Network Card with SGI

The Octane is driving me nuts . It was sitting on the network doing its job nicely and i had to pull the n/w cable out from the wall to pull it from the inside of the table and connected it again . The logs show this -- link down .... < when i pulled it out >
link ok < when i connected >

But now the link network just refuses to work . I know the jack is working because i tried it on the Mac alongside it . But it dosent work with IRIX . I tried rebooting but to no avail . So i put it on diagnosis mode to see if there was a hardware failure . Didnt show anything unusual . So i booted it again . The network started working . Just out of curiosity I pulled out the Ethernet cable and fixed it again and there, it went down with it.

Now is it that i cant disconnect the cable when the machine is on when it comes to SGI. and if it is intrinsic how can i make it to network again.

My hunch is the n/w card is nearing its end but still i do not want to jump to conclusions..

Thanx
DP