I've run an Ethernet cable from my router to my home office but Windows is telling me it's not connected. To troubleshoot, I bought a USB Ethernet adapter, but I'm facing the same issue. The cable works fine on other devices, so I suspect it's a software problem. When I check the command prompt with 'ipconfig /all', it shows the media state as 'Media Disconnected'. I even did a fresh install of Windows 11 hoping it would resolve the problem, but no luck yet. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
Have you checked if you have the correct chipset and LAN drivers installed from your motherboard or OEM builder's support page? Outdated drivers can definitely cause connection issues like this. It's worth a check!
Try booting from a Linux USB stick to see if the Ethernet works there. This is a quick way to rule out hardware issues. If it works in Linux, then the problem likely lies with Windows or your drivers. If it doesn't work in Linux either, you might be dealing with a hardware problem in your PC.
It didn’t work in Ubuntu either, so it looks like I might have a hardware issue. Any idea why a USB dongle wouldn't fix that?
Yes, I've made sure everything is up to date.