limited or no connection on ethernet cable but USB fine

tomprice2k · 29-09-2005, 11:23

got telewest installed 512, but when i tried to connect the modem to my PC with the ethernet cable to my 100mb ethernet card it says it hase limited or no connectivity. I know for a fact my Ethernet card is fine.

This means that i'm having to use the USB cable reducing it to 10mb.

Has anyone else had any problems with this. should i get Telewest to replace the Modem?

**Chris** · 29-09-2005, 11:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomprice2k

got telewest installed 512, but when i tried to connect the modem to my PC with the ethernet cable to my 100mb ethernet card it says it hase limited or no connectivity. I know for a fact my Ethernet card is fine.

This means that i'm having to use the USB cable reducing it to 10mb.

Has anyone else had any problems with this. should i get Telewest to replace the Modem?

to Cable Forum.

For starters, you don't need to worry about loss of speed when using USB instead of ethernet. 100Mb is the maximum speed the enet card can handle, but seeing as Telewest are only giving you 512Kb, your broadband internet is going nowhere near the capacity of the card. Even USB can soak up a lot more than you're getting!

That said, USB uses up system resources because it has to emulate what an ethernet card is already designed to do, so it's better for the perfomance of your PC if you can use ethernet rather than USB.

That sadly is the extent of my knowledge on this subject - there are other members here who can walk you through some tests to perform on your enet card before you take the more drastic measure of trying to get Telewest to swap your modem!

tomprice2k · 29-09-2005, 11:46

I had a 512 line in my old house using ethernet and was getting a lot faster download speed than i do with the USB. I just assumed that using the UBS was what was causing this.

How do i check that Telewest are definitely piping in the right bandwidth?

**Chris** · 29-09-2005, 12:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomprice2k

How do i check that Telewest are definitely piping in the right bandwidth?

By reading How do I test the speed of my cable modem? in our articles section.

tomprice2k · 29-09-2005, 14:26

Cheers Chris
__________________

Found out what the issue is. I was using a standard network cable from Modem direct to PC. I needed a Crossover network Cable

**Chris** · 29-09-2005, 14:27

On the contrary, you should not need a crossover cable to connect a PC to a modem ... a straight-through, or 'patch' cable, is what should be required. Did you just read that somewhere, or have you tried an alternative cable?

SMHarman · 29-09-2005, 15:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomprice2k

Cheers Chris
__________________

Found out what the issue is. I was using a standard network cable from Modem direct to PC. I needed a Crossover network Cable

Most of the CMs in use auto detect a straight or crossover cable and adjust the input accordingly, as do many modern routers.