yet again, I'm having another PC issue... I have 2 PC's in my room, and I want to connect them together via Ethernet port so they can both have internet and be on the network, and I don't have to buy another wireless router. I ran the network setup wizard on PC#1 with the pre-existing wireless internet connection, and I set it up so that another computer could connect through it to access the internet. On PC#2 I ran the network wizard to connect to the internet through another computer to access the internet. I then plugged a cable into the ethernet ports on either computer, but they both say that The local area network cable is unplugged.. I have updated the drivers on both ethernet cards, and tried the setup again, but still no luck... Am I missing a step here, or is there something I'm doing wrong?
You can probably go to your local electronics or computer store and find a crossover cable or an adapter. You could also set up a local network over the USB or Firewire (what ever it's called) on your computers if you happen to have a cable sitting around from one of your devices. Most new PCs have it. It's the 1394 Connection in your Network Connections. In the long run a switch or router would be best, since it will allow you to quickly and easily expand and change your local network.
Your ethernet cable basically has two pairs of wires (the other two are unused). One pair is for transmit, one pair is for receive. When connecting through a router or switch, the router/switch handles the cross over so you connect everything up with a straight ethernet cable. When connecting your two PCs together, the Transmit of one PC has to connect to the Receive of the other (and vice versa). This is what the crossover cable does.
thats because it needs to be able to communicate to detect that the wire is plugged in. Your receive and transmit lines are clashing therefore nothing can get through.
