HELP - Ethernet question - mind boggled

[gsxrgirl7]

Want to see if anyone can help.  My etherdongle works on every computer we have tested it on, it gets connectivity and we even tested it on averagejoe's pc and tested some rgb floods.  Works like a charm.  The Ethernet port on my pc works fine, of it's connected to a LAN line, outputs fine.  But if we plug my etherdongle into my pc the two of them do not talk to each other.  The output lights on the dongle do not come on.  But again the dongle works on every other machine.  We have checked every setting we can think of but still to no avail.  Anyone have any idea why my pc would not talk to it or if there is a setting somewhere that my pc may need?  I run a dell Inspiron 1545 and it runs windows vista.  Other pcs with vista tested the dongle just fine.  We are stumped!  HELP!! 

Julie

[twooly]

Try a crossover cable

[keitha43]

1. You can try disabling wireless if you have it.
2. Try a crossover cable.
3. try assigning a static ip
4. Make sure all firewalls or antivirus programs are disabled

[gsxrgirl7]

we have no antivirus on the PC- its strictly used only for the light show and we try to have only what is needed for that on the pc, I did have all wireless settings disabled, firewall setting was disabled as well, so I guess the only question left, is if it worked on all other computers without a crossover cable just by plugging it straight in with just an ethernet cable between the two, and the green light came on, without even trying to talk to the sequencing software, would that leave the last option open that they wired my ethernet port differently?  So that is the last option left to try?

[AverageJoeTX]

Keep in mind this ethernet port she's referring to will accept and communicate fine with the home router when plugged straight into the router with wifi disabled.

[jnealand]

could also be a router that does not support multicast or you definitely need a crossover cable.

[keitha43]

I would say try the crossover cable. In the past you had to use a crossover cable to get 2 computers to talk unless using a hub/switch/router. Newer laptops can auto compensate so that you don't need a crossover anymore. Yours may be older. Your router may not support multicast so this tests direct communication to the etherdongle.

[AverageJoeTX]

Is cross over diagram in wiki?

Found the crossover diagram with search. If you need it Julie check out this thread.

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[bisquit476]

I'm sure you do, but gotta ask, do you have the correct .dll file installed on that pc?

[tbone321]

Hpw old is the computer that you are using for the show?  I would say that it is old enough that you will need a crossover cable to directly connect it to the EtherDongle. It is nt that your Ethernet port is wired differently, it is simply that it cannot detect and reconfigure itself.  In Ethernet, one pair is the transmitt pair and the other is the receive pair.  The standard sets these pairs to specific pins on the connector.  Hubs and switches use the opposit pairs than PC's so connecting to a hub or switch is simply a matter of using a straight thru cable.   People are kinda spoiled now with the newer cards and devices being able to autodetect the use and flip flop the pairs as needed to establish communications and seem to magically work regardless of a straight thru or crossover cable allowing people to connect pc together with or without a hub with the same cable.  Older PC's and laptops did not have this capabiliy.  The Etherdongle uses the same pairs as a PC and does not have pair matching capability because that costs $$$$ and the whole idea was to save some money and adding in that capability would kill that.  Pick up a crossover cable and you should be good to go.

[gsxrgirl7]

I'm sure you do, but gotta ask, do you have the correct .dll file installed on that pc?

Where would I find where a .ddl file would be installed?  Just to check to see if one is there or not?

[gsxrgirl7]

Hpw old is the computer that you are using for the show?  I would say that it is old enough that you will need a crossover cable to directly connect it to the EtherDongle. It is nt that your Ethernet port is wired differently, it is simply that it cannot detect and reconfigure itself.  In Ethernet, one pair is the transmitt pair and the other is the receive pair.  The standard sets these pairs to specific pins on the connector.  Hubs and switches use the opposit pairs than PC's so connecting to a hub or switch is simply a matter of using a straight thru cable.   People are kinda spoiled now with the newer cards and devices being able to autodetect the use and flip flop the pairs as needed to establish communications and seem to magically work regardless of a straight thru or crossover cable allowing people to connect pc together with or without a hub with the same cable.  Older PC's and laptops did not have this capabiliy.  The Etherdongle uses the same pairs as a PC and does not have pair matching capability because that costs $$$$ and the whole idea was to save some money and adding in that capability would kill that.  Pick up a crossover cable and you should be good to go.

Its only about 3 years old maybe - we have a dell that is about 8-9 years old and it reads the etherdongle just find and this is a MUCH newer dell and it doesnt read it at all.  So this is why it doesnt make any sense at all.   ok, so crossover cable should fix it regardless?  But it was not the most expensive computer so I can see that maybe they would skimp and maybe put a cheaper ethernet port on it, so maybe that could be the issue.  Ok, so we will try the crossover cable. 

[tbone321]

Those lights are confirming an Ethernet communication link and a missing dll will not affect that. and neither will the card not supporting multicast.  While age is one factor, cost savings is another.  Just because your computer is newer doesn't mean that its network card has the ability to auto-configure its pairs.  To lower the cost and especially if it has buit in wireless, they can save money and lower the price by installing a less featured wired ethernet card since they rarely get used when there is wireless anyway.  I would also give it a static address.   Does the PC's card light up when connected to a hub or switch?  If so and you know that the Ehterdongle is working, then needing a crossover cable is the most likel cause and you can ALWAYS use a crossover cable for a direct connection between a PC and an Etherdongle so it wil not be a waste of money to purchace one.  Once you establish the connection, then you can se iof there are any other issues preventing this PC from talking to the Etherdongle such as a missing dll or a multicast incompatability.

[gsxrgirl7]

OK - right - get one thing knocked out, then trouble shoot any others if necessary.  I think thats probably exactly what happened, they skimped on the ethernet port/card.  So step one - crossover cable.  I will reach out again if any other issues after that step. 
Thanks again!  Thanks all for the advice and assistance on getting me to a place to start!

 

[JonB256]

I'd also check in your Network Card properties that network speed is "Auto" and not fixed at 10mbps or 100mbps or 1000mbps.