Hi,

I've just registed on this site after trawlling the internet for answers...my question is:

i have just brought a USB 10/100 ethernet adaptor and a crossover patch cable....i wanted to connect my xbox to the exsiting ethernet port on my computer, and my second computer to the adaptor so it could access the internet also. however, after trying for 3 hours changing ip and default gateways and stuff it still did'nt work...any suggestions would be greatly appreacitated (or if you need more imformation if ive missed anything out)

Thanks

I just wanted to post a thanks for joining the group. I'll leave the question you posed to the PC networking experts...

Steve

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Glad to have you here. Once I tried a very similar thing, but was unsuccessfull. That was long before I knew what I know now, but not sure exactly how to make this work still.

First of all, what operating system are you using on the "gateway" PC. By this I mean the one directly connected to the internet. If I'm not mistaken, windows XP has some sort of internet connection sharing thing built in. Not exactly shure how it works, but I'm sure between a couple of us on the forums - we could figure it out!

It is running Win xp home edition, however, i have had another thought since then, : what if i buy another etherent card and take the adaptor back? would'nt that work better? and if i do that, can you have two etherent cards on 1 pc?

Thanks

That is definately possible, but you will have the same problem you are having now. Honestly, your best bet would be to buy a switch or a router, as they are made to do what you are trying to do. Not that it can't be done, but you may want to weight the differenced between the two.

If you have a switch, you can easily connect other PC's at any time. The router can act as a DHCP server (which passes out IP addresses to computers on your LAN). While your PC can do this as well (I think XP home has this capability), it is more streamlined to have the router do it in your case. If you were to want to add another PC or two, you would have to buy a couple more NICs (that is if you have PCI slots to put them in). Once you run out of PCI slots, you would be forced to buy a switch then anyway.

For around $40, you could get an inexpensive router with built in 4 port switch and be done. Either way, we will be glad to help you through the process of getting everything set up right. Just let us know where you have problems...

Well i do have a free PCI slot or 2, and the router, i heard that connecting thhrough a router unless it is a very high quality , and sharing the bandwith, would slow down the conncetion? but i'll probsly get the Ethernet card and see how that workes out