Trouble with crossover / Win2K and WinME

[Butler]

I have a Win2K machine and a WinME machine connected via crossover cable. I've installed TCP/IP and the cards are there, all's well as far as I can tell. I have the network name the same on both machines, and IP addresses 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.2. Each computer sees itself on the network, but neither one sees the other. Ping doesn't work (100% packet loss and timeout) and "search for:___" doesn't work either. Any ideas?

 

[L3Guy]

If ping does not work, than either the cabling, nic's, drivers or config is bad.
Try pinging 127.0.0.1, which is the loopback address. If this passes, than the card and TCP/IP stack are "happy".

First Suspect is the crossover, especially if home made.
See if you can borrow a hub/switch and a known couple of known good cables for an hour from a friend.

Good Luck

 

[igiveup]

Installed Client for Microsoft Networks? Set a protocol on both machines to be the default? The first one is a biggie if you don't have that done. Most importantly, do you get a green "link" light when you plug your cables into the NIC's? Your computers need to be on for this one.

 

[EmperorRob]

I had same situation using TCP/IP w/my 2 machines: Win2k & Win98

Never could get a resolution.

 

[Butler]

<< Try pinging 127.0.0.1, which is the loopback address. If this passes, than the card and TCP/IP stack are &quot;happy&quot;. >>



whyen I ping 127.0.0.1, all seems fine, no packet loss, and 0 ping time...but no lights on the NIC...what's that mean? I've installed a new network adapter, and still no lights. Any ideas?

 

[spidey07]

Do the computers only have one nic?
Any firewall software running?
Do you have a link light on each of your NICs?
What is the subnet mask of each computer?

Check those questions first.

 

[Butler]

One NIC each...
No firewall...
Lights are there, but not lit on either machine...
SM is 255.255.255.0 on both machines...

___________________________________________________________

Now I feel really dumb, getting advice about networking from the plumber

 

[spidey07]

<< Lights are there, but not lit on either machine... >>



check your cable. It must be a crossovercable in order to work. You need to have solid green link lights on each card.

 

[Viztech]

No link light = bad cable.

viz

 

[JW310]

Check the ends of the cable... on one end, the wires should go like this:
Orange/White,Orange,Green/White,Blue,Blue/White,Green,Brown/White,Brown
and the other end should be wired like this:
Green/White,Green,Orange/White,Blue,Blue/White,Orange,Brown/White,Brown.

If both ends are the same, then it's a straight-through cable. If the wires are arranged any differently, then I would get or make a new cable (depending on whether or not you have the crimp tool and RJ-45 connectors).

[Edit]Oh yeah, and if the cable is wired correctly, but the link lights still aren't on, then you have a bad cable... best bet would be to replace the cable with another crossover cable and try it again.[/Edit]

JW

 

[Butler]

Looking from the front or back of the RJ45 end? Seems like it would be different looking from the front, than if looking from the back, Right?

<edit> Byt the way, HERE'S the diagram (and tutorial) I've been using...I've done 2 cables so far, and neither worked...This can't be this hard !?!?</edit>

 

[spidey07]

buy the crossover cable.

the year is 2001, thou shalt not use homemade cables.

 

[ScottMac]

Any chance that one machine is set for 10Meg and the other is set for 100?
If the duplex was wrong, you'd get link and sh*tloads of collisions...but if the speeds are dissimilar, you wouldn't get a link light.

Hard set the speeds on both machines. Start with 10 meg/half duplex and work your way up from there.

Check the NIC properties on both machines (not protocol, the hardware), and make sure the speed &amp; duplex agree. Also look in the &quot;advanced&quot; sections, if they're there, and make sure everything advanced is unchecked/deselected.

That's about the only thing left.....

FWIW

Scott

 

[igiveup]

Ok, so you can ping yourself which means your computer and NIC card are ok. Neither card has a link light though. Did you build or buy your crossover cable? If you can't get a Link light then I would say you have a bad cable. Try replacing the cable, they are cheap compared to anything else.

 

[JW310]

That would be looking with the clip on the connector down (so I guess the back of the connector). Here is a scan of what the ends should look like, with the clip facing down. Hope this helps.

JW