Tom's Guide | Tom's Hardware | Tom's Games
 |
 |
 |
Right now I have 5 computers on my network, which is the maximum that my hub can take, and I was thinking of putting an extra network card in my XP machine so I can set up a network bridge. If I hooked the second network card up to the other hub, would I be able to use both hubs to form one big network? thanx.
Just by a switch. They are the same price as another network card (as cheap as $10). Plug it in downstream of the hub and you will have 4 more ports to use.
-Ryan Adams
Free Computer Tips and more:http://RyanTAdams.comPaid Tech Support: Black Diamond
0 
Well, my network actually runs on a "switch", so does that mean that I'd be able to take my "hub" and hook it up to the switch to gain a few more ports?
0
It would be much better get rid of the hub and spend slightly more to buy a switch that would accommodate all of your computers. You can but a 4 port switch for as little as $10 but its quality would be in the range of garbage. A half way decent quality 8 port switch (or should I say the lowest quality that I'd recommend) will start about $25.
0
I should have added that adding a second network card to your computer would probably be the worst approach.
0
Well, the thing is though, I'm a broke high-school student, and NICs and ethernet switches are incredibly expensive up here (my 5-port switch cost about 40 bucks), so I have to work with what I have.
0 0
Well, I just bought two crossover cables off ebay. :D Now, I just have to wait for them to come in.
0
I should have mentioned, they're not very expensive and most every computer store will have them.
You could have likely picked them up locally a lot faster.
Anyhow, you're ready to go. Once they arrive just connect the hub to the switch and plug clients in. It should work properly.
I would take a look at the documentation on both devices and see if they have a dedicated uplink port. If they do, you'll want to use that port for cross connecting the two devices.
0
It turns out that I actually had a crossover cable lying around after all, and I didn't even know about it. I tested it by plugging one end into the switch, and the other end into the hub, and it worked great! It's limited to 10 megabits per second, instead of the usual 100, but it still works fine considering that I only use the LAN for network gaming, and the occaisonal file transfer. Thanx for all the help! :D
0
It turns out that I actually had a crossover cable lying around after all, and I didn't even know about it. I tested it by plugging one end into the switch, and the other end into the hub, and it worked great! It's limited to 10 megabits per second, instead of the usual 100, but it still works fine considering that I only use the LAN for network gaming, and the occaisonal file transfer. Thanx for all the help! :D
Actually, that might be just a regular network cable, not a crossover. You can tell by comparing the ends and the wires in them. If they're wired exactly the same (with regard to the color scheme of the wires) then it's a regular patch cable.
Most (if not all) modern switches are capable of auto MDIX. Which is to say, they sense what type of cable you have and automatically adjust for it.
I've been doing this for a long time and old habits die hard. Prior to auto MDIX, you always connected all like devices with a crossover (ie: switch to switch, PC to PC etc). I continue to do it this way because should an issue arise, then I have one less thing to troubleshoot.
0  |
 port block in router
|
Connecting Xbox (weird ca...
|
This post is quite old and has been locked from receiving new replies. Please create a new posting instead.
| Ads by Google |
