Gateway 8515GZ Network Problem

I have an 8515GZ that I think the I/O board is out on. I ran some new cat5 and was going to use the NIC on the 8515GZ to verify connectivity as it was the easiest option with the router being in a different part of the house. I keep the NIC disabled unless I'm using it, and upon enabling it, I immediately got the "network cable unplugged" notice. It remained when I connected the cable. I then checked all my settings, drivers, etc. I checked cable status on the router software and nothing. There was a steady blinking on that particular LAN port, but that was it. I then took the laptop into the same room with the router and connected a cable I knew was good, still nothing. Windows shows the device is fine, but I'm not so sure. The lights don't even light up on the jack when the cable is connected. I also have a dock for this laptop, so I decided to test the network port on it. It worked fine. This particular I/O board has the NIC, Modem and two USB ports. Both USB ports work fine, I'm not sure about the modem.

I'm thinking it's one of two things; a power source has become disconnected from the board somehow resulting in failure of the NIC while still allowing the USB ports to function (viewing the part by itself on the net, it appears to have a wire that plugs into it in addition to the main cable, though I'm not entirely sure what it's for) or the NIC portion of the board is fried.

I was going to start disassembly and try to check my loose/disconnected plug theory, but it appears to be quite a task. I want to try to gather some opinions beforehand, because if I'm going that far, I want to know whether or not I need another I/O board before I tear it down so I can be sure to have a good one on hand to put back in.

Any help is much appreciated!

 

Hello? Anybody?