Computer does not see modem. Help!

Do you have a spare network card you can install? If so install the card and see if that fixes the issue.

If its not hardware its the drivers for the card or something messed up in the OS. Reinstall drivers or reinstall the OS.

[edit] if you modem has USB try using that instead of ethernet.

 

I don't know how its done on a MAC but in the windows world you uninstall the NIC in the device manager, usually restart the PC, and reinstall the drivers you got with the PC or downloaded from the net.

See if you can find updated drivers for your NIC first and just install them. If that does not work uninstall and reinstall. If that does not work just use your netbook until monday.

 

Daniel,

Go into Finder, Go to your hard drive, Go to Library > Preferences. Find the file called com.apple.networkConfig.plist and drag that file to the desktop. Then Log Out or Restart the computer. The preference file will be recreated when you log back in. Hopefully this will fix the problem. If not, no harm done, you can replace the new one with the old one on the desktop if you absolutely need to.

 

Duplicate post

 

I dont know Mac.
For Windows I use a registry cleaner which fixes most problems.
If that doesnt work, I Google any question and theres an answer in the results.
Ive fixed my refrigerator,my stereo ,my cars,my phone ,my health,and constantly my computer .

 

Mine looks like this:

But I use wireless networking to connect.

Maybe try the Apple Support Discussions at

http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa

Here is one similar for wireless networking; try creating a new location as in the thread

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2173090&tstart=30

 

Sounds like you've got a dead ethernet interface; does the link
light on the *modem* end come on when you plug the mac in? Did
you try a different jumper cable, even though the other machine
works it could be just flakey enough to not work on the mac?
Anything in the system log about network interface timeouts
and the like?
.
_H*

 

If your link light is off at the non-mac end when you connect
through any cable, it's a hardware problem, not a driver problem.
Mac "drivers" aren't quite like windoze drivers, and the "just
reinstall stuff willy-nilly" model is sort of the wrong approach.
You're welcome to try and I might be immediately proven wrong,
but in the interest of saving some headache...
.
_H*

 

I don't connect directly to my cable modem, I have a Linksys router and a Cisco "workgroup" unmanaged switch. Although rare, an actual Ethernet hardware failure on a motherboard is possible

The nice thing about plugging into a switch or router, a link failure is immediately apparent through the LED diagnostics. That alone can save a lot of frustration in tracking down a problem

I also have an RJ-45 tester, which I use to verify my installations. That also saves a lot of time tracking down a problem

With the rare hardware failure on the motherboard, a cheap PCI Ethernet card quickly put it back in business. Or, some motherboards - this is the wintel world - use custom drivers. If you lose the driver CD, and can't find the drivers online, you're Tango Uniform unless you install a cheap PCI Ethernet card

 

The method on a Mac to encrypt and password protect stuff is to create a disk image using the Disk Utility. FileVault is part of the Mac OS and this encrypts your entire hard disk. Disk Utility allows you to put whatever you want into a disk image with encryption and password protection.

There are also shareware software that uses the same method but a more friendly interface. Tao has Espionage, Knox is another name. I found by searching on "mac os file encryption". There are several.

 

If you're concerned about privacy, take the hard drive OUT of
the machine before it goes in, and tell them to fix the ethernet
port and use a random OS disk of their own to test from.
If they piss and moan about that, escalate. There's no reason
a failure unrelated to the drive or the software on it needs
YOUR drive present to effect a repair.
.
_H*

 

I would backup your personal stuff if possible before you take the computer in - if it is a hardware issue, they may opt to swap your laptop for a replacement and you will get a computer with nothing on it.

My hunch is it is a software issue because I have only had one defective piece of hardware from Apple since buying my first Mac in 1995. (It was an Airport base station, which they exchanged for a new one as soon as they verified the problem.)