LAN Help

[JonyG]

Hi,

 

I'm trying to network my pc with a laptop using the onboard nforce2 10/100 LAN but have no idea what lan port to plug my cable in to is it LAN 1 or LAN 2 also what BIOS settings will i need to change or adjust, are the numbers printed on my AGP port got anything to do with this ?

 

Plz help a noob figure this out .

 

JonyG

[king of nothing]

I'm not sure which one is the nvidia one. On my LPA it's the top one.... but it could be different on the LPB.

 

In general, if you haven't changed network settings in the bios, you won't need to. Just make sure they're enabled. I'd suggest hooking everything up and using the Windows "set up a home or small office network" wizard.

 

The numbers printed on top of the AGP slot are the MAC addresses of the two LAN ports. They should already be entered into the bios. But sometimes they get erased when you flash you bios.

 

Are you using a router? If not I believe you'll need to use a "crossover" cable.

Are you planning to share an internet connection?

[JonyG]

I'm using a Cat6 UTP patch cable is this ok ?

 

And the MAC address's in the BIOS are empty as i have recently flashed my BIOS.

[king of nothing]

If you are trying to connect directly to another computer, I don't think that one will work properly.

 

From http://discountcablesusa.com/ethernet-cables100.html

 

Crossover Cables vs Straight Through Cables

 

Ethernet patch cables can be wired in three different ways, the two main ways are called straight through and crossover. The third type is called rolled and has only specialized applications.

 

Generally speaking, straight through cables are used to patch between different types of equipment; for example, PCs to a hub.

Conversely, crossover cables are generally used to patch between similar types of equipment; a PC to another PC for example.

Some modern hubs don't care if you use crossover cables or straight through cables, they work out what you're using and configure themselves accordingly.

 

As stated at the outset, the actual difference is in the wiring. Inside the UTP patch cable there are 8 physical wires although the network only uses 4 of them (the other 4 are simply wasted). The 8 wires are arranged in what's known as pairs and one pair is used to send information whilst the other pair is used to receive information.

 

On a PC, the pair on pins 1 and 2 of the connector send information, whilst the pair on pins 3 and 6 receive the information. To make PCs talk to each we therefore need to connect the send pair of one PC to the receive pair of the other PC (and vice-a-versa). That means we need a crossover cable. If we used a straight through cable the both be listening on the one pair - and hearing nothing, and sending on the one pair - achieving nothing.

I'm not sure if the MAC addresses actually "appear" in the BIOS. I'll do a quick reboot and get back to you.

[king of nothing]

My BIOS does not show the MAC addresses. If you are using Windows XP you can find them by going to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information. Then look under Components > Network > Adapter and it will show you the info on your networking devices.... including MAC addresses.

 

Now... I'm not sure how Windows handles this. But since it goes through the "refreshing list" thing I'm assuming it is up to date. So I'd assume that if it sees the MAC address that it is actually entered properly. Don't really know, though.... and making assumptions with Windows is always iffy.

 

I'd suggest getting a crossover cable and seeing if the network wizard can do it's stuff. If it can't... then worry some more about the MAC addresses.

[Spritzup]

You will need to use a crossover cable to connect 2 pc's directly together... these cables look identical to a straight through cable, except they're generally yellow.

[Poisonsnak]

Yep kon you're right the top one is the nvidia on the LP-B as well. The realtek one is auto crossover though so you won't have the cable worries if you use it.