A field technician is troubleshooting a newly relocated workstation in a medical office that cannot access the internet or local file shares. The network administrator confirms that the switch port is enabled, but the network interface card (NIC) link light on the back of the workstation and the corresponding port LED on the patch panel remain completely unlit. Which of the following actions should the technician take FIRST?
- Inspect the Ethernet patch cable for damage and ensure it is securely connected to the wall jack and NIC.Answer
- BExecute command-line ping and traceroute utilities to locate where traffic is being dropped on the local network.
- CReconfigure the local DNS server to issue a new dynamic IP address lease to the workstation host.
- DInstall an unmanaged Layer 2 switch between the workstation and wall jack to route packets between subnets.
Answer
Inspect the Ethernet patch cable for damage and ensure it is securely connected to the wall jack and NIC.
When both the workstation NIC link light and switch port LED are unlit, there is a physical layer (Layer 1) disconnect. According to the standard bottom-up troubleshooting model, verifying cable seating, checking for physical cable damage, or swapping out the patch cable must be performed first to establish electrical/optical link before testing software layers.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Physical Layer Network Troubleshooting and Link Light Verification