my cousin wants to setup a home network with his laptop and pc. he asked me to sort it out for him but im running into a bit of trouble.
i have run the wizards on both machines giving them their roles (host and client) but in the Network Connections Window, the network adapters on both the laptop and pc say its unplugged. the lights by the network ports arnt flashing.
Also on both systems, in the Device Manager, in Other Devices theres something called a PCI Simple Communications Controller. i googled and no luck

Heres the spec for both systems:

PC (host, directly connected to the internet):

CPU - AMD Athlon 1.04Ghz
Motherboard - ECS K7S5A
RAM - 256Mb
Motherboard Chipset - SiS 735
OS - Windows XP Pro
Network Card - USB 10/100 Network Adapter
Network Card (Internet) - USB Cable Modem 351000

Laptop:

CPU - Mobile AMD Athlon XP-A 800Mhz
Motherboard - Unknown
RAM - 190Mb
Motherboard Chipset - VIA VT8378 ( A) UniChrome KM400 ( A)
OS - Windows XP Pro
Network Card - VIA Compatable Fast Ethernet

How did you connect it? With a hub or a router?

or a direct connection?

With the first connection you need a straight UTP cable and with the second you need an crossed UTP cable

Are you sure you used the right cable?

im using a corssover cable. i have a bit of knowlegde of netowkring with crossvoer cables cos i had to setup my own network like it.
the pc is really old and custom built and it doesnt have and ehternet port at the back so he got a usb to ethernet adapter and the laptop has an ehternet prot so its connected directly to it

does that usb to ethernet adapter come with any drivers, is it correctly installed?

yeh i had to install the drivers today cos he didnt have them so yeh thats installed properly

Perhaps you really need a patch cable? I don't know how a usb ethernet port works. Normally if you are connected to a switch you can still see lights even when the computer is off (although the usb adapter may need to be powered so it may not work the same).
Get your green leds flashing first.

i dont know how
the one end of the crossover cable which is in the laptop doesnt show the lights nor does the usb adapter. as far as i know the adapter doesnt need an external power supply

No, it would be powerd by the PC - but when the PC is off then it wouldn't be providing power anymore. It was a bit off topic, so ignore it.

If you can get your hands on a patch cable, try it. Sometimes the solution is as simple as that.

Check your Bios settings for the laptop to make sure the ethernet port is enabled.

Apart from that, I would start looking at the usb device, which I'm sure you've done though

yeh ill rumage through the BIOS and see if that may be the solution. but i gotta wait until tomoz to find out.
keep the suggestions coming

If you have access to any other computer/laptop, try connecting to it and see if it works. You should be able to determine where your problem is better.

Do you still have a spare PCI slot on the PC? Get your hands on a PCI ethernet card - buy one, borrow one, steal it form the guy next door. Don't try making your own, it won't work. It's not necessary but this will determine if it is the USB device.

i not sure about the spare PCI slot but im guessing he must have one. also any idea on the PCI Simple Communicatons Controller in the Device manager, because that may have something to with it

How'd I miss that? Um, that basically means that windows has detected something like a modem or a network card but can't really determine exactly what it is.
I wouldn't expect to have it on the laptop though.

Look in the Device Manager again, this time under Network adapters. If there's nothing under there that says something like 'Ethernet adapter', or you don't even have a 'Network adapters' tab, then check your drivers like Ezra said. Perhaps you will have to remove the device and reinstall it.
(If there is already something like  then your 'PCI Simple Communicatons Controller' may be something else like a modem/firewire card.)

well i know for a fact that the networks on both systems are installed properly (cos i installed them )
would the PCI thingy be the problem or is it somethin irrelevant

unplug the crossover cable from both computers. Create a new LAN network on the computer and the laptop (it should appear automatically usually, something like "Local Area Connection 2") then right click that connection on the host and click properties, goto internet connection sharing, and enable it

then plug it in.

tried all that still a problem

What's not working then :/

basically, i had setup the connection using the wizard but it says the cable is unplugged on both systems and the lights arnt flashing by the ethernet port

Did you set up a direct connection or a LAN?

ran the home networking wizard. i followed what i did with my own network but i get the problem i mentioned

quote:

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Originally posted by Reaper66613
well i know for a fact that the networks on both systems are installed properly (cos i installed them )
would the PCI thingy be the problem or is it somethin irrelevant

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hmm. ill forget about the PCI thing
but there has to be something im not doing right with the network to have it not working

Whoops! I didn't mean forget about the PCI thing. I meant just take a break from it and don't even think about it.

lol well i can sleep on it
anyway i got a feeling its not the PCI thing

quote:

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Originally posted by Reaper66613
ran the home networking wizard. i followed what i did with my own network but i get the problem i mentioned

---

i cant "undo" because i cant delete the connections

You can if they're direct connecions and not LAN connections/auto created ones.

well the delete option is not clickable on the connection. its like this on both computers. so how would i get rid of them

Then just leave them, if the lan connection is already there you don't need to create them in my instructions

ok.. but how do i get it working i mean i just need to make the ethernet port lights come on and ill prob know what to do from there

Oh forget it I give up.

lol what
im stupid i need it to be explained

You don't have windows xp pro by any chance? I can RD to you and try to do it if you want.

yeh i got xp pro, but im not at my cousins house

Actually nevermind, I can't play around with networking over RD

well, ill let you ponder the situation while i get a good nights rest

sorry to d/p just bumping it up.

i realised today that he didnt have any service packs installed on both systems so i told him to do that. i left before it completed so im not sure if the network will start working now. still cant the ethernet port lights to come one though