Hey
You can use this switch. It dose not matter where you plug what.
After plugging all the devices, run Windows network wizard on all computers in the network.

Hi,

Thank you for your help with my:

Allied Telesyn
AT-FS708
10 BASE T/100 BASE TX
8 Port Fast Ethernet Switch

Thread URL:

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread32824.html

I connected the switch as you said and ran the network wizard on both machines and it worked.

I have another question. I am running XP. I have 2 computers, 1 brand new (5 mos.), and 1 about 5 years old. They both have been networked together with a simple (1) crossover ethernet connector. File sharing was fine and I would connect to dial-up individually on each machine.

Now, currently:

On the new computer which has an ethernet card, I have no problem with file sharing between the two machines and the internet connection is fine with the new DSL.

The old computer has a USB to ethernet adaptor. (which is the way I have been operating it thus far) (it has never had an ethernet card) The file sharing between the two machines still works fine, as it always has. The problem is that the internet connection will not establish through this USB to ethernet adaptor on the old machine with this new DSL connection I have. I have previously been operating with dial-up.

Why do you think I can not connect to the internet on the old machine? I am able to ping google and yahoo with 100% success. Sometimes I can connect to google's homepage in internet explorer but then it freezes and will not continue. (but 99% of the time it is "this page can not be displayed")

Is the USB to ethernet adaptor the problem? Is it as simple as I need an ethernet card in this machine? And if that is the answer, why am I currently able to do file sharing through the above Ethernet Switch between the two machines?

Thanks in advance.

Questions? Please ask.

Javamann

The USB ethernet adapter isn't very likely to be the problem.

I disagree with SimpleJohn, you cannot use this as a router. The reason for this is simple, it's not a router; it's a switch. Most routers are actual routing devices with a switch built-in. By no means does this mean that a switch is a router, it means that most routers have switches.

I suggest that you get an actual router since that will save you many headaches in trying to tweak this setup into a very mediocre and problematic solution.

Thank for the info. I am having a LinkSys 4 Port DSL Router Model #: NR041 sent to me. Will this suit my needs? Just simply install it in place of this switch? Anything else I should know or do?

It looks like an older router, so finding people that have direct experience with it might be hard, but the device itself should be fine.

There are three main parts to successfully setting up a network with internet: hooking up everything correctly, configuring the router correctly, and making sure that the computers are configured correctly.

The correct hardware setup is to connect the DSL phone line to the DSL modem, connect the DSL modem to the router's WAN port with a network cable (standard cable, not crossover. You should not use any crossover cables for this setup), and connect each machine to the router using any of the router's non-WAN ports.

I don't know all the details of your DSL connection and how it's setup, so I will assume that it is like mine. When I had my DSL modem directly connected to my machine, I had to run software on my machine in order to connect. When you use a router, you do not need this software (uninstall it) since the router will handle negotiating the connection for you. You will want to configure the router to use a PPPoE connection and will have to supply the router with your username and password information for the connection. You will also want to enable the router to automatically reconnect if the connection becomes disconnected. Some of this setup may be different for your connection (you may need to contact your ISP to confirm the settings). Make sure that the router has it's DHCP server turned on.

The easiest setup for your computers is to set all of them to "Obtain an IP address automatically" in the TCP/IP Properties of the Local Area Connection Properties. You may also need to run the Internet Connection Wizard to ease some of the setup. When you run the wizard, set up an internet connection, manual connection, and select connect using a broadband connection.

Thank you very much.