OP; non-stop chimesMy wife's old (5 years?) Dell desktop running XP (Sevice pack 3) has recently developed a strange problem. When the ethernet cable is attached, it begins giving the connect / disconnect chimes every 10 or 12 seconds. Everything seems to run fine and I've run antivirus and anti spyware scans. I'm not sure if this is a hardware or software problem and I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar problem? Could it be the ethernet card or is there some problem with XP? Any help would be appreciated.

Hi,Do you lose the connectivity whenever you get the connect / disconnect popup ?Updating the network card drivers should take care of this issue.Go to the Network card manufacturer website and download the right drivers your network card and then check for the issue.Regards,Manasa P – Microsoft Support.

Not sure how my question got moved to this thread since it has nothing to do with this thread, but what the hey! I finally found the problem and it had nothing to do with drivers after all. I had tried to add another router to my network a while back and somehow things got tangled up with the "Shareport Network USB Utility" software that I had installed as part of my Network Magic software installation. I removed the Shareport utility, restarted the computer and the chiming stopped. No problems since. As far as I can tell, my attempt at installing the extra router caused the Shareport software to "think" that there was something being plugged and unplugged each time packets came and went over the ethernet cable. Once the software was removed, the problem was solved. Thanks for the answers but as it turned out, I was able to find it myself. Yay for me...this time!

HiYour post was move here because it is related to the networking of your computer.A second Router can be used if it configured correctly according to the Topology of the Network.Netmagic is a bug loaded application that tends to disturb Networks unless there is only one computer and one Router on the Networks.BTW, there is No way in that anyone could help you since your initial post contained No info about the Topology of your Network and the use of a 3rd party none standard application (called Netwmagic). -------------------------------My posts reflect my understanding and experience. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion or view of Microsoft, or anyone else.Jack - Microsoft MVP, Windows Networking. WWW.EZLAN.NET