Busted Ethernet

[Seb]

I know there have been posts about this before, but I've looked through the
archive and haven't found a satisfactory answer...

I have a Cube with 10.2.4 installed, and the Ethernet doesn't work. I'm not
even getting connection lights on the router.

When I boot up, the computer pauses for a little while on "Initialising
network" - and at this stage I have lights on the router. After about 15
seconds, it gives up and continues booting up, and the lights go out.

Occasionally, it gets past the initialisation stage, only for the lights to
go out when the desktop loads.

I've tried zapping the PRAM a few times (the first time, I thought I'd fixed
it - I got an ethernet connection, but when I tried pinging, only about 1 in
3 pings were getting through.

Can anyone please help? I'm either interested in getting the ethernet port
working, or connecting something like a USB-ethernet adapter (are there any
compatible with OS X?). For a number of reasons, AirPort is not an option.


Thanks,

Seb