Home Network Setup Problems

[blondebier]

I'm trying to build a network at home.

I've got 2 machines; one running XP pro and the other running XP home. I've installed the network cards and i'm trying to get them to talk to each other.

When I plug the network cable in to each of the cards, XP does not recognise that the cable has been plugged in. It says: Local Area Connection - A cable is unplugged. (It says this on both machines.
The cable is category 5e patch cable(Belkin), so I think it is ok?

I thought that I might need a hub??? But as I have only got 2 machines, isn't is possible to just plug them directly into one another?

Thanks for your comments,

Francis.

 

[cdove]

If you are connecting the PC's directly the cable needs to be a cross over cable. alternatively you can use a hub

 

[blondebier]

Excuse my ignorance but what is the difference between the cable I have and a crossover cable?

 

[blondebier]

I bought 10 metres of Cat 5 Patch Cable RJ45 > RJ45 Booted. Will this work?

 

[bcastner]

francislang,

No, a cross-over cable will be marked as such. It is pin-to-pin different from a patch (or straight-through) pinned cable. Essentially in the patch cable the transmit and receive pairs of pins match on both cable ends. In a cross-over cable the transmit pins on one cable end go to the receive pins on the other end.

The cable you have would work fine if connecting to a hub, switch or router. But for "like" devices, such as PC-2-PC, or hub-2-hub, a cross-over cable must be used unless the device auto-detects the problem and internally changes the pinning (a relatively rare feature, and unheard of for PC adapters).

 

[sidech]

A crossover cable has pins 1and 2 (orange) and 5 and 6 crossed so XMit and rec are crossed, a hub or switch will automatically cross these internaly so you don't need the crossed cable. Hope that helps.

 

[bcastner]

sidech,

"a hub or switch will automatically cross these internaly so you don't need the crossed cable. Hope that helps."

The MDX feature you state is in fact relatively new, and by no means a standard feature of hubs and switches.

The correct cable is advised for all settings.