Is my ethernet dead?

[londonweb]

I've just bought an ibook g3 800 from ebay and was extremely pleased with it until I tried to connect to the internet via the ethernet port. The internet works fine on my pc and I'm almost certain there's nothing wrong with the connection or the way I've set up the mac to receive data via ethernet (using dhcp, as on my pc). I suspect that the ethernet port itself is dead- does anyone know a failsafe to check if this is the case? I'm running OS X 10.2.8 - when I look in the system profiler, there is no mention of ethernet in the 'devices and volumes' tab- is this normal?

Any advice very welcome! Many thanks...

 

[stevep]

You could start by checking the port itself. Open up terminal and type:
ping -c3 127.0.0.1
This is the ip address of the card itself (not the computer, which will be something completely different - go to the Network section of System preferences to find this out).

You should get something like this:
iBook:~ srp$ ping -c3 127.0.0.1
PING 127.0.0.1 (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.477 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.171 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.293 ms

--- 127.0.0.1 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 0.171/0.313/0.477 ms
iBook:~ srp$

 

[northernleitz]

You might also want to try going to system preferences: network, selecting network port configurations, and verifying that the ethernet port is turned on.

if you know your router's address or your PC's address, you can try pinging them too.

 

[londonweb]

Thanks, I get exactly that, except the last bit where you've written 'ibook:~srp$' says my computers name (but I'm guessing that's obvious).

What does this tell me exactly? Could there still be a problem with the socket itself?

 

[londonweb]

You might also want to try going to system preferences: network, selecting network port configurations, and verifying that the ethernet port is turned on.

if you know your router's address or your PC's address, you can try pinging them too.

Ethernet port is deifinitely on. What makes me think it might be dead is that when I plug a wire from my pc (or a usb converter plugged into the ibook), I get lights and things on the back of the router, whereas when I plug it straight into the ethernet port on the ibook, I get nothing (ie. no lights). The socket itself is also quite loose.

 

[stevep]

For a complete rundown of what PING is, please go to The Ping Page http://www.ping127001.com/pingpage.htm . A computer on the network is identified by what is known as an IP address, which consists of four numbers separated by dots, such as 127.0.0.1. However, there is one address that cannot be used by any computer in the world, and that address is 127.0.0.1. The reason is that this address has been reserved as what is known as the loopback address. A loopback address is an address that tells the computer not to test its connections to another computer, but to test its own basic network setup.

I don't think this ping test will test right up to the rj45 socket itself, so if it's loose then the problem might be a simple physical one, ie soldered connections at the back of the socket. Time to get the spanners and hammer out. You might be able to access it quite easily by taking off the bottom cover, but try searching these forums first for instructions on taking a G3 iBook apart, as I've seen a recent post on this topic.
A more expensive workaround might be to fit an Airport card????? Again, I'm no G3 expert, so someone else will have to chip in here to confirm if this is easy/possible.

 

[londonweb]

For a complete rundown of what PING is, please go to The Ping Page http://www.ping127001.com/pingpage.htm . A computer on the network is identified by what is known as an IP address, which consists of four numbers separated by dots, such as 127.0.0.1. However, there is one address that cannot be used by any computer in the world, and that address is 127.0.0.1. The reason is that this address has been reserved as what is known as the loopback address. A loopback address is an address that tells the computer not to test its connections to another computer, but to test its own basic network setup.

I don't think this ping test will test right up to the rj45 socket itself, so if it's loose then the problem might be a simple physical one, ie soldered connections at the back of the socket. Time to get the spanners and hammer out. You might be able to access it quite easily by taking off the bottom cover, but try searching these forums first for instructions on taking a G3 iBook apart, as I've seen a recent post on this topic.
A more expensive workaround might be to fit an Airport card????? Again, I'm no G3 expert, so someone else will have to chip in here to confirm if this is easy/possible.

Thanks- I'm quite adventurous (or stupid) when it comes this sort of thing so I'll give it a go. Having looked at a few other threads it seems that ibooks are quite easily damaged by careless feet on trailing wires and I suspect that's what's happened here. At least it's just the socket and not the board itself (or so it would seem).

 

[simie]

The easiest way to get your mac's network details is for you to open up System Profiler and then click on the word Network - You will now be presented with a list of network ports at the top half of the screen (bluetooth - airport - built in ethernet - firewire etc.)

Click on the Built in Ethernet and you will see how your mac is configured. The details are displayed in the bottom half of the screen.

System Profiler will show you your network settings.

You can get your routers IP and then in terminal, try to ping the routers IP.

If 3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss then you are communicating with the router.

If you get the results

3 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss

With these results you will know that you have a hardware fault or their is a configuration problem.

Now your options are fix it yourself or use wireless networking or get Apple to repair it.