I just bought a new house and I had Cat-5 wire run through out the house. I bought some "keystone jacks" but I am not sure how to wire them? Can some one point out a web page or explain in detail which color is conected to each pin and also on the other end as well. Thats for all your help!!!

Did you run the wires to a central hub or switch area? Each jack should have one cable from it to the basement where you setup a hub/switch.

I normally make my own CAT5 cables using a high quality crimper ($25). I use a straight thru color scheme on both ends:

white-blue
blue
white-orange
orange
white-green
green
white-brown
brown

I then test each cable with a small handheld cable tester ($75).

Mike, Sterling's color code is WRONG (although ANY combination will work, as long as both ends of the cable are the same)

This site will give the standard color codes for both straight-thru (which is what you're looking for) and crossover cables (used to connect 2 PCs directly without a hub):

http://yoda.uvi.edu/InfoTech/rj45.htm

When I networked my house, I got all of the cables, crimper, jacks, etc from Home Depot. It's really easy once you get the hang of it. If you have a laptop, make a crossover cable & use it to hook directly to each computer on the LAN to check your configuration. Then if one of the computers has a problem being seen on the network, you'll know that it's a cabling problem, rather than a software (configuration) issue. It's a lot easier to troubleshoot problems when you can narrow it down to one or the other.

Good luck.

Dave

Don't understand this part what are you talking about???
.
If you have a laptop, make a crossover cable & use it to hook directly to each computer on the LAN to check your configuration. Then if one of the computers has a problem being seen on the network, you'll know that it's a cabling problem, rather than a software (configuration) issue. It's a lot easier to troubleshoot problems when you can narrow it down to one or the other.

Al, in Control Panel>Network, setup your client, protocol, adapter, enable sharing, etc. Assign a Name & Workgroup. In other words, set all of the network configuration. Do the same on your laptop. Then connect the laptop DIRECTLY to the other computer with a CROSSOVER cable to make sure that the settings are correct & the computers can see each other. Once you are sure that the software is working right, hook the PCs up to the hub & network wiring that has been wired throughout the house. If there's a problem, you know that it's in the cabling & not the configuration.

Otherwise you're troubleshooting both hardware & software at the same time, which can be a real nightmare.

Hope this explains it better.

Dave

hey Mike,

Sterling has put you way out of proportion duder and dunno about the second one either but the correct cabling technique to connect 1 pc to another using a hub (Hub consisting of a 12 or less ports for LAN of 12 or less PC's) or a using a switch (The same as a Hub but with multiple ports for over 35 PC's a time) is sequenced by the colour coding of:

Standard Patch Cable starting from number one wire which is Far Left wire (Straight connection):

1 White-Green
2 Green
3 White-Orange
4 Blue
5 White-Blue
6 Orange
7 White-Brown
8 Brown

Crossed Patch Cable starting from number one wire which is Far Left wire again (Crossed Connection):

1 White-Green
2 Green
3 White-Orange
4 Blue
5 White Blue
6 Orange
7 White-Brown
8 Brown

With the Idea of connection any colour to the RJ45 Jack to where the cables are being connected is completely wrong and shouldn't be done because your Network will not run consistantly at all and may not even run at all.

I think the what you will also need to connect to your Laptop is a card called (correct me if i am wrong) a PCI/PCMA card which will allow you to connect your pc to your laptop using the above configuration of wires, then it depends on what Plat form you are using to how you go about configuring it to your Laptop from your PC.

If your finding it difficult at any stage of doing this i will be more than happy to help with your problem, also what i recommend you doing if you have the cash on you, depending on how you want to set up your LAN use say a 12 port Hub because the conectin will be strong even tho people say that something less than a 12 port would be good try a 12 port because a hub is another example of a repeater and the repeats your got in the hub the better the signal will be to your LAN. Cheers
Geordy

There is a correct way. Data lines pairs must be paired! The twist is needed to cancel out interference. If you wire randomly you'll have meganoise on that cat5 line and lots of errors.

Try testing it out on a scrap 25ft section before doing your house.

Uh, Geordy.....You give the same color code for a crossover or a straight-through cable.

Check the link that I posted. It gives the CORRECT color code. Ray is mostly correct about the pairing, but for a crossover cable, two of the wires are switched, thus the pairing is not consistent. And to get technical on it, pins 5-8 aren't even used...they're spares.

The term that Geordy was looking for on the laptop is PCMCIA card (that's the laptop's NIC) Newer laptops may have a built-in NIC, & many (such as mine) will have an NIC in the port replicator (docking station) also.

As to a 12-port hub, that would be more than most people require for a home LAN. Most people could get by with a 4-port or an 8-port. Unless there is a need for a 12-port, it's just a waste of money.

Dave

Oooooooops.....my mistake. Pins 1 2 3 & 6 are used. 4 5 7 & 8 are the spares. and 2 wires are switched in the crossover cable, thus keeping the pairing correct. Here's another link:

http://www.bluemax.net/techtips/networking/Wiring_Tips/Wiring100TX/colorcodestandards.htm

Hope this helps.

Dave