Lombard with Ethernet troubles -- any solutions?

Question

I recently got my hands on a Lombard 333 (192MB/4GB/CD) and did a fresh install of 10.3 (updated to 10.3.9). While the 'Book works great, I think I have a bad Ethernet port.
With a known good, live connection plugged into the port, the networking System Preference is reporting "The cable for Built-in Ethernet is not plugged in." I've tried removing and replugging the cable, I've tried different known good cables, I reset the PRAM, tried it in OS 9...all to no avail.
So, my questions are these:
-- Is the port dead?
-- Is there anything else I can try to revive it? (not afraid to dig into the innards, but I'm a klutz with a soldering iron...)
-- Does anyone make a PCMCIA/CardBus card that lets OSX connect to Ethernet?
Any and all suggestions appreciated.
Thanks.
Mike
B&W G4/500 (OWC ZIF) Rev. 1; PBG3 Wallstreet, Lombard; plus others!   Mac OS X (10.2.x)  

Answer 1

Mike,
It sounds like you have covered all the bases. You might carefully examine the pins in the port to make sure they are sound. Unfortunately, the only fix for a failed Ethernet chip is a replacement logic board.
You might consider using a wireless PC card, one that has the Broadcom chipset which supports AirPort software...it is just plug and play.
Ethernet PC cards are almost nonexistent which support OSX, but this may be the answer although I have never used one or read about it:
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=132
They apparently released a driver dated 2/7/2006 version 1.03.
http://www.dlink.com/products/support.asp?pid=132#drivers