I want to hook up my existing cable broadband to another computer.

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 10:49 pm

the password is just to access the router set up, not the internet. So you will only need it when you change a config on the router,

you need it in Dynamic IP

Mike89 · Post by **Mike89** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 10:59 pm

OK.

For Dynamic IP Address, it then asks for

Host Name
MAC

but then both boxes say "optional" at the end.

Do I need to put anything in there (and if so, what?) or does it do it all automatically?

Forgive my ignorance here. I just have never played with a router before (or done any networking either for that matter). I'm just a plain old single computer dude from way back.

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 11:04 pm

you shouldnt need to put anything, just plut a cable from the modem to the wan port of the router.

so, turn off the modem, plut it to the wan, then power it back on and power the router on and you should be set

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 11:48 pm

If you're using a cable modem you don't even need to configure anything. Plug in the box, power cycle the modem so it picks up the router's MAC address and that's it.

Plug n' Play.

Mike89 · Post by **Mike89** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 12:54 am

Dam. Heh heh

So why are the instructions trying to put people through all those changes? Someone needs to slap those guys.

Mike89 · Post by **Mike89** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 1:36 pm

OK, I got it all hooked up. Another question.

The way it is now, I have the router in my room, going from there (port 1) to my computer and then from port 2 to the other bedroom that's 80' away. Now I have also another bedroom right next to that one. If later I wanted to run it to that bedroom also, would I need to run a second cable all the way back to the router or can I tap in from one bedroom to the other?

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 1:45 pm

if you put a switch in the second room, you can run a cable there and then from there run a cable ti the 3rd bedroom

Mike89 · Post by **Mike89** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 3:17 pm

Then all three computers would have a separate IP address?

Right now I notice that my first computer ends with .1 and the second one is the same number ending with .101

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 3:20 pm

yes, the router should assign each PC a different IP address, you can have up to 255 ( I think that is the # )

Mike89 · Post by **Mike89** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 3:47 pm

Explain that one to me. If I hooked up three computers as we discussed, then two of them would be connected from one port on the router, not two. So how would the third computer have a separate address from the second one?

Also, what is the difference between a switch and a hub?

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 4:08 pm

the switch or hub will not get an IP adress, just the computers hooked to them.

A hub, ok, it takes the data and brodcasts it to all the ports, a switch is a smart hub, and only sends the date to the port it needs to go.

so, a switch is better, and they are cheap now. So no real reason to buy a hub

There are more complex answers to that, I made it as sinple as I could

:

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 10:40 am

The ports themselves don't have an IP. Ethernet cabling is a SERIAL communications system and can be daisy chained (like USB - every USB device also has a unique address on the bus, but you can keep connecting hubs together to get more ports). You can move any of the present computers to different jacks on the router and the IPs won't change. The IP configuration is done via communication.

You can add a network switch (or hub, but a switch is better) to any port on the router and break it out for more computers. You can even connect switches to switched.

Only restriction is that when connecting a switch to a switch (or a router) you usually need a cross-over cable or use a normal cable but connect to the cross-over jack (usually port 1 has two jacks: a regular and a cross-over) on the switch. Some of the modern switches don't have cross-over jacks - they're automatic and detect a crossed cable in any port and reconfigure themselves.

Mike89 · Post by **Mike89** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 12:36 pm

Crossover cable? I just ordered the switch (DLink Dss5+) and also just ordered some more of the same cable I had ordered before.

Here is a quote from the Dss5+ manual:

Auto-MDI Jacks:
These jacks supports automatic MDI/MDIX crossover detection
function gives true ‘plug and play’ capability without the need of
confusing crossover cables or crossover ports.
With the Auto-MDI function, you just need to plug-in the network
cable to the hub directly and no need to care if the end node is NIC
(Network Interface Card) or switches and hubs.

Switch to Switch (other devices)
The Switch can be connected to another switch or other
devices (routers, bridges, etc.) via a two-pair Category 3, 4, 5
UTP/STP straight or crossover cable. A Category 5 cable
must be used for 100Mbps operation. The connection can be
done from any (MDI-X) port of the Switch (Switch A) to any
of the 10Mbps, 100Mbps (MDI-X) port of the other switch.

So am I ok with the cable I ordered? I don't even know what crossover cable is.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 11:02 pm

You're fine - it's all automatic. Use standard cables.

Mike89 · Post by **Mike89** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 4:23 pm

Well I'm all up and running. Got my computer in my room in the garage (where cable comes in). Got the router in that room, cable running to the switch in the bedroom on the other end of the house to the second computer. Then from there to an adjacent bedroom to a third computer.

I'm sure glad my son talked me into this. He is coming home soon for a 30 day leave after spending a year in Iraq. He wanted to have cable hooked to his computer when he got here. I was resistant to this at first because I pay the cable bill and didn't want to sacrafice my bandwidth (yeah I'm tight). For some reason I thought this would cut my cable speeds in half but I don't notice any difference in speed at all. One computer can be playing a game on cable and I can still download something at about the same speed. I'm quite impressed.

Plus I gained a little experience in doing it.

Routers and Switches rock!

Thanks guys for all the help.