Lcd on cyclone iii not displaying and boardtest system.exe could not be found

It sounds like you're doing things right...

--- Quote Start ---

perhaps the IP has been assigned

--- Quote End ---

Perhaps it has. In which case you should be able to find it from your laptop. At a terminal issue an 'arp -a' command. This will list all the IP & MAC addresses connected to your network. Tie up the MAC address of your unit with the IP address listed.

For the sake of completeness, I'd also simply try another network cable.

Cheers,

Alex