HP Laptop 4540s NIC not functioning

Hello all,

I am stumped on this problem. I have a HP Probook 4540s (Win 7 x64) that has a nic that is not functioning. It acts as if the network cable is disconnected. I've taken the below troubleshooting steps.

- Checked switch port and cable with another device (worked fine).

-Uninstalled and reinstalled the driver directly from HP and then Realtek. The controller is a Realtek PCIe GBe Family Controller. It shows up in Device Manager each time.

- Checked bios to make sure then the device is enabled and disabled LAN/WAN switching.

- Nuked Windows and reinstalled from disk to get a fresh install. I even tried Win 7 x86.


- Tried safe mode (same result).

Any ideas?

Welcome to the Seven Forums.

Wow - you have been thru a lot.

I don't have a solution for you, but I'll be watching to see if others do. I support a few people that have this same laptop. Can you tell me how long the cable is that you have been plugging into this laptop. It is possible to generate enough static electricity on a LAN cable to blow the NIC's circuits.

Just a 3 foot cable connected to a switch on a desk.

As long as it stays connected to the switch - it should not build up much of a charge on the computer end of the cable.

It is still possible that the NIC is dead. I cannot recall: is there a light by the NIC jack? If so, is it light when the cable is connected?

Not lit whether plugged or unplugged.

You might try...
...disabling it via BIOS
...booting
...restarting
...enabling it via BIOS

That is the old "let's hope that we get its attention trick".

But having no light does not sound good.

I believe I tried that but let me make sure. I know I've disabled and renabled it but can't say i did that sequence.

No luck. Looks like I'll be putting a call in to HP.

Let us know what they say.

Ask them if this is a known issue with this model?
They will probably say no - but it does not hurt to ask.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was static electricity in this office.