Realtek Ethernet Network Adapter not detected on Gigabyte Aorus Elite AX V2 B550 motherboard

plath

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Hi, I wanted to pick the brains of some HardOCP heads because I've seen some people here have a lot of experience in this stuff.

I've got a Gigabyte Aorus Elite AX V2 v1.3 B550 motherboard. I was removing and seating a new GPU card and during the process I lost connectivity to the internet via ethernet cable. In device manager my Realtek LAN Controller is no longer visible (it was listed in Hidden devices but shown as not found). It is also not visible in Network Connections or Hardware and Connection Properties (Both in Network & Internet Settings). The ethernet port in the back also has no lights and my PC does not register any cable.

I tried a few things like flashing BIOS to the latest firmware, removing CMOS battery, updating the driver when it was still listed in Device Manager in hidden devices, uninstalling the device driver (thereby removing it from hidden devices), trying to reinstall driver (could not as device was not found) and disabling & then reenabling the LAN Controller in the BIOS. Nothing has worked. I also checked the cable to see if it connected to a different system and it worked fine.

I'm wondering if the motherboard is physically damaged and that is the reason why the ethernet network adapter no longer works? The layout of the motherboard has the PCIE x16 slot, where I put my GPU, in the same line laterally. With the PCIE port next to the Realtek ethernet controller chip. The GPU is locked in place with the Ethernet chip underneath. I think in the process of removing the GPU in my tight case. I may have inadvertently nicked some PCB trace lines with the IO plate after removing/or seating the GPU into the rear expansion slots as the space is so tight next to the edge of the motherboard. And this may be why my Ethernet adapter is faulty.

I've attached annotated images of the area I believe may be culpable. This is all a hypothesis though and I have no expertise at all. So I was hoping one of y'all could give me the benefit of their knowledge. Thanks in advance if you read this far.
 

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Sounds like it's disappeared, never to be seen again. You could try lspci on a Linux boot if that's in your wheelhouse. Otherwise, if it's there, you should be able to select it from boot options (often boot from network has it's own bios enable setting), and if not, I'd assume it's dead. Grab a $10 gigE nic and call it a day?
 
Sounds like it's disappeared, never to be seen again. You could try lspci on a Linux boot if that's in your wheelhouse. Otherwise, if it's there, you should be able to select it from boot options (often boot from network has it's own bios enable setting), and if not, I'd assume it's dead. Grab a $10 gigE nic and call it a day?
do you mean safe mode with networking? i tried that mode and it wasn't connected still.
 
delete the hidden ether device and reinstall the driver.
i did that already. i uninstalled the driver of the ethernet adapter that was in hidden devices. but when i tried to reinstall it, it could not complete installation because the hardware was not found.
 
i want to send the mobo back to Gigabyte for RMA. does anyone know if they will repair PCB trace damage?
 
A semis skilled solderer can fix, as long as it's just the outside trace (layer) damage. What you said happened makes sense. These boards nowadays are packed really well. The only other way would probably be an open box"special". IF you can get an RMA (sort of doubt) then you will get a referb.
 
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A semis skilled solderer can fix, as long as it's just the outside trace (layer) damage. What you said happened makes sense. These boards nowadays are packed really well. The only other way would probably be an open box"special". IF you can get an RMA (sort of doubt) then you will get a referb.
yeah i was wondering if Gigabyte would fix it. even if they charge me to repair and return it. i don't want to send it to them if they're just going to send it back to me and bill me for shipping also.
 
yeah i was wondering if Gigabyte would fix it. even if they charge me to repair and return it. i don't want to send it to them if they're just going to send it back to me and bill me for shipping also.
thats most likely what would happen. i still cant tell if any trace is broken though, need better pics....
 
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