This problem is a bit awkward to explain and as such, I am finding it diffcult to search for a solution. Plus the IT department at work are bloody useless and don't have a clue.

At work, I use an ethernet cable to communicate to an IC in order to flash it. As part of the process, it reboots it a couple of times resulting in the network being dropped briefly before restarting. I have a couple of different types of laptops here, and it works fine on one set but not on the other.

When the chip resets, one set of laptops no longers recognises that the cable has been plugged in; it requires you to physically to pull it out and back in again before it reconnects whereas the other set of laptops are absolutely fine. It isn't just during flashing, it's whenever I reset the connection. I even did a test and connected it to a hub and pulled out the end in the hub quickly and put it back, the problem remains the same. It seems to need a physical reset at the laptop end.

For the time being, I have been using USB to Ethernet adaptors, but they are now getting unreliable.

As I don't know exactly what the problem is, I am having trouble making an effective search for a solution. For what it's worth, they are all Dell laptops, but the adaptor's are: -

- Intel 82579LM Gigabit (works fine)
- Intel Ethernet Connection l217-LM (has the problem above)

So any ideas where to look?