I recently built a system based on a GIGABYTE G31M-ES2L motherboard, which has an Atheros AR8131 onboard LAN controller. The system runs fine, but I am unable to connect to the Internet in any operating system I have tried, leading me to believe this is a hardware problem.
-In Windows XP, latest driver is installed and the controller is recognized and listed as "working properly" in Device Manager, but no connection can be established
-Linux kernel 3.2 detects the controller, but no connection can be established
-Onboard LAN is enabled in the BIOS (I have triple-triple checked this)
-Connecting an Ethernet cable to the motherboard activates both LEDs on the port, indicating that the cable is detected
-My router setup itself is fine, as I am writing this post on a wired connection from my notebook, and I have also tried connecting directly through the modem with no luck
-The LAN chip itself, as located via my mainboard's product manual, is physically intact
I've thus checked every avenue that I'm aware of. Is there anything else that could be causing this problem? Do I just have a defective piece of hardware?