Acer Aspire TC-705 Ethernet connection disappeared from Network Connections

Under Network and Internet -> Network Connections, my Ethernet connection has disappeared. It doesn't even say "disconnected" its just not there. The only things there are the wireless connection as well as a disabled Bluetooth network connection. In addition, when I go to device manager, the ethernet adapter that used to be there (Realtek PCIe GBE family controller) no longer appears in the set of network adapters. This problem happened quite unexpectedly since my ethernet was working perfectly before this happened. As far as I know, there wasn't a specific trigger for this event. However, I did install the LogMeIn Hamachi program so maybe that had something to do with it I just randomly realized that I'm using Wi-Fi rather than ethernet. I have tried system restore under Recovery using the most recent restore point. The system restore completed successfully, but the ethernet connection was still not there. I also tried the Network Reset feature of Windows 10 which reinstalls the drivers and resets the networks but that did not work either. I contacted Microsoft support and they said that the issue might have something to do with the BIOS which is why I came here. Would anyone have a clue as to what I should try next? Thanks in advance.

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doughjohn

Hi

I wonder of you could completely remove the LogMeIn software and try again, or perhaps create a new user profile temporarily.

This new profile should then be clear and clean and possibly have ethernet.

So now to move onto the ethernet card, and if you can look in the BIOS and see if there is any mention of an ethernet card.

Doing diagnostics is not going to be easy as there is a need to separate out the WiFi. However...

The above is a screenshot of a simple diagnostic program, the code to run is posted below, and you need to copy it into a text editor like notepad, save it to somewhere like your desktop as netfixed.bat. Then run thru some of the commands, like 0, 1, 2 with your wireless disabled.

It will produce some txt files that can be copied and pasted here if anything seems relevant.

You can work your way thru to F for Finished as and when you want to.

If in doubt please ask.

:: Copy, Paste & Save As...NetFixed.bat;
:: Use a text editor (Notepad). Then when
:: it's run will create IP.txt & another 
:: file called NETSTAT.txt for posting.
:: Run as Administrator for best outcome.
@ECHO  THIS MAY HELP TO REPAIR / RECTIFY,
@ECHO  VERY, SIMPLE NETWORK DIFFICULTIES.
@ECHO................................... 
@ECHO  THE RESULTS MAY VARY ACCORDING TO 
@ECHO  YOUR CONFIGURATION AND USER LEVEL.
@ECHO  A RE-BOOT MUST BE DONE AFTER DOING
@ECHO  SOME OF THE CHECKS OPTIONED BELOW.
@ECHO....................................
:MENU
@ECHO  TYPE IN YOUR PREFERRED MENU CHOICE
@ECHO....................................
@ECHO.
@ECHO  0 - PING_LO Ping test to 127.0.0.1
@ECHO  1 - PING_MS Ping test to Microsoft
@ECHO  2 - GET_MAC Obtain MAC address(es)
@ECHO  3 - GET_IPs Lists all IP addresses
@ECHO  4 - IPvFOUR Reset to remove errors
@ECHO  5 - IP_RNEW Force/Renew IP address
@ECHO  6 - IPv_SIX Reset to remove errors
@ECHO  7 - NBTSTAT NETBIOS -Renew -Repair
@ECHO  8 - NETSTAT All Network Statistics
@ECHO  9 - SH_WLAN Display WLAN interface
@ECHO  A - ARP_TAB Displays ARP IP tables
@ECHO  B - NS_LKUP Shows your Name Server
@ECHO  C - SYS_SUM System Summary Windows
@ECHO  D - DNS_FIX Flush and Register DNS
@ECHO  E - WINSOCK Reset to remove errors
@ECHO  F - FINISHD Close this Command Box
@ECHO ...................................
@ECHO OFF
COLOR B1
SET /P M= Press 0-9, A-F, and then ENTER:
IF %M%==0 GOTO PING_LO
IF %M%==1 GOTO PING_MS
IF %M%==2 GOTO GET_MAC
IF %M%==3 GOTO GET_IPs
IF %M%==4 GOTO IPvFOUR
IF %M%==5 GOTO IP_RNEW
IF %M%==6 GOTO IPv_SIX
IF %M%==7 GOTO NBTSTAT
IF %M%==8 GOTO NETSTAT
IF %M%==9 GOTO SH_WLAN
IF /I %M%==A GOTO ARP_TAB
IF /I %M%==B GOTO NS_LKUP
IF /I %M%==C GOTO SYS_SUM
IF /I %M%==D GOTO DNS_FIX
IF /I %M%==E GOTO WINSOCK
IF /I %M%==F GOTO FINISHD
ING_LO
ping LOOPBACK
GOTO MENU
ING_MS
ping MICROSOFT.COM
GOTO MENU
:GET_MAC
getmac | more /c
getmac >> c:\GetMac.txt
Notepad c:\GetMac.txt
GOTO MENU
:GET_IPs
ipconfig -all | more /c
ipconfig -all >>IP.txt
Notepad IP.txt
GOTO MENU
:IPvFOUR
netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log
GOTO MENU
:IP_RNEW
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
GOTO MENU
:IPv_SIX
netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log
GOTO MENU
:NBTSTAT
nbtstat -RR
GOTO MENU
:NETSTAT
netstat -e -r -s | more /c
netstat -e -r -s >> NetStat.txt
Notepad NetStat.txt
GOTO MENU
H_WLAN
netsh wlan show drivers | more /c
netsh wlan show interfaces | more /c
GOTO MENU
:ARP_TAB
arp /a
GOTO MENU
:NS_LKUP
nslookup /ns
GOTO MENU
YS_SUM
msinfo32
GOTO MENU
NS_FIX
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /registerdns
GOTO MENU
:WINSOCK
netsh winsock reset catalog
GOTO MENU
:FINISHD
EXIT

Unfortunately it may be a hardware issue.

IronFly

turn wifi and BT off, prior trying these things:

1) check if your desktop ethernet port has some status LED and check if there's any sign of life (be sure you ethernet cable is well plugged and the cable is in good conditions

2) on Device manager, under View, tick Show hidden devices, any sign on the etherenet adapter?

3) enter BIOS pressing Del at boot, then press F9 (load default settings) and F10 (save and exit), then check again about your ethernet adapter

JordanB

I think Ironfly meant to say....press the "delete" key to enter BIOS on TC-705 desktop. Smiley Happy

FYI: I have a TC-605 desktop which uses the same mainboard as TC-705. I'm running Windows 10 Creators and haven't had any problem with ethernet.

IronFly

JordanB wrote:

I think Ironfly meant to say....press the "delete" key to enter BIOS on TC-705 desktop.

LOL, yes!

too much laptops Smiley Very Happy

Thanks!

BurnBlue

I copied the code for the diagnostics program you wrote. Here are the results:
0- 4 packets both took <1ms to return.

1- With Wi-Fi disabled, the ping request could not find the address. Surprisingly, with Wi-Fi enabled all 4 of the packets sent to microsoft.com timed out, even though I am still able to access microsoft.com in my browser.

2-

Physical Address Transport Name
=================== ==========================================================
28-C2-DD-D6-A7-35 \Device\Tcpip_{0AED6394-E03F-4C99-B4F0-A624774873A1}
28-C2-DD-D6-A7-34 Media disconnected

Physical Address Transport Name
=================== ==========================================================
28-C2-DD-D6-A7-35 Media disconnected
28-C2-DD-D6-A7-34 Media disconnected

Physical Address Transport Name
=================== ==========================================================
28-C2-DD-D6-A7-35 \Device\Tcpip_{0AED6394-E03F-4C99-B4F0-A624774873A1}
28-C2-DD-D6-A7-34 Media disconnected

Physical Address Transport Name
=================== ==========================================================
28-C2-DD-D6-A7-35 Media disconnected
28-C2-DD-D6-A7-34 Media disconnected

3-

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DESKTOP-6CH7AD8
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : hitronhub.home

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 12:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 2A-C2-DD-D6-A7-35
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hitronhub.home
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek 8821AE Wireless LAN 802.11ac PCI-E NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 28-C2-DD-D6-A7-35
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.12(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : August 1, 2017 6:22:05 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : August 8, 2017 6:22:04 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 28-C2-DD-D6-A7-34
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

4- IPV4 reset seemed to work correctly but I don't think that's particularly related to my problem.

5- The regular (not bluetooth) ethernet adapter doesn't appear in the list of connections to renew the ip for.

6- IPV6 reset also worked correctly but similarly to #4 I don't think it's the problem. (I understand that this is a comprehensive program for every scenario and some of the may not apply to me but I included the results of those anyway for the sake of completion).
7- The NetBIOS names registered by this computer have been refreshed.

8-

Interface Statistics

Received Sent

Bytes 85257084 11089182
Unicast packets 55116 52134
Non-unicast packets 926862 2820
Discards 0 0
Errors 0 0
Unknown protocols 0

IPv4 Statistics

Packets Received = 207262
Received Header Errors = 0
Received Address Errors = 138
Datagrams Forwarded = 0
Unknown Protocols Received = 0
Received Packets Discarded = 1673
Received Packets Delivered = 208339
Output Requests = 149732
Routing Discards = 0
Discarded Output Packets = 215
Output Packet No Route = 51
Reassembly Required = 0
Reassembly Successful = 0
Reassembly Failures = 0
Datagrams Successfully Fragmented = 0
Datagrams Failing Fragmentation = 0
Fragments Created = 0

IPv6 Statistics

Packets Received = 0
Received Header Errors = 0
Received Address Errors = 0
Datagrams Forwarded = 0
Unknown Protocols Received = 0
Received Packets Discarded = 10
Received Packets Delivered = 585
Output Requests = 737
Routing Discards = 0
Discarded Output Packets = 0
Output Packet No Route = 0
Reassembly Required = 0
Reassembly Successful = 0
Reassembly Failures = 0
Datagrams Successfully Fragmented = 0
Datagrams Failing Fragmentation = 0
Fragments Created = 0

ICMPv4 Statistics

Received Sent
Messages 129 430
Errors 0 0
Destination Unreachable 30 158
Time Exceeded 0 0
Parameter Problems 0 0
Source Quenches 0 0
Redirects 0 0
Echo Replies 89 4
Echos 10 268
Timestamps 0 0
Timestamp Replies 0 0
Address Masks 0 0
Address Mask Replies 0 0
Router Solicitations 0 0
Router Advertisements 0 0

ICMPv6 Statistics

Received Sent
Messages 10 10
Errors 0 0
Destination Unreachable 10 10
Packet Too Big 0 0
Time Exceeded 0 0
Parameter Problems 0 0
Echos 0 0
Echo Replies 0 0
MLD Queries 0 0
MLD Reports 0 0
MLD Dones 0 0
Router Solicitations 0 0
Router Advertisements 0 0
Neighbor Solicitations 0 0
Neighbor Advertisements 0 0
Redirects 0 0
Router Renumberings 0 0

TCP Statistics for IPv4

Active Opens = 2663
Passive Opens = 24
Failed Connection Attempts = 22
Reset Connections = 271
Current Connections = 21
Segments Received = 144667
Segments Sent = 109067
Segments Retransmitted = 3211

TCP Statistics for IPv6

Active Opens = 39
Passive Opens = 37
Failed Connection Attempts = 2
Reset Connections = 0
Current Connections = 0
Segments Received = 530
Segments Sent = 526
Segments Retransmitted = 4

UDP Statistics for IPv4

Datagrams Received = 63643
No Ports = 1237
Receive Errors = 766
Datagrams Sent = 37242

UDP Statistics for IPv6

Datagrams Received = 1001
No Ports = 10
Receive Errors = 0
Datagrams Sent = 645
===========================================================================
Interface List //again, doesn't include the GBE Family Controller
21...2a c2 dd d6 a7 35 ......Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
8...28 c2 dd d6 a7 35 ......Realtek 8821AE Wireless LAN 802.11ac PCI-E NIC
6...28 c2 dd d6 a7 34 ......Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
1...........................Software Loopback Interface 1
===========================================================================

IPv4 Route Table
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.0.1 192.168.0.12 56
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 On-link 127.0.0.1 331
127.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 On-link 127.0.0.1 331
127.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 On-link 127.0.0.1 331
192.168.0.0 255.255.255.0 On-link 192.168.0.12 311
192.168.0.12 255.255.255.255 On-link 192.168.0.12 311
192.168.0.255 255.255.255.255 On-link 192.168.0.12 311
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 On-link 127.0.0.1 331
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 On-link 192.168.0.12 311
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 On-link 127.0.0.1 331
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 On-link 192.168.0.12 311
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
None

IPv6 Route Table
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
If Metric Network Destination Gateway
1 331 ::1/128 On-link
1 331 ff00::/8 On-link
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
None

9-

There is 1 interface on the system:

Name : Wi-Fi
Description : Realtek 8821AE Wireless LAN 802.11ac PCI-E NIC
GUID : 0aed6394-e03f-4c99-b4f0-a624774873a1
Physical address : 28:c2:dd:d6:a7:35
State : connected
SSID : SHAW-C1FA70
BSSID : a8:4e:3f:c1:fa:78
Network type : Infrastructure
Radio type : 802.11n
Authentication : WPA2-Personal
Cipher : CCMP
Connection mode : Auto Connect
Channel : 6
Receive rate (Mbps) : 72
Transmit rate (Mbps) : 72
Signal : 100%
Profile : SHAW-C1FA70

Hosted network status : Not available
From A to E the following were noteworthy:
D and E completed successfully.

As for removing the LogMeIn software, it was the first thing I did to try to remedy the problem and I forgot to mention that, but it is now deleted from my computer. The restore point from the system restore I did restored the settings back to how they were before the install of this software.

I did also consider the possibility that it's a hwardware issue after checking the lights on the port and seeing that they are not flashing or on at all.

BurnBlue

For the steps you provided IronFly:
1- No lights, I tried with multiple cables that are known to be working since I tested them on other devices, which isn't a good sign because I remember that there were flashing green lights on the port previously when I was connected to ethernet. On a sidenote, the modem also has a light for ethernet which is turned off. It used to be turned on previously, but I think that's just a side effect of the adapter problem, not a result.

2-curios! I found the ethernet adapter when I checked show hidden devices. In addition, I also found 2 similar adapters that said something along the lines of virtual connection or something like that. I think they were from the LogMeIn software and remained there even after the uninstall of the program. Now, when I go to the properties of my ethernet adapter, there are a few interesting things to see.

Under device status it says:

"Currently, this hardware device is not connected to the computer. (Code 45)

To fix this problem, reconnect this hardware device to the computer."

I tried to update the driver but it said it was already running the best version.

Under the Events tab I can see that the day before I post this, the device was migrated and then "Device install requested" 2 times.

Under the resources tab it says this device isn't using any resources because it has a problem, with a button giving the option to set configuration manually.

I suspect that the LogMeIn software is the culprit for the problem, perhaps using itself as an alternative to my proper ethernet adapter and disconnecting it from the system. Perhaps uninstalling the devices and restarting the system may do the trick?

I'm going to post the results for the first 2 items, then go ahead and do number 3 and post the results in a new post below.

BurnBlue

Update, booting to the BIOS had a password prompt. I don't think I'm the one who set that password and I don't really feel confident opening the computer case to reset the jumper/battery to reset the password.

IronFly

if it's not disabled on BIOS and you can't check this...and i'm not 100% sure that setting is available on your BIOS.

try to uninstall the network adapter from device manager, reboot and check if it's still on code45...if so probably the ethernet adapter died.

you can also give it another try using a live lubuntu USB flash drive, so you can boot to lubuntu and check if the network adapter is available or not.

doughjohn

Hi

I think the general consensus is it is a hardware problem, the results you posted suggest everything is as expected for WiFi only, and Nothing indicated any ethernet presence.

I was rather hoping the MAC address part would list a device.

So I am going with the suggestion of a Live Linux Operating System to try and get a sideways view on the hardware.

Can you create a bootable medium, USB or DVD, with Lubuntu or Knoppix on it?

Then a simple command script will screenfuls of information and if no ethernet shows up at that point I would accept a loss of hardware and continue with WiFi only.

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