Hello. I bought a new computer 7 days ago so we could have internet on 2 computers so to lessen the queue time waiting to go on. I've connected the network cable & router & modem properly & used the router set-up disk on the new computer only. I cannot go any further than this coz both computers tell me that "A network cable is un-plugged". It is definitely plugged into both. I bought another cable but they still tell me its un-plugged. Internet still works fine on the old computer (1 year old), but when its hooked up to the new computer the connection is lost every minute.

I cannot set up the internet or network connection on the new computer at all coz, you've guessed it........."a network cable is un-plugged"

Using 2X AMD Athlon (Maxdata) computers, both using Windows XP & service pack 2. USB ADSL BT Broadband modem X1, 2X micro filters & 1X router.
The new computer is just left idle, please help.
Cheers! :cry:

try reinstalling the NICs?

I agree w/ steosaur(oWn) ..sounds like a bad NIC maybe? xp should auto recognize
hardware while hot.. (although not reccomended..) try reseating the card whilst the
system is on dont fry yourself. thats a 400w+ power supply.. toast it can make

What card? Do you mean a network card? Don't even know if the puter's have got network cards in them, although they are pretty new.
Never opened a puter B4 & would not know where to look anyway.
Is there a way to find out if the puters have got network cards through system information? Both puters have a red cross on the bottom right of screen saying that a network cable is unplugged. So does that mean they both have cards? Or, one or both of them ain't got one & that's why they are saying a cable is unplugged!
I got an explanation with a sketch of how to connect a 2nd puter in the home, to the same internet connection, but there are too many abbreviations in the thing & i don't understand it. Maybe i've got my wires mixed up.

Any chance of telling a new born kid how to do it?

Cheers boys.

If God lived on Earth he would get his windows put through.

No time like the present to learn by doing. Join the club. I dont think I know a
quality tech that didnt learn by crash n burn. Its your turn now.

Each machine that accepts an 8wire RJ-45 type cable 'straight' not 'twisted'
(this is a type of wiring scheme that differs at the jack at each end of a cable
or is the same; im not talking about shape. sometimes just any ol; RJ-45 cable
wont do.) What that cable plugs into is an ethernet connection, 8 wire.
This is used predominantly for DSL/CABLE internetworking sououtions with or
without 'hubs' in between. If you use dial up you use a 4 wire phone line type
RJ-15 (I think) that would connect a modem in your pc directly to a phone line.

Regardless, both are located (sometimes on the motherboard as a component)
in slots that are filled with 'cards' NIC, Graphics, sound.. all can be 'on board'
but most often the best are on add in cards.

If you dont know what you've bought you can start with the motherboard
manual and reciept. This will also give you an idea of whats inside. (crappy
little black and white pictures.)

If you still cant get it to work call your ISP. Maybe they do somthing special
and can talk you through an average setup or advise the purchase of new
hardware. If they go nuts and just cant help you over the phone ask them to
send out a tech. dont forget to pay them, theyve earned it.

to find out what NIC you have click on control panel----system----hardware----device manager---then look at what net adapter/s you have
Look at the cable connecting your comp to the internet and tell us how many wires you can see at either tip/end of the cable. And then tell us that it fits/or doesn't fit the hole in the back of the comp.

but an RJ-15 (phone line) will fit into an RJ-45 (ether) port.. ..and it wont
work but the converse isnt true..

Both puters have got 1394 Net Adapter & VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter. The downstairs puter has BT Voyager 100 ADSL Modem. I'm wanting to get the upstairs puter connected to the internet using the downstairs internet connection. The downstairs puter is one year old, the upstairs puter is brand new & i still do not know if there are network cards in either of them!

I can see NO WIRES at either ends of the network cable as it is plugged at both ends.
It is connected properly to both puters but yet, both puters say its unplugged. The internet works just fine on the downstairs puter, but, when i connect the cable to the upstairs puter & switch the upstairs puter on, THEN the internet will not work at all on the upstairs puter coz it says "a network cable is unplugged". Yet, something IS happening because the downstairs puter then loses the internet connection about EVERY MINUTE, time & time again, until i switch the upstairs puter off. So something is happening somewhere.
The downstairs puter then works 100% brill & never loses the internet connection so long as the upstairs puter is switched off. Phew! Upstairs Downstairs = Soap Opera.

well the computer's should get connection feed if you have your modem correctly set up (checked) then you have the router configed for both PC's etc with all drivers and you pluged the cat5's or usb etc in to the two PC's while they were off and booted up correct? I some times get that error but im wireless so I can't compare. I got an idea first take out all the cord's. Reinstall the router so PC 1 work's. Then if you get internet. Set it up so that PC2 will get conection, then run down and plug that one in and boot it up. WALAH you should be up and running. It worked for me. I got a few 50foot CAT5E's

Nope i cannot do it. The downstairs puter now says "BT internet shared" (at least something different has happened). We got a new puter we don't use coz i can't set it up to share the internet with the other. I can ring a chap who charges £30 an hour to sort it, but, trouble is, i don't want him coming just to say that we need network cards! I still do not know how to find out if there are network cards in the puters. One is new & the other is a year old. Should there be network cards in from new?
I still get the message from both puters that a network cable is unplugged. but it's plugged into both of em! Am i sticking the wrong wire into the wrong hole?