LAN

[boofhead]

I have read the stuff here on setting up a LAN. I want to connect two computers, one has internet access. The other used to, but cannot log on for some reason. Before I buy a new card, I want to see if I can just connect the bad one to the good one using a blue ethernet cable. They both have the LAN card installed. I ran the connection wizard, but when I get to the second step "The Wizard found disconnected network hardware" I could not get it to connect. It shows normal operation in device manager, and the blue ehternet cord is plugged into it, then directly to the host computer. When I run the Wizard on the host computer it gives me the same problem. If I tell it to ignore the disconnected hardware it lets me go through the whole setup but of course it does not work. I guess the disconnected hardware is the problem. Can anyone tell me what to do to fix this problem?

[Saab Dastard]

Boofhead,

You can connect two computers together directly, using an RJ45 Ethernet cable.

HOWEVER, you must either use a cross-over cable or 2 straight-through cables with a cross-over adapter in the middle.

The reason is simple - the cross-over cable allows you to connect the transmit pair on PC 1 with the receive pair on PC2, and vice-versa (TX-RX). Otherwise you just get TX-TX and RX-RX, which gives you the problem you have.

Alternatively, you can use an ethernet hub (old, but perfectly acceptable for what you want to do) or switch.

SD

[Hyph]

Do you have a network switch or hub that you're using in this configuration? It sounds like you don't.

It sounds like you have just connected the two LAN cards directly together with your blue cable.

You can connect computers together like this, but you need a special cable. Yes, even more special than blue. ;)

A standard Ethernet cable has all the individual wires running straight through, which is what a switch or a hub is expecting. If you don't have a switch or a hub, you need a cable that has the transmit and receive pairs crossed over... commonly known as a cross-over cable.

I haven't seen or needed one of these for years. They used to be fairly readily available when network switches were expensive. These days you can pick up a switch for a little over £10, so I suspect that use and therefore availability of these cables has declined. Your local PC shop might have one, or might be able to make one up for you.

Failing that, buy or borrow another cable, of any colour you like, and a £10 switch.

[boofhead]

I used to be able to connect PCs using Parallel or Serial ports, didn't I? I don't remember using a switch for that??

[Keef]

You used a laplink cable, which switched TX and RX lines in the same way as a crossover LAN cable does. I made my own laplink cable out of a normal parallel cable, swapping over the relevant wires at one end. It's still in a drawer somewhere here...

I'd be inclined to look out for a 4-port hub to link the two PCs. In fact, if your internet connection isn't already via a modem/router with a hub, I'd change to one - then either PC can use the internet connection regardless of what the other one's doing. You can set up a local area network using that, and move stuff between the two machines from either one.