SG Broadband Community

i got an xp comp and a windows 98 comp. my xp computer is setup in port 1 and works fine. my win98se comp is hooked up to port 2. i cannot connect to the internet with my win98se comp. i have tried using port three aswell and the light still flashs on and off with each flash taking like 1 seconds. i have also tried a different cat5e cable to no avail. any suggestions as to what is wrong?

edit: ok here is an update. im prety sure something is screwed up with the router cause it can detect my on board lan on my xp comp's motherboard but not the ethernet pci ethernet adapters on my win98se comp. i just tried to use the ethernet adapter and just sonnect it straight to the cable modem and then it works perfectly but as soon and i connect the router to the cable modem and attach the cable to the adapter in the comp the link light on the adapter doesnt light up and the light on the router just flashes. why would it detect the onboard lan but no my pci ethernet adapter(D-Link 530TX+)

Sounds like auto-detecting is failing on both ends. Have you tried locking down your NIC to 10base speeds, perhaps 1/2 duplex also?

BTW...did you see my response to that Gorilla/Banana game you posted in the General Discussion forum? Found it for ya.

Originally posted by YeOldeStonecat
Sounds like auto-detecting is failing on both ends. Have you tried locking down your NIC to 10base speeds, perhaps 1/2 duplex also?

BTW...did you see my response to that Gorilla/Banana game you posted in the General Discussion forum? Found it for ya.

1: 10base speeds? how do i do that? and does that mean that i wont get 100mbps transfer speeds?

2: gonna go check it out right now

Originally posted by polishmafia4u
1: 10base speeds? how do i do that? and does that mean that i wont get 100mbps transfer speeds?

Depending on your OS version, basically in network components properties, you'll see where to change it's media type, and duplex mode. Most likely right now it's set to auto on both. I know between the NIC, and the switch, they should both be able to auto-negotiate...especially being the same brand even. But somethings not right. Matter of fact..now that I think about it...did you try a different patch cable?

Originally posted by YeOldeStonecat
Depending on your OS version, basically in network components properties, you'll see where to change it's media type, and duplex mode. Most likely right now it's set to auto on both. I know between the NIC, and the switch, they should both be able to auto-negotiate...especially being the same brand even. But somethings not right. Matter of fact..now that I think about it...did you try a different patch cable?

yes i have tried two different cables and also tried 2 different ports on the router just to make sure that port 2 wasnt the problem and that the calbe wasnt the problem. same error with each cable, even tho the cables work perfect when not connected to the router. as for os's, the one that im having the problem with is the win98se one. the xp one (with onboard lan) works fine.

The fact that your PCI NIC manages to connect to your broadband modem directly..makes me think it's able to handle 10Base...as that's what the LAN ports of broadband modems usually are. Something seems to be preventing it from negotiating with the switch of the router..both sides "should" be able to negotiate..but hey..nothings perfect. Setting the PCI NIC manually to super slow speeds at least may make us look in the right direction, and get you going for now. Not like 10Base speeds will slow down your internet.

yea ok, 10baseT half duplex is working. but i would really like to get transfer speeds up to 100mbps. but yea, its is a start thanks. now, any more suggestions? should i keep tryin the different dupelx things ?

Originally posted by polishmafia4u
yea ok, 10baseT half duplex is working. but i would really like to get transfer speeds up to 100mbps. but yea, its is a start thanks. now, any more suggestions? should i keep tryin the different dupelx things ?

Yeah, next try 10Base full duplex
Then next try 100Base 1/2 duplex

Then last...full speed..100Base full duplex.

Latest drivers also...try downloading from DLinks site and installing the latest drivers. (although autonegotiation should be something that happens on the hardware level...not really driver related)

You mentioned you tried different ports on the router already, which already work fine with your other computer....and you mentioned you tried different patch cables, so I guess we can eliminate them (BTW, are any of them nice factory new cables? Or just a bunch of home made cables?)

That would pretty much narrow it down to your NIC.

Be back on later tonight..gotta go do onsites for the remainder of the afternoon.

1:dammit. tried the 100's...nothin. only the 10's work, both half and full duplex.

2:i guess i will try latest drivers next since at least i can connect to the internet now

3:the cables are home made but they were made by my friend and his dad who is very experienced and does this stuff all the time. he is some kind of networking guy or something like that

4:ill be waiting

edit: how the hell do i install the drivers? i see no setup.exe stuff or anything. just a bunch of folders that say win98,95,2k etc. and in them is a .cat and a .inf file. how do i update with that?

Originally posted by polishmafia4u
3:the cables are home made but they were made by my friend and his dad who is very experienced and does this stuff all the time. he is some kind of networking guy or something like that

You know how much time I've wasted spent troubleshooting something when it ended up being cables made by someone who says they know what they're doing, they've done it before. I won't touch them anymore...my time and energy is valuable. Unless I've seen a professional whip the cables up and run thorough tests on a Fluke...I won't touch 'em. Many years in this industry have made me very weary of home made cables. Making them back in the 10Base days wasn't bad...but todays 100Base full duplex equipment...and now 1000Base equipment...need top top top notch terminations.

Well If your running XP, you can install the latest drivers by going to control panel, then system, then device manager, then click on the device that your updating the drivers for, then right click that, go to properties, then go to the driver tab, and do the "install new driver" or "update driver" or something like that. Then do "search for a better driver" and add the location of the drivers you downloaded into the search list. It should find them automatically and install them for ya. Then just reboot.

Trev

the path should be

folder where your drivers are / 2k /

or

/xp but some programs use the same driver for 2000/xp since it runs off the same core

Trev

Originally posted by YeOldeStonecat
You know how much time I've wasted spent troubleshooting something when it ended up being cables made by someone who says they know what they're doing, they've done it before. I won't touch them anymore...my time and energy is valuable. Unless I've seen a professional whip the cables up and run thorough tests on a Fluke...I won't touch 'em. Many years in this industry have made me very weary of home made cables. Making them back in the 10Base days wasn't bad...but todays 100Base full duplex equipment...and now 1000Base equipment...need top top top notch terminations.

well ok then. ill try out the cable that came with the router instead. anyways, yea i would buy the cables, unfortunatly i havent seen any 150+ foot cables before and if i ever do, im sure they will cost a fortune.

Originally posted by polishmafia4u
well ok then. ill try out the cable that came with the router instead. anyways, yea i would buy the cables, unfortunatly i havent seen any 150+ foot cables before and if i ever do, im sure they will cost a fortune.

Ahh...a long homerun, eh? Hmmm...makes it a pain in the butt test..but at least it will answer the question....move your computer with the PCI NIC close to the router...and try it with that cable that came with the router. Don't forget to set the NIC back to default settings...auto-detect both on media type and duplex setting. Fully reboot the computer to give the NIC a chance to adjust.

Also over that distance...may not be the correct type of cable itself....able to carry full 100 meg over that distance.

Originally posted by YeOldeStonecat
Ahh...a long homerun, eh? Hmmm...makes it a pain in the butt test..but at least it will answer the question....move your computer with the PCI NIC close to the router...and try it with that cable that came with the router. Don't forget to set the NIC back to default settings...auto-detect both on media type and duplex setting. Fully reboot the computer to give the NIC a chance to adjust.

Also over that distance...may not be the correct type of cable itself....able to carry full 100 meg over that distance.

cat5e is not good enough?

ok just tested the short cables and the router continues to flash just like with the long cables so, its gotta be something esle.

Originally posted by polishmafia4u
ok just tested the short cables and the router continues to flash just like with the long cables so, its gotta be something esle.

Short cables were factory made? Then it's gotta be your NIC...won't handle full speed. That's a pretty unusual thing..usually it's the cable. If a NIC is bad...then they're usually dead. I've not seen one that will work slow, but not full speed. Time for a nice 3COM or Intel!

Originally posted by YeOldeStonecat
Short cables were factory made?

yes

Then it's gotta be your NIC...won't handle full speed. That's a pretty unusual thing..usually it's the cable. If a NIC is bad...then they're usually dead. I've not seen one that will work slow, but not full speed. Time for a nice 3COM or Intel!

how much are they? and i think i will go for an intel since the onboard one on mymotherboard is an intel one, so why risk it and try a different brand if you know one is already working