Local Area Connection (monitors & red X) at startup

I really don't know if there is anything that can be done about this or not, but it is somewhat annoying.

I'm running Windows XP SP2, and there are two monitors with the red X that appear at startup and remain visible in the system tray - referring to "a network cable is unplugged". Can this be eliminated? From my understanding, it simply refers to the Windows firewall not being activated....but I use a different software firewall and have no need for the Windows XP firewall.

Does anyone know if there there is any way to have this icon removed from the sytem tray? Or does it actually refer to something different or more than just the Windows firewall? It doesn't really seem to serve a purpose, and it's annoying to look at....so I'd like to remove if it possible.

 

Thanks, ronjor, I do use DSL....but this icon appears somewhat frequently at bootup, regardless of weather conditions. Not always...and it will usually disappear after a period of time (from plain view - but you can always expand to show the "hidden" icons, and POOF! there it is). I will try doing a Google search to see what I can find....but if anyone knows of a way to disbale it and make it disappear, I'll be forever thankful

 

Yeah, it brings up two options, neither of which seems like much help:

Change Windows Firewall Settings

Open Network Connections

I did stumble across this link, when following your suggestion to do a Google search:

Microsoft's solution

Here is the main text from the link:

http://img319.imageshack.us/img319/562/unplugged9in.png

Their "resolution" seems to be written for a different operating system than XP. Any idea how to translate this to XP?

 

I also came across this thread, where people offered their version of how to correct this:

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1118104198

The above is an excerpt that was one guy's resolution....although I'm not sure which "card" he's referring to. When I have a little more time, I'll probably read it more carefully....but at least I'll have this link above to refer to it.

 

Thanks. No, just one monitor and no network. And it doesn't seem to matter whether I run as administrator or not, it's just there....like a bad habit that won't go away

 

OK, maybe this will help (doubt it, but I'll give it a shot).

I know I shouldn't let such a trivial thing bother me so much, but it's just soooooo annoying.....

 

Right, just the one connection. How can I check to see if there is a problem with a network card?

 

It's Westell high speed internet...through Cincinnati Bell. I believe it's considered the same as broadband or DSL....pretty damned fast (they claim 100 times faster than dial-up, and it may well be). Wish I knew more about it that that, oh....yeah, it's usb.

 

Doesn't appear to be

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/1064/dmgr1bf.png

man, this is frustrating...

 

Disable the Pro 100 network card ... which will set it as an inactive card and should clear the problem.

 

Go into your BIOS by pressing F2 or Del when the computer boots (your comp may use a different key but those are the most common).

Different BIOS's have the settings in different places so you will have to hunt around. What you need to do is disable LAN.

Then save your settings and exit.

HTH

 

Yep, worked like a charm, Steve. I didn't even think to see what options would be there by right clicking on the folder icon....and even if I had, I wouldn't have felt very comfortable switching it to "disable".

Speaking of which.....there shouldn't be any problems that arise because of this, should there? Can you think of any instances where it being disabled would cause a problem?

 

No If you ever need it (ie you switch your provider) just re-enable it.

 

Cool. Consider this topic closed

Hopefully, maybe it will provide help to others that have questions or concerns about this little nuisance.

Big thanks go out to ronjor, dog, and SpikeyB for all of their help with this.....