First thing was to check the installed hardware in the Windows Control Panel. If you operate a different operating system you need to find and access the equivalent there. The LAN was not listed there anymore. That was bad. It could have been a driver problem so the next step was to check for hardware that was not installed yet. The LAN was not found there either.

Next step was to reboot the computer and check in the Bios. While doing that I verified that the LAN led was still on. The BIOS showed zero LAN configuration options. I knew that there were some before which gave me the confirmation that something was seriously wrong. Next step CMOS reset. This is done by setting a jumper on the motherboard. The LAN options did not show up then either. I could have tried installing a new BIOS but this sounded awfully risky with dead components on the motherboard.

You got two options basically at this point. The fast option is to add a new PCI LAN card and install it on the computer system. Good LAN cards should provide better performance than onboard LAN. That’s what I did. The other option is to contact the manufacturer of the motherboard and wait for an answer. Can take some days, usual result is a replacement or repair which can take weeks or even months. Not a good option if you need to be online most of the day.

To put everything in a list:

• Check if the operating system lists the onboard component.
• Check if it can be found by scanning for hardware.
• Check if the lights are on (if it has lights)
• Shutdown the computer and see if everything is connected properly
• Check the Bios for the onboard component
• Reset the Bios
• Replace the Nic or replace the motherboard or contact support.

Do you have any additional tips on how to cope with a dead onboard LAN?