Crossover or Straight-Thru? Please help.

Apr 04, 2005 3 Replies
T

For the purpose of installing a new IOS i connected my PC to a 2600 router thus:



Console cable between console port on the 2600 and Com 1 on my PC (no probs as you'd expect) and a CROSSOVER cable (wrongly labelled as straight-thru) between my NIC card and Ethernet 0/0.



I set up basic configuration and everything seemed fine except i couldn't ping my NIC's IP address.



I then noticed my mis-labelled cable was a CROSSOVER and swapped it for a STRAIGHT-THRU.



I re-configured the router from scratch and the line protocol is down, the link light on the ethernet int is out and my NIC is saying that there is a cable unplugged. Tried another STRAIGHT-THRU cable and still the same.



Plugging the CROSSOVER back in brings back limited functionality, link light etc! (still cant ping the NIC)



Which cable *should* i be using to connect my router to my NIC? I always assumed it was STRAIGHT-THRU?



Mikey Boy.


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M

You need to use a crossover cable to connect a pc to a router. (Had it right the first time around.) Your problem was more likely one of mis-configuring ip address & subnet values for this very abbreviated temporary network.

Simplest way to keep this straight is to think of all devices as belonging to one of two families:

First family is devices with multiple ethernet ports that just join together other devices at layer 2. This includes hubs & switches.

Second family is everything that might actually have something to say. This includes all computers, networked printers and other devices, and routers (which are really just special-purpose computers).

Connections between the two families always use a straight-thru cable. Connections within the same family always use a crossover cable.

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T

Thanks for the help with my somewhat rudimentary problem. I seem to have a problem with the LAN connection itself so i'll re-install the thing. Think i better hit the books gain too!

God Bless Ya

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M

You might also check the condition of the cable itself that you don't have any crossed connections

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