (or its drivers) may have been the cause of the disconnects because of some conflict? I saw an updated driver #9.13.4.12 but could find nowhere to download it, at least nowhere to download from a site I felt was safe. There was info that the driver was available on an Acer site, but I think if the disconnects continue I'll try to remedy the problem with your suggestion. Again, thanks to you and others who have helped.

 

It might not hurt to uninstall, reboot, and reinstall those drivers anyway. If it was a real card and not integrated on the motherboard, I would suggest changing slots when it was powered off.

Hopefully, uninstalling and reinstalling would force Windows and driver to re-handshake, and assign new, or overwrite the IRQ and protocol settings, perhaps (with a little luck) reset a wayward setting giving problems.

And again, Ethernet cables are low-tech and not very robust - especially pre-made at some factory. I always make my own - to the length I need. Not 10 feet extra or 2 feet too short. A good Ethernet cable tester can be a good investment too - in terms of blood pressure and hairlines.

 

Bill, as usual, the advice in your posts are "spot on".

I too thought about advising acr1965 to reinstall his adapter driver, but when I got ready to suggest that, it occurred to be that he/she might not know where to download/install the driver from since his adapter is no longer supported by Intel, therefore making the driver more difficult to obtain.

Also, using a different Ethernet adapter would tell us if his current adapter, indeed, is not working properly for any number of reasons.