[mdlug] [TECH SUPPORT] Dell Latitude built-in ethernet

[Robert Meier]

Laptop users,

I recently repaired the hinge of my Dell Latitude C600.

After disassembly,
during the two weeks it took to identify and acquire the parts,
the reserve (i.e. CMOS) battery went flat.

[Mea culpa] I did not make an adequate backup of the bios settings.
[Mea summa culpa] I did not make a copy of the bios defaults.

The built-in 3com 566 (3c59x) ethernet functioned during reassembly tests.
As the final step in reassembly,
I reset the American Bios A23 settings as well as I could without a thorough
understanding.

The built-in ethernet ceased function.
The LED indicating an electrical connection remains dark.
The Cardbus ethernet is recognized as eth1 when inserted.
/etc/modprobe.conf contains "eth0 /bin/true".
/etc/modprobe.conf was last altered in 2006.

None of the bios settings seem to correspond to the ethernet.

My 2006 backup of the /usr/sbin/hwinfo --reallyall includes an eth0 device,
but my current execution of /usr/sbin/hwinfo finds only lo0 and sit0.

It seems improbable that a hardware failure independent of the bios
settings would coincide so closely.



Does anyone have good documentation on the meaning of the A23 settings?
Does anyone have any suggestion better than my current plan of trial and error?

TIA,
-- 
Dr. Robert J. Meier