Need Help: Unable to setup LAN

Hello friends,

One of my friend wants to setup LAN between his laptop & desktop. He called me for this and now I am stuck in a strange problem. Both systems runs Windows XP. Everything seems to be ok but there is no connection at all as it says "NETWORK CABLE UNPLUGGED" (LEDs are off). I have checked both LAN cards with "DIAG" and it says both cards are ok. The cable is also brand new and tested ok. The settings are also perfect because I have done it many times before. BTW the details are given below. I am totally confused now.

Laptop:
Computer Name: Laptop
Workgroup: Workgroup
IP: 192.168.0.1
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Lan Card link speed: 10MB/Full Duplex
Receive Buffer Size: 64K

Desktop:
Computer Name: Desktop
Workgroup: Workgroup
IP: 192.168.0.2
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Lan Card link speed: 10MB/Full Duplex
Receive Buffer Size: 64K

Cable length: 10 metre.
All firewalls turned off.

Please help me...

Thanks is advance.

Subrata Bera.

hey check the lan cable 's order .....for pc to pc connection it's cross - over connection and in case of pc to router or switch its diff.......

^^^
Exactly .that cud be the problem.also make sure u have proper drivers installed. if the wire gets connected properly then u can see the LED blinking at ethernet port.

Thanks for help @uchiha.sasuke, @alok4best. As I've said it earlier, LAN cable is perfectly ok. And The drivers are also installed properly...

hey check the lan cable 's order .....for pc to pc connection it's cross - over connection

Please elaborate...

Subrata Bera.

That means u need a cross over ethernet cable where the sending path from one end corresponds to the recieving path of another end and vice versa. Read this
*www.homenethelp.com/web/explain/about-ethernet-crossover.asp

My cable is something like this...

*img179.imageshack.us/img179/3461/ethernetua4.th.jpg

Subrata Bera.

Nope thats a simple/straight cable! U can google to know more about cross over cable. Ask the shopkeeper to give a cross over ethernet cable.

Check the link I gave previously and observe the difference between the two.

But AFAIK, I,ve configured many LANs with such cable. What's wrong with this cable? BSNL also providing the same cable for broadband connection...

Subrata Bera.

Ethernet crossover cables are most often used in home networks when connecting two ethernet computers without a hub. An Ethernet crossover cable has it's send and receive wires crossed. When using a hub or switch, this is automatically done for you.
Unfortunately some devices like cable and dsl modems have their actual ethernet plugs reversed. This is to allow people to hook up a cable modem to a computer without a special crossover cable. When adding a hub into the mix, the issue can get confusing.
Most modern hubs and switches have what is called an uplink port on them. This is the same kind of 'reversed' port that is on a cable or dsl modem.

So there's nuthing wrong. Since there is no hub, u can't just use a straight cable where a send signal from Computer A goes to the send signal of computer B...can u? U have to use something so that send of one goes to recieve of another....and hence a cross over cable! Don't get confused!

As other fellow member already provide the solution here, Just I add this.

1.Connecting Same device Use -- Crossover cable

e,g :-- Desktop/Laptop PC's. Joining/Bridging Network hubs.

2.Connecting Diffrent Device Use -- Straight Through Cable.

e,g:-- PC-to-Your DSL modem/router, PC-to-Hub, PC-to-Network Switch, Pc-To-Router.

BSNL's cable is a straight Through cable .. When you connect a router to PC you need ST cable .. When you want to connect a PC to PC , you'll need a Crossover cable ..

Best way to identify the cable is to hold both the ends side by side
If the colors of cables of left end matches with colors of right end in exact order then its a straight cable ..

[EDIT] One simple Google Images query found this page :

*www.peakelec.co.uk/content/ethernet.html

Check it out ..

Goto a hardware shop and get a rj45 crossover cable... u ll get a 1 meter cable for abt 20rs.

PROBLEM SOLVED. Yes, you are all absolutely right. I am using the wrong cable. Actually I never connected two computers directly without hub/switch in between, that's why I stuck and got confused. But thanks to this forum and its excellent members, my problem is solved at last. Once again I thank all of you for your help and detailed replies.

Thankyou very much.

Subrata Bera.