[Thinkpad] Disappearing NIC *solved*

[Matt]

Now Bruce, be nice for a second.

That's a new "feature" that would have many of us flipping stumped, I'm 
sure, at an inopportune moment.
Especially if the NIC would only recognize a connection to a powered hub.

Sounds like a further improvement on power management that no one knew 
existed.

Deep Smart Power Down the Thoroughfare On a Sunny Day......

What a pain in the butt, Intel can be, at times. And when's the last time 
anyone wrote a manual for a laptop that had documentation that good?

I'd a said worse, but now that Deadwood's been cancelled, I find that my 
verbiage has somewhat improved.

Best to all.

Matt



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Markowitz" <scosgt at worldnet.att.net>
To: "Jon Etkins" <jon at snikte.net>; <thinkpad at stderr.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 4:50 PM
Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] Disappearing NIC *solved*


> Just another case of RTFM
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jon Etkins" <jon at snikte.net>
> To: <thinkpad at stderr.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 5:45 PM
> Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] Disappearing NIC *solved*
>
>
>> Thanks to Mario and Bruce for their suggestions, which forced me to take
>> yet another look at the hardware settings.  It turns out the culprit was
>> the "Deep Smart Power Down" setting, and a Google search for that term
>> lead me to the following item in the ReadMe from the latest ethernet
>> driver update for the T60:
>>
>>   - (New) Deep Smart Power Down support for ThinkPad T60/T60p
>>
>>      Deep Smart Power Down (DSPD)
>>      ----------------------------
>>      Deep Smart Power Down turns off the on-board Ethernet when link
>>      is down or the network cable is disconnected.  After a timeout
>>      period, the Ethernet will power off.  To the operating system,
>>      this appears as a "hot-unplugged" Ethernet.  When the network
>>      cable is reconnected and link is restored, the Ethernet powers
>>      up and functionality is fully restored.  This appears as a
>>      "hot-plugged" Ethernet.  This function is available in Windows
>>      XP and functions when the system is battery mode.
>>
>>      DSPD information:
>>      -----------------
>>
>>      To disable DSPD,
>>      ----------------
>>      1. Connect AC power to the system
>>      2. Open Device Manager
>>      3. Double-click Network adapters
>>      4. Double-click Intel(R) PRO/1000 PL Network Connection
>>      5. Click Advanced tab, Select Deep Smart Power Down, and
>>         change the value to Disabled
>>
>>
>> Sure enough, with that setting disabled, the NIC never goes away, and
>> with it enabled the device magically appears and disappears if I connect
>> or disconnect a LAN cable while running on battery - actually quite a
>> cool feature that should help prolong battery life.  Armed with that
>> knowledge, I'll probably leave it enabled most of the time.
>>
>> Caveats:
>>
>> What they *don't* tell you is that it only works if you're connected to
>> a hub, router, or switch - the NIC will not power on if it's connected
>> to another NIC via a crossover cable, which is exactly what I was trying
>> to do when I struck problems.
>>
>> And of course you have to remember to check the setting before leaving
>> your desk, because if all you have available on site is a crossover
>> cable and no AC adapter, there's no way to make the device reappear so
>> you can change the setting!  Can you spell "catch-22," boys and girls?
>>
>> Cheers,
>>    Jon.
>>
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