Crossover cable

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Hi everybody,

I am currently trying to connect an old dell laptop I just got from work to my main dell desktop using a crossover cable. The desktop is using a cheapo NIC and the laptop an old PCMCIA NIC card. Both machines are running XP PRO. Although I have green lights on both NIC's, on my desktop I have the network cable is unplugged message up. The laptop is reporting no errors. This should work right?

 

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Hi there Mr Nice

Just a question, it *seems* that the connection is there, just not working. Stupid question, but have you allocated both machines IP addresses? You will have to put those in before it will work (unless you are running ICS on one of the machines).

Otherwise, it might be worth reinstalling the drivers on the NIC on the Desktop. Also, I am unsure of what card make you are usng, but they sometimes come with a diognostic program for testing problems just like this, might be worth taking a look if you have it.

HTH

Andy

 

AJ, chances are if he's getting a "network cable unplugged" message, he won't be able to ping across the cable. Another dumb question; did you buy the cable or make it (or did someone else make it). I hate making cables because one slight goof in the pinout and the cable is useless. If you have a known-good crossover, you might want to swap cables and test. Also, are you *sure* it's a crossover?

Sorry, I'm not trying to be demeaning but these are pretty common issues here.

 

Agreed with the Guys here - I once tried the same, ie connecting 2 PC's directly using a brand new x-over, but all I could get was the "network cable unplugged" error. I was assured by the guy in the shop that this was indeed the correct cable. As it later turned out (when I took the cable back to the shop) that another guy pointed out that it was a straight-thru, not a x-over at all.

So basically, are you 100% sure about the cable itself, MrNice ?

 

I made the cable myself and have used it sucessfully before, unfortunately I dont have the means to test it at the moment. I made it at an in-centre visit as part of my A+ course. I was using the XP feature "automatic private ip addressing" on both comps were it supposed to configure itself. I tried the manual input on both machines but it has made no difference. I am unable to ping and after I manually inputted the IP address on the desktop I ran IPCONFIG and got up
MEDIA STATE......................MEDIA DISCONNECTED ?
The laptop is not reporting any problems with the lan connection, if I bring up the connection properties I get the little network icon with the packets beeping about.
Cheers for the help guys

 

Have you checked to see it ain't a firewall issue ? If your passing packets, then the cable is obviously good.

Also, I'm guessing from your last post that you mean you'e assigned static IP's on each machine - what range did you use, ie did you use either the 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x private ranges ? APIPA (automatic private IP addressing) uses 169.254.x.x (as I recall) so you won't be able to assign those IPs.

Just some further thoughts - sorry if I'm stating the obvious here ....

 

Definately not a firewall issue, Turned them all off and no difference, only the laptop is sending packets, it's not receiving any. Also when i make the NIC reboot by disabling it or doing a restart it fails to load and device manager reports a 010 error "device failed to load" The NIC is a Realtek RTL8139/810x brand new out the box. I am unable to check the auto assigned IP address on desktop as I get the media error I mentioned previously. This works fine on the laptop and the auto ip address looks good.

 

Try safe mode with networking and see if the prob is the same. Looks like a prob with the NIC on the desktop so far ....

 

I reinstalled the NIC driver from the floppy supplied and specified the exact driver to use, The network cable is unplugged message went away and it started searching for an IP adddress. Within approx 1 minute it went back to it's usual state of the cable being unplugged and the laptop is now displaying the same message! Although the NIC box has XP compatible I aint so sure. Even though I updated the driver it has also went back to the device manager code 10.
Anyone?

 

What IPs are each NIC set to m8 ?

 

Ok,
It seems to have been a driver problem, I rolled back the driver to the XP one rather than the one on their disk and I now have communication, looks like the fun has just begun as now I my ISP software keeps auto loading on the desktop. I did manage to copy my first folder from pc to pc so yipee.
Thanks for all the input dudes!

 

Nice one, Mark - ain't trouble-shooting fun ?

 

so can we just clarify when connecting from one machine to another its just a straight cable we need and when using a hub/router/etc its a X-over?

 

Nope Noel, otherway round. When connecting one machine to another, you use a crossover cable.

When connecting machines throught a hub/router/switch, you use a straight through.

HTH

Andy

 

To clarify a bit; Two alike machines need a crossover.
Two unlike machines need a straight through.

 

Hi everybody,

I just installed a new driver for the desktop NIC from windows update and now it's back to playing up again, either the device will not start code 10 or a network cable is unplugged depending on which driver I use. As soon as I realised I tried to rollback the driver from device manager but it had no drivers on file?
I keep having to reinstall the NIC from scratch, do you think I should just return the !$$**^" thing to PC World asap?

 

Trip that is about as clear as the water when scuba diving on Brighton Beach

I would say that if you want to connect two computers/devices together without using a hub/switch etc i.e. diectly from one NIC to the other you need a crossover cable. If you are connecting two or more computers/devices to a network using hubs/switches etc, you need straight through cables.

The colours of the wires in a straight through cable are in the same order on both plugs. i.e. pin1 goes to pin1, pin2 goes to pin2 and so on. If the wires aren't in the same order, it is probably a crossover cable or some idiot has wired it up wrong

Sounds like that might be a good idea but try and change it for a different make/model as you may end up with the same issue if it is a conflict problem.

Pete

 

Thanks again to everyone that has taken the time to reply,

I just tried a system restore in order to undo the windows update driver to no avail. If I try to rollback the driver it says no previous driver saved?
it was definately an XP inbuilt driver that worked as oppose to one from the floppy.
I either get "a network cable is unplugged" or the device failed to start depending on which driver I use.
I am unable to get it working at all since the update. I am ruling out all other parameters due to the fact it worked briefly until the driver update from windows website. If it was the network speed etc I doubt it would have ever worked.
Back to PCWorld methinks.

Cheers