Apologies for the delay in reporting back.
Thanks for the link to the software program. I’d seen adverts for other network repair software but had been very wary of downloading. In any case, I would not be able to download directly onto my desktop, of course.
I did check the router (an ISP supplied Huawei DG8041W) but it doesn’t appear to have LEDs for the Ethernet ports. All it has is a single light on the front for overall status, disconnected/connecting/connected. Not to worry, I currently have both my desktop and laptop connected to ports on the back of the same network switch, a Netgear GS208. This is showing healthy green intermittent blinking LED for all ports in use.
Both LED for the network port on the back of the desktop appear to be functioning though they are rather dim (they are nice and bright on my laptop). One of them is reddish-amber on continuously and the other is amber blinking intermittently though it is more off than on. While there, I unplugged and re-plugged, I changed the Ethernet cable, and I connected the cable to a different port on the network switch – all made no difference.
In Device Manager under “Network adapters” there is listed “Broadcom Netlink ™ Gigabit Ethernet”. The Properties for this say, “This device is working properly”. I must say, there is also listed the following items.
NordLynx Tunnel
NordLynx Tunnel
TAP-NordVPN Windows Adapter V9
The Properties for the first of these additional items says, “This device is not working because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)”. Properties for the second Tunnel and the TAP both say, “This device is working properly”.
I recall that when this problem started NordVPN, which I have only on the desktop, prompted me to log into my account, but that failed. Shortly after, I discovered I had no Internet and assumed that was why login failed. Since I only connect via NordVPN manually, and of course haven’t since then, I assumed the problem had nothing to do with NordVPN. But, could it?
The output from ipconfig from the laptop was as follows.
Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Network Connect Adapter:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.16
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
The output from ipconfig from the desktop was as follows.
Windows IP Configuration
Unknown adapter NordLynx 4:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix:
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 169.254.86.119
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
Tunnel adapter isatap.{[GUID]}
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix:
Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix:
Tunnel adapter isatap.{[GUID]}
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix:
According to this reference (
https://kb.iu.edu/d/aoyj), the IP address of 169.254.86.119 indicates that my desktop cannot see the network.