A network cable is unplugged.....

But it's not!

Trying my first attempt at a network. Desktop and laptop linked by crossover cable.
Icon keeps telling me "A network cable..... "

Help, please!

 

First thing, are you sure it is a cross over cable? Have a look at this thread where the nature of cross over cables is discussed together with how you recognise them.

 

Cable is from a Belkin kit. According to their website a Belkin crossover cable is Yellow, mine is!
It came in a kit with 2 cards which, unfortunately, were not XP compatible.
So yes, it's the right cable.

Earlier on in my attempts the icon was showing connecting/disconnecting as the laptop was switched on and off (still couldn't get the network running!) but now shows disconnected all the time.

 

Get into the properties for both network connections and in the configuration for the network cards, try forcing them to a specific speed and duplexing rather than letting the cards try to negotiate between themselves.

Start by setting both to 10Mbps Half Duplex (and depending on the card you may have a combined setting or may set speed and duplexing seperately).

If that works, set them both to 100Mbps full duplex.

Post back with your results.

 

Thanks Newt.

Played with speed settings until things improved!
10 full duplex on both cards has at least turned off the "Unplugged" icon, not much else happening but it's an improvement.

Clicking on "View network computers" gives me "Workgroup is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network...............The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available ".

 

Basing your diagnosis of the cable type on the colour of the cable is dodgy. There are plenty of Yellow straight through cables out there. I recommend you read through again the thread I indicated above, and check the cable. It really is very simple to check, and all the information you need is in that thread.

It may well turn out not to be the cable at fault, but ignoring this simple check could cost you a lot of wasted time if the problem is the cable - which I still feel is a significant possibility.

 

Thanks ReggieB. I did check the cable out as suggested and it is a crossover cable. Since then I've played with the speed settings more and now have the ability to browse the internet from the laptop! Speed is set to 10 full duplex on both cards.

Not sure (being new to this) how much of the "other" computer's files I'm likely to be able to see, at the moment - none.

Not tried to print from the laptop yet, must get the wife off it long enough to try.

Will be back with more info.

 

Sorry to be so repetitive, but in my experience a great number of network problems turn out to be cable problems. I'm glad you got the problem sorted. - well done.

To share files you need to enable file sharing. This Trouble Shooting Q&A has some information on setting up file and print sharing (starts about half way down). Also the Microsoft guide to setting up a small network has some useful releveant information in section 7.

 

Thanks ReggieB, no problem with the advice. I used to handle the telephone helpline for a camera manufacturer, first problem was always judging the level of expertise (or otherwise!) of the caller.

I'll spend some time over the next few days going through the setup.

One problem I've already found is that when I open "My network places" (which seems to be empty at the moment!) then try to "View workgroup computers" I get the message "Workgroup is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available ".

A bit baffled here as I'm the administrator (at home).

Luckily I used to give Saints lessons in patience!

 

What operating system(s) are you running?

 

Desktop is on Win XP, laptop using Win 98.

At the moment I can access the web from the laptop but cant seem to get the 2 computers to make friends. Been too busy to try much today.

 

OK - with that OS combo, here is a 'quick & dirty' to try. It will help to know XP-pro or XP-home though since they have other options available but different with the two versions.

You can use network neighborhood (or whatever name is uses on your PC) but you don't need it and the process below does not use it.

Make sure both PCs belong to the same workgroup and that you know the IP address of each PC.

The Guest account in XP-home should have been enabled by default when the OS was loaded and still that way unless someone disabled it as a security measure.

On XP, share a folder and make a note of the name you give the share. Default is probably the folder name but you can name the share differently if you want.

On 98, you will need to be logging on with a username and a non-blank password for that username. Easiest way to arrange for that to happen is delete a file with the .pwd ending which will clear things and then give a new password to the account you use.

On 98, share a folder.

Verify the names you've used for each PC as follows and for this example I'll use 192.168.0.2 for the XP PC and 192.168.0.4 for 98:
98
- click on start, click on run, key in command, click OK.
- from the command prompt, key in

Code:

ping -a 192.168.0.2

and make a note of the PC name.
XP
- click on start, click on run, key in cmd, click OK.
- from the command prompt, key in

Code:

ping -a 192.168.0.4

and make a note of the PC name.

Now, assuming that the 98 PC is named My98 and the sharename is 98share and that the XP PC is named MyXP and the sharename is XPshare you should be able to open a share in an explorer window as follows:

From 98: click on start, click on run, key in \\MyXP\XPshare and click OK.

From XP: click on start, click on run, key in \\My98\98share and click OK.

 

Things have gone from poor to worse......

As the net connection was working OK I decided it would be a good idea to use Windows update as the laptop had a clean install of 98.
Downloaded all of the security updates (leaving IE 6.0 until later) and after they installed I restarted the laptop.

Now the laptop can't see the network card!

If I plug the card in one of the slots nothing happens at all, in the other the windows "Wait" hourglass comes up but the machine freezes, have left it for a few minutes to see if anything happens. Pull the card out and it returns to normal. With the card in the "Freezing" slot the machine won't boot up at all.
On startup, with the card in the other slot, the lights on the card do flash on and off.

I've tried checking the card settings and re-installed the drivers. Still not appearing in Device manager.

In Add/Remove programs I've removed the windows update but with no difference to the network.

Shall I throw the machine out of the window?

As to the OS, the desktop is using XP Pro.

 

The NIC locking things up has me baffled. I have just posted the problem in both the 98 and the hardware sections (violating the forum rule about double posting but that's OK since I locked my duplicate threads. ).

Hopefully someone who has an idea about the problem but never looks at networking will follow the link to here and post ideas or a solution or something and we can proceed with the networking issues.

 

Thanks Newt, much appreciated.

 

This could be a reach here, but I did find this link which may be of help, with a patch available.
Windows 98 Second Edition Problems with NDIS Intermediate Drivers

 

After a few more reboots the card is now showing in device manager and lights are working on it. No connections to anything as yet but will try Microsoft patch followed by Newt's guidance.
I'll let you know how I get on.

 

The problem with the card not being seen looks like it could be a slightly dodgy connection. Sometimes it is recognised, other times not. If the machine locks up I pull the card out for a second then push it straight back in, it gets recognised and the machine works again. For the moment I can get it to work!

Still no internet connection or connection between machines.

I tried pinging from each machine.
From the desktop machine (XP Pro) I get a "Timed out" message when using the IP of the laptop or it's own IP (192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.1 respectively)
From the laptop I get the same "Timed out" message pinging the other machine, but it will ping it's own IP (192.168.0.2)

The light on the laptop card flashes while pinging the other machine, stays on while pinging itself. That on the PC is on all of the time.

Thanks for all your patience so far, this is all new territory for me.

 

Flashing LED means traffic is busy. Constantly lit LED, means you have connection. It looks to me like the problem is at the PC end. At the PC, what do you get if you:

ping 127.0.0.1

That's the loopback test - it is a basic test of the TCP/IP stack.

 

Pinged 127.0.0.1

4 packets sent, 4 received. Ave time 0ms