Crossover or straight cable question.

Thanks to all for the comments so far. I've searched all day on Google and
found nothing really to help on this problem. I've decided for myself it's
easier to just lay the cables across the kitchen floor and pick them up when
not using the PC.

A friend already has a network (2 PC's) and a third PC is now needed to be
networked.
Another trip to PC World had them disagree with Belkin.
I'm told the PC's will be connected via a crossover cable and for the three
to work I'd have to replace the cable with 'straight' (will use a Belkin
5-port switch). This is almost impossible since the cable went where there
are now fixed cupboards and down thru the roof.
PC World said I could just cut off the crossover end and re-crimp a
connector but in a straight configuration instead of crossover.
A third Shop said it would make no difference between crossover or straight
when connected to any form of hub.switch.

I'd be grateful of any comments again as this is driving me mad.
Thanks,
James

In article <41ee43f2$0$14593$(E-Mail Removed)>,
just_for_5replace'5'with'five'@yahoo.co.uk, a.k.a JJ says...

> Thanks to all for the comments so far.

Well, i've no idea what "comments so far" you refer to, seeing as this
is the first post in what seems to be a new thread?

Did i miss something?

"Tx2" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) t...
> In article <41ee43f2$0$14593$(E-Mail Removed)>,
> just_for_5replace'5'with'five'@yahoo.co.uk, a.k.a JJ says...
>
> > Thanks to all for the comments so far.
>
> Well, i've no idea what "comments so far" you refer to, seeing as this
> is the first post in what seems to be a new thread?
>
> Did i miss something?

Sorry, my first post was 'what cable is best'?
JJ

In article <41ee4b7c$0$73197$(E-Mail Removed)>,
just_for_5replace'5'with'five'@yahoo.co.uk, a.k.a JJ says...

> Sorry, my first post was 'what cable is best'?


FWIW, It's not 'usual' to start a new thread when following up on an
existing one.

JJ <just_for_5replace'5'with'five'@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Thanks to all for the comments so far. I've searched all day on Google and
> found nothing really to help on this problem. I've decided for myself it's
> easier to just lay the cables across the kitchen floor and pick them up when
> not using the PC.
>
> A friend already has a network (2 PC's) and a third PC is now needed to be
> networked.

Presumably this is a new question quite unconnected with the one
referred to in the paragraph starting "Thanks to all for the comments
so far." If not, I'm confused!


> Another trip to PC World had them disagree with Belkin.
> I'm told the PC's will be connected via a crossover cable and for the three
> to work I'd have to replace the cable with 'straight' (will use a Belkin
> 5-port switch).

To connect more than two PCs together in a network the easiest way is
certainly to have a hub in which case you need 'straight' cables.
(But see last paragraph)


> This is almost impossible since the cable went where there
> are now fixed cupboards and down thru the roof.
> PC World said I could just cut off the crossover end and re-crimp a
> connector but in a straight configuration instead of crossover.

That's correct *if* you know which end has the connector with the
crossed over connections. It might actually be easier to add an
extra, short, crossover cable (using an RJ-45 female-female joiner)
rather than cutting and re-crimping.


> A third Shop said it would make no difference between crossover or straight
> when connected to any form of hub.switch.
>
Many modern hubs and switches have 'intelligent' ports which work out
for themselves which wires are 'in' and which wires are 'out'. If you
have an intelligent device like this it will work with the crossover
cable.

--
Chris Green

Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Wed, 19 Jan
2005 11:26:39 -0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
uk.comp.home-networking, yawatina tan reek esk "JJ"
<just_for_5replace'5'with'five'@yahoo.co.uk> fornis do marikano es bono tan
el:

>Another trip to PC World had them disagree with Belkin.
>I'm told the PC's will be connected via a crossover cable and for the three
>to work I'd have to replace the cable with 'straight' (will use a Belkin
>5-port switch).

This is true, unless the switch autosenses whether or not the cable is
crossover. Also, if the switch has an uplink port, then you can plug the
crossover into that.

>This is almost impossible since the cable went where there
>are now fixed cupboards and down thru the roof.
>PC World said I could just cut off the crossover end and re-crimp a
>connector but in a straight configuration instead of crossover.

This is also true. Are you sure it was PC World that said this?

>A third Shop said it would make no difference between crossover or straight
>when connected to any form of hub.switch.

It depends on the switch. Some "correct" the crossover-ness of the cable.

What model is it?

deKay
--
+ Lofi Gaming - www.lofi-gaming.org.uk [Gamertag: deKay 01]
|- Gaming Diary - www.lofi-gaming.org.uk/diary/
|- My computer runs at 3.5MHz and I'm proud of that
|- Hurry up and go touch it.

JJ wrote:
> Thanks to all for the comments so far. I've searched all day on Google and
> found nothing really to help on this problem. I've decided for myself it's
> easier to just lay the cables across the kitchen floor and pick them up when
> not using the PC.
>
> A friend already has a network (2 PC's) and a third PC is now needed to be
> networked.
> Another trip to PC World had them disagree with Belkin.
> I'm told the PC's will be connected via a crossover cable and for the three
> to work I'd have to replace the cable with 'straight' (will use a Belkin
> 5-port switch). This is almost impossible since the cable went where there
> are now fixed cupboards and down thru the roof.
> PC World said I could just cut off the crossover end and re-crimp a
> connector but in a straight configuration instead of crossover.
> A third Shop said it would make no difference between crossover or straight
> when connected to any form of hub.switch.
>
> I'd be grateful of any comments again as this is driving me mad.
> Thanks,
> James
>
>

Ok most recent swiches/hubs don't care if the cables is crossed or not
BUT if you get one that does either use a short cable and a crossover
adpator o te end of you crossed cable.

In article <41ee43f2$0$14593$(E-Mail Removed)>,
"JJ" just_for_5replace'5'with'five'@yahoo.co.uk says...
> Thanks to all for the comments so far. I've searched all day on Google and
> found nothing really to help on this problem. I've decided for myself it's
> easier to just lay the cables across the kitchen floor and pick them up when
> not using the PC.
>
> A friend already has a network (2 PC's) and a third PC is now needed to be
> networked.
> Another trip to PC World had them disagree with Belkin.
> I'm told the PC's will be connected via a crossover cable and for the three
> to work I'd have to replace the cable with 'straight' (will use a Belkin
> 5-port switch). This is almost impossible since the cable went where there
> are now fixed cupboards and down thru the roof.
> PC World said I could just cut off the crossover end and re-crimp a
> connector but in a straight configuration instead of crossover.
> A third Shop said it would make no difference between crossover or straight
> when connected to any form of hub.switch.
>
The switch might sense the crossover and correct it, otherwise you
can get crossover adapters (just a short patch cable with a plug on
one end and a socket on the other) - if you connect two crossovers
together it becomes straight-through again :-) Or the switch may
have a port intended for uplink to another switch which is crossed
(there may be a small switch underneath or at the rear to select this
on one of the normal ports).

JJ wrote:
> Thanks to all for the comments so far. I've searched all day on Google and
> found nothing really to help on this problem. I've decided for myself it's
> easier to just lay the cables across the kitchen floor and pick them up when
> not using the PC.
>
> A friend already has a network (2 PC's) and a third PC is now needed to be
> networked.
> Another trip to PC World had them disagree with Belkin.
> I'm told the PC's will be connected via a crossover cable and for the three
> to work I'd have to replace the cable with 'straight' (will use a Belkin
> 5-port switch). This is almost impossible since the cable went where there
> are now fixed cupboards and down thru the roof.
> PC World said I could just cut off the crossover end and re-crimp a
> connector but in a straight configuration instead of crossover.
> A third Shop said it would make no difference between crossover or straight
> when connected to any form of hub.switch.

All the above answers are correct under some circumstances!

You can network two (and no more computers) using a crossover 10BaseT
cable (Cat5 cable with RJ45 connectors).

Using older equipment you network equipment together using a hub or
switch, with straight-through cables throughout. Many hubs have a tiny
switch on one port which makes that port, only, accept a crossover cable
(though it is intended to be an uplink port, to connect hubs together
with straight-through cables).

Most modern hubs/switches autodetect whether the cable is straight-
through or crossover, so you can use either. Check the manual.

Cutting off and replacing the plug to revert to straight-through is
fine, but a pain if you're not expert.

you can buy small adaptors (from Maplin Electronics and others) which
you plug an RJ45 connector into, and it changes crossover <==> straight
through.

You can buy a crossover RJ45 cable female-female connector which lets
you join two cables and change crossover <==> straight through of the
combination.

Or you can remove your fixed cupboards, climb onto the roof, and
rewire...

HTH,
--
Michael Salem

In message <41ee43f2$0$14593$(E-Mail Removed)>, JJ
<just_for_5replace'5'with'five'@yahoo.co.uk> writes
>A friend already has a network (2 PC's) and a third PC is now needed to be
>networked.
Don't ya just love it when everything changes like this.

>Another trip to PC World had them disagree with Belkin.
Another would probably have them disagree with themselves.
>I'm told the PC's will be connected via a crossover cable
Unless the PCs have Gigabit NICs, in which case they'll sort out the
cross-over stuff for themselves.
> and for the three
>to work I'd have to replace the cable with 'straight' (will use a Belkin
>5-port switch).
OK, so you have a crossover cable in place already, you could continue
to use this with a switch as most modern switches are smart enough to
deal with it automatically. If your switch won't, then it will have a
port marked Uplink or MDI-X or some-such, it will usually be marked
differently from all the other ports and in many cases it will be a
'shared' port (the wiring inside the switch to the socket is 'crossed'
from another port), plug the crossover into this port and all will be
well.
>This is almost impossible since the cable went where there
>are now fixed cupboards and down thru the roof.
Ahh, you weren't expecting the cable to ever fail then.
>PC World said I could just cut off the crossover end and re-crimp a
>connector but in a straight configuration instead of crossover.
This would certainly work, just make sure you don't get confused when
you cut the end off and make another cross-over cable, you can cut and
crimp either end, but it's probably best to cut the end that doesn't
match the colours on a standard patch cable so you can use one as a
reference when you re-crimp it.
>A third Shop said it would make no difference between crossover or straight
>when connected to any form of hub.switch.
I'd find a new shop to get advice from. Auto crossover switches are a
fairly recent innovation at the hobbyist price level and there are still
lots out there that aren't that intelligent.
>
>I'd be grateful of any comments again as this is driving me mad.
>Thanks,
>James
>
>

--
Clint Sharp