Sony Support

Article ID : S500011322 / Last Modified : 11/04/2018Print

What to do when the message "A Network Cable Is Unplugged" appears in the notification area in Windows XP?

    In the right corner of the screen, a balloon containing the following message appears in the notification area .

    The balloon shows the information:
    Local Area Connection
    A network cable is unplugged.




    If the network cable cannot be recognized, the reasons may be as follows.

    • VAIO PC has not connected to the network cable (The network cable is unplugged)
    • The network cable is disconnected
    • The network device of the network cable connections cannot work properly
    • The network interface cannot work properly

    If the network cable cannot be recognized, please confirm the information below.

    STEP 1 Please check whether the network cable is connected properly.


    Please check whether the VAIO computer is connected to the network cable properly.
    In addition, please check whether the network cable is connected to the internal interface properly.
    Regarding the connection methods, please refer to the product instructions and VAIO Manual.


    STEP 2 Please check whether the network cable is disconnected


    If the network cable is disconnected, it is normal that the network cable can not be recognized.
    If possible, please try connecting to other network cables to troubleshot the problem.
    If the network cable can be recognized when the network cable is changed, it indicates that the former network cable may be disconnected.


    STEP 3 Please check whether the network device can work properly


    The network devices such as ADSL modems have LED lights indicating the communicating state.
    The conditions of LED lights may vary from different communicating states.
    Please refer to the product instructions of the relevant products to check the communicating states.
    If possible, please connect the same network device to the different computers to check whether the network cable can be recognized.
    If the network device can not work properly, please contact the support Windows of this network device.


    If the above information user has confirmed can not improve the situation, the reason may be that the network interface of the computer can not work properly and not be recognized.

    If it is confirmed that there is something wrong with the host, please being the computer to the local authorized service center for inspection.