Hi all. My problems started when I decided to move my office upstairs and connect wirelessly to my router which remains downstairs. I could not get my Edimax wireless LAN PCI card to pick up a signal no matter what I tried. My laptop was placed in the same position and worked without problem with a lower spec PC card. Hours on the phone to Edimax left them saying my card must be knackered. Before sending it back, I took my PC to 8 feet from my router and got a connection, albeit a weak one. That was just cutting a short story long to get to my question. As my laptop picks up a signal, browses the internet, and I can see between both laptop and PC using a crossover cable, is it possible I can use the laptop to give my PC internet access? I know a bit about ICS, but can my laptop pick up a wireless signal from my cable modem <---> router setup and pass it through a crossover cable to my PC? Apologies if that didn't make much sense. Richard If it ain't broken, break it!

You would have to run a wire to upstairs. If doing that you might as well do a wired connection to your wireless router. I would highly recommend that whatever wireless card you get is the same manufacturer as your wireless router. It should match whether 11mbps or 54mbps depending on your router. This way everything talks correctly. My Netgear wireless router and two netgear wireless cards [11mbps] can reach my wifes and daughters laptops thru two walls and 50-60 feet away. You could have a problem with your wireless router if you can only pick up a signal 8 feet away.

Hi and thinks for your reply. I moved my office upstairs to avoid all of the wires I had running around my room downstairs and this is why I chose to go wireless. My wife will tell you that running more cables aroundthe house is not the option I am looking at! I appreciate your comment about sticking to the same manufacturer. The router is a combined 802.11b and 802.11g, so caters for both 11Mb and 54Mb. As mentioned, my laptop card (US Robotics) and router (Dell) communicate with no problem, from anywhere in the house, so the router is not a problem. I think I exhausted all avenues with that scenario (maybe the card is dead?), which is why my question was about the laptop and crossover connection. If you have any ideas about this, I would be grateful. Thanks. Richard If it ain't broken, break it!

First get another card to try. Does the laptop work wirelessly ok at the new location?

I am clearly not explaining myself too well. My initial question was linking my PC to my laptop, because my laptop works perfectly well ANYWHERE in the house, including the new location. I have ordered a replacement card, but until it arrives I was asking if there is a way to link my PC (new location) to my laptop (new location and with wireless connection) and allow for internet use with a crossover cable. Thanks again If it ain't broken, break it!

can my laptop pick up a wireless signal from my cable modem <---> router setup and pass it through a crossover cable to my PC? Yes. I think your story got confusing with the bit about upstairs, the wife and 8 feet from the router. That's a different problem (especially the wife :-) ) You're talking about having two Nic's in your laptop- a wireless NIC and an ethernet NIC. You 'll be setting up a peer to peer network. ICS will act as a DHCP server and assign your crossover-cable-connected PC an IP address. You'll probably want to run the NetBeui, but tcp/IP will do. What confuses me is you said cable modem-router setup. Do you have a cable modem and a separate router. If so, why worry about ICS, use the router as the Internet gateway with the cable modem as the WAN connection.

Short answer is yes you can use crossover cable and ICS between PC and laptop with the laptop providing the wireless link to your downstairs router/modem. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for life.