[peterjems]

I just finished building my new computer and im trying to connect it to the internet. My setup is a modem connecting to a lynksys WRT54G until now i was using it with a direct connection to my mac and wifi to 2 laptops. Anyway yesterday i took out the plug that was going into my mac and put it in my pc and it worked, but today i brought a ethernet cable to connect it to my other desk across the room. On the back of my router are 4 ports my mac being in the first. When I plug my pc into port 2 my pc gets limited connectivity and my mac doesn't get online either. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[l2ridehd]

Sounds like a bad cable.

[Hawkwind]

The new cable may be either bad or a cross over cable. First check the new cable by holding the two ends together at the RJ45 connector with the little clip down. The connectors should be clear and you can see wire color codes. Look at the colors of the wires as they should match.The left most wires should match colors and each one should match as you go from left to right. If the colors do not match then you have a cross over cable and that will not work.

Now let's work with only the wired clients and not the lap tops via the wireless connection. Don't want to have to many things in the mix at first.

I have not worked with a MAC on a network so I assume they use a standard Ethernet cable and not a crossover so you will want to check this out. By standards the maximum length of an Ethernet cable is 328 feet and I doubt that going across the room you exceeded that length.

If the cable is correct then put everything back the way you originally had it and see if that works. Next add one thing to the network at a time to find out at what point adding something fails.

When you get your original set up working try just replacing the existing cable with the new one to see if the cable has a short or is a cross over. If it works you know the cable is ok. Now add another component to the mix, say the new computer to the existing working network and replacing the MAC. Try to get to a point where you add something and the set up fails.Then go back one step and confirm that everything worked in the previous set up but when I added the next it failed. You can then address the failure point.

One thing about running the cable across the room is and that is does the new cable come near any main AC such as an incoming power line? That can cause interference in the Ethernet cable and cause problems. In your troubleshooting try running the cable across the room in a different direction or across the center of the room until you get things working.

You will want to review your routers owners manual for help.

Good luck.

[Bryan]

I had a similar problem a day or so ago. I never learned what caused it but I suspect it was a Microsoft update that I got and installed or a security update for Norton that I got and installed. Either way, I powered off my router and restarted it and the problem when away. Being technically challenged, I tend to try not to fix stuff if it ain't broke so once it started working correctly, I left it along and went merrily on my way.

[Hawkwind]

Originally Posted by Bryan

I had a similar problem a day or so ago. I never learned what caused it but I suspect it was a Microsoft update that I got and installed or a security update for Norton that I got and installed. Either way, I powered off my router and restarted it and the problem when away. Being technically challenged, I tend to try not to fix stuff if it ain't broke so once it started working correctly, I left it along and went merrily on my way.

Bryan, another great reply and area for Peter to look at. Microsoft has been sending out a lot of security updates lately and with all the different levels of security that can be setup on the computers it makes things real interesting.

[Talk Host]

Don't forget, one of the ports is for "data in" and the others are for "data out"

Make sure you are plugged into the correct ports. Also the cross over cable issue mentioned earlier is possible.

[tony]

I was having a networking problem that was making me goofy. I finally solved it. One of the ports on my Linksys router was bad. I don't use it any more.

That may be something to check.