directly connecting 2 computers via cat5 utp cable?

Question

First things first how do i find out if I have an ethernet card installed on my system.
now on to the question above connecting 2 computers via cable directly.
Can anyone give me a idiots guide how to do this. or point me in the right direction of somewhere that can especally with the ip address side of things.

jimmyjock

Answer 1

You need what is called a "crossover cable". It has Tx and Rx pinouts switched end to end. Once you get it, if there is a jack it fits into on each computer (an RJ45 jack), then you do have two ethernet adapters, either cards or on board.

Answer 2

To see if you have an ethernet card, just look for a hole that looks like a telephone jack, but with 8 pins instead of a telephone's 4 (or open device manager and look for network cards; or go to network connections and look for a "local area connection")
Two ways to connect two computers directly. The first is to buy a crossover cable (ethernet cable with the pinouts crossed over internally... any computer shop will know what a "crossover cable" is). Plug it into each computer and you're done. Problem is, it takes up the network port, so you can't use it for a broadband connection, or anything else. The better solution is to buy a switch or router and a couple of patch cables (standard ethernet cables). Plug the cable into each computer, and then to the router/switch. That's it.

Answer 3

Look on the back of your system. An ethernet port looks like a phone jack, only larger. It has 8 contacts instead of 2 or 4. Also, look in Device manager for "Network adapters".

To connect 2 PCs directly, you need a crossover cable. You can get one at any computer shop. Alternatively you can use 2 regular patch cables and a switch.

Answer 4

If you want to know if your computer has a network card installed on it you need to right click on the My Computer Icon on the desktop >> click on properties >> choose the hardware tab then click on device manager>> then on the list select network adapters (this is good for win2000 and winXP). If you have verified that both computers has a network card just plug the cat5 cable and that should do it.

Answer 5

First check the back of your computer for something that looks like an oversize telephone plug...
Next buy a "Crossover Cable" and simply plug one end to one pc and the other to the other...