Common problem, "cable unplugged" error windows 7

Lemur said:

If you want to be adventurous, burn a Ubuntu Live CD. It does not interfere with your current operating system. You can see if your network card works with another OS. Make sure you select "Try It" for the live version.

Download | Ubuntu

Otherwise, I don't know how to respond to irq failure.

Now i've tried out ubuntu, no luck over there.

Any other suggestions Guru?

Hmm okay... This just happened. I tried out Ubuntu, internet did not work. Then i restarted the computer and booted normally to win 7. BAM, internet back again.

We'll see how long I have internet this time.. *crossing fingers*

If the light does not come on when your having this problem then it sounds like the NIC or cable is faulty. As you have tried different cables I don't think the cable is faulty but just an idea is it possible the cable gets knocked/moved at all, maybe the socket at either end isn't a perfect fit and if the cable is moved the connection is weakened or broken.

If the problem re-occurs Dell has a program called Intel-Diagnostics Utility listed under the driver downloads in the network drivers for the XPS420. It may provide some info. I don't have a Intel NIC so I can't check it out.

You have all these unchecked in device manager?
Could be your adapter is just going to sleep.