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Can't connect XP workstation to Cisco network

I'm a Cisco novice with a small lab setup in my basement. (1) 2501, (1)

2514, (1) 2507 running variations of 11.1 and 11.2, a few hubs and a Linksys WAP.. I have them routing between themselves and have, at one time or another, successfully used all of the serial and ethernet ports on all of the routers. So I am confident that everything is functional. Obviously, all private addressing.

So, here is my problem. I have a workstation running XP Home and cannot for the life of me get the workstation to talk to any of the routers. Ethernet comes on the workstation and routers. But the routers see 100% FCS errors on the interface.

I have direct connected them to the Ex ports on the 2501 and 2514 and have connected via an external hub. I have connected them to the hub ports on the 2507. I have used straight cables and cross over cables. On 11.2 and

11.2 I can't (or don't know how to) set polity but the 2507 has an auto-polarity setting. No luck.

As I have been able to use all the interfaces cleanly by connecting various routers to them I think it is in my XPHome setup. I am basically setting up the fixed IP address assocaited with the ethernet subnet I am connecting to.

This seemed so basic to me. I'm sure it is something simple...but I'm stumped.

Reply to
GC
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Make sure that you are on the same subnet. Get a rollover cable and connect to the routers via hyperterminal. You are able to see the configuration of the routers using a rollover. You would use a crossover to connect a PC to a router.

Reply to
M&MCon

FCS errors usually indicates a bad NIC.

Do you know that the NIC in the Windows PC is functional?

Try setting the NIC to 10-half instead of auto

Reply to
Merv

Also check that infernal XP Firewall (pun intended). Turn it off and check.

Reply to
Joey

Thanks have been connecting to the rotuers via the console port. That has not been an issue. I think my problem is cabling. I'll play with the cross over. Maybe my cable is bad. I only have one so I'll try to scrape up another.

Thanks

Reply to
GC

Yes, the NIC works if I plug it into my Linksys. I did try playing with the duplex settings in the Netowrk config. In 11.2 and prior you can't set (or I don't know how) duplex on the routers. So thought this might be in. To no avail.

I'm doing something wrong here.

Reply to
GC

Ethernet ports on 2500 series need an AUI adapter.

Do you know that the ones you have are working with no problem.

Connect two routers back to back and run an extended ping test of

100,00 packets with packet size of 1500 bytes ( use extended ping command)
Reply to
Merv

FCS errors are almost always a bad NIC or duplex mismatch. Since you stated you've been playing with the duplex settings, that's the likely culprit. Duplex MUST be set the same on both sides of a connection or you will have BIG problems. Auto on both sides often works, but not always. If you hard code full duplex on one side it will NOT attempt to negotiate, and the other side will fall back to half duplex, and you will get nothing but errors. So whatever you set it for (auto, full, half), make sure it's set the same on both sides. If in doubt, hard code it. Also note that you CANNOT use full-duplex mode unless you're connected directly to the port (not through a hub), which requires a crossover cable for PC-Router connections.

Depending on the IOS, there may be two ways of setting duplex:

duplex [full | half | auto] full-duplex | half-duplex | auto-duplex

Also make sure your PC is set for 10Mb or auto, as the 2500s d>I'm a Cisco novice with a small lab setup in my basement. (1) 2501, (1)

Reply to
Deez Nutz

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