Networking question

[Marmite]

Just need a bit of help.

I have a Netgear wired router that i got to run both the PC and Xbox online together last year ( one of these: http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...&ProductID=255)

What i would like to do now though is replace the xbox with another PC sharing the same Blueyonder broadband connection. I already have the crossover cable used for the XBox, so i just need to know what else i need to get both PC's running simultaneously on the same connection, and what settings i might need to fiddle with to get the new computer running.

Thanks in advance

[babs]

Nothing needs doing in a perfect world. You don't need crossover if you're working with a router. If the router is running pretty much as it was out of the box, it'll be working as a DHCP server, and unless you've specifically changed the PC's network configuration, it'll be a DHCP client.

What this means to you is that they'll talk to each other and nothing neesd doing. Plug network cable in and away you go.

The only things you might want to access the router for is changing portforwarding for something specific on the new client machine, but cross that bridge if you come to it

[Marmite]

Will the cable i used for the xbox work then?

So im pretty much good to go really? Do i have to adjust any setting on the new computer to find the internet connection?

My god i sound like a muppet!

[ascender]

If you're connecting both PCs to the router direct, you don't need a crossover cable. If you're connecting PC <--> PC then you need a crossover. Its all to do with which pairs of the cables are used to transmit and receive.

Although I could be imagining it, but does XP now detect what cable you should be using and swaps the pairs over if its the "wrong" cable that's been plugged in? I know some network kit does it but I'd heard someone b1tching about the fact XP was now doing it just to confuse you even further.