Setup 100baseTX LAN: Tips and Considerations

[Mudvaynelethaldosage]

I just set up a 10baseT LAN between 2 pcs with an ethernet crossover cable. It operates at 10Mbps, half duplex. I know the ethernet card in this pc supports 100baseTX, and I'm pretty sure the NIC in the other pc does as well.
I'd like to set them to 100baseTX and full duplex to try to get a 200Mbps connection. Is there anything I should know about doing this? I don't share the internet connection, it's dial up and extremely slow.
I should also note that the 10baseT connection was automatically set because both NICs were set to autodetect by default.
Thank you.

 

[xPAGANx]

Usually the cards will negotiate the best speed when set to auto.

Is it a cable you bought or made yourself?

It could be a bad cable i suppose, but not likely if you bought it.

You could try forcing the higher speeds by going into the properties of each card. Might work, might not.

 

[ComputerGeek]

I just set up a 10baseT LAN between 2 pcs with an ethernet crossover cable. It operates at 10Mbps, half duplex. I know the ethernet card in this pc supports 100baseTX, and I'm pretty sure the NIC in the other pc does as well.
I'd like to set them to 100baseTX and full duplex to try to get a 200Mbps connection. Is there anything I should know about doing this? I don't share the internet connection, it's dial up and extremely slow.
I should also note that the 10baseT connection was automatically set because both NICs were set to autodetect by default.
Thank you.

always buy cat5 unless you are doing some crazy specialty networking (like 10Gb ethernet).

 

[Mudvaynelethaldosage]

always buy cat5 unless you are doing some crazy specialty networking (like 10Gb ethernet).

A cat-5 cable would require a hub or router though.

 

[Mudvaynelethaldosage]

I think I was a little misunderstood. I have a 10Mbps network running from NIC to NIC that is actively running on this pc as I type. I was just wondering if there would be any unforseen problems with switching it over to 100Mbps.
However, I already tried switching to 100Mbps and it didn't work. I'm just going to have to mess with when I have the time and motivation, or try switching to full duplex so I can get a 20Mbps connection.

 

[Anttech]

You don't get 200Mps on full duplex, you get 100 in both directions, which can also get in half duplex, but you will have many collisions. If your Card supports 100 then you can use 100 no problems

A cat-5 cable would require a hub or router though.

As long as its a cross connect you won't need a Hub, and you definately won't need a router.

Half Duplex is what you call simplex in telecoms, and uses 2 wires, Full duplex uses 4 wires (or 2 pairs), and thus you can send a receive data on a different pair of wires and thus you don't have any collisions..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-duplex

 

[ComputerGeek]

A cat-5 cable would require a hub or router though.

a cat5 crossover cable would not require a hub.

 

[Mudvaynelethaldosage]

Thank you anttech. That cleared up the main thing I was wondering about. As for the other, I'll figure it out myself.