Im trying to connect to my friends computer next door to mine, he uses Xp Pro i use XP home, all im using is a Ethernet cable and they wont connect. im jsut trying to play a lan game with him. what am i doing wrong?

I am fairly certain you need to use a crossover cable. There are directions online on how to turn a regular Ethernet cable into a crossover one. You don't even need anything special other than some wire strippers and some electrical tape.  
 
Just Google it and follow the directions.
 
William

cool thanks looking it up now. but why don't Ethernet cables work?

I can try to explain. When you plug an Ethernet cable into the wall it reverses the wires thus you get a connection. Hooking a computer to a computer does not allow the wires to reverse like they do when you plug them into the wall and thus you do not get a connection. If I am wrong someone please correct me.
 
I had the same problem as you when I tried to network two computers. Took some time with Google to figure it out. Making a crossover cable is not hard at all. Just match the wires up.  
 
If you need any help finding directions (I doubt it) let me know and I'll help you look.  
 
William

"An Ethernet crossover cable is a type of Ethernet cable used to connect computing devices together directly where they would normally be connected via a network switch, hub or router. For example, one would use a crossover cable to directly connect two personal computers via their network adapters."

Couldn't have quoted it better myself.

Oh FYI here are the directions I followed:
 
Linky:
http://www.littlewhitedog.com/content-8.html
 
I did what the author did except I did not cut the end off and such. I simply matched up the wire colors.  
 
So:
Striped green -> Striped orange
Green -> Orange
Striped orange -> Striped green
Blue -> Blue
Striped blue -> Striped blue
Orange -> Green
Striped brown -> Striped brown
Brown ->Brown
 
Just match them up, twist, and tape.

Thanks for the info. I learned some thing new today . I usually have to get a switch for this kind of work, but now I can do it faster.

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E2180 @3.2Ghz + P35DS3L +8400GS (700/475 OC)  

Always happy to help people out Shadow. I have read many of your posts and been informed so I am glad to have informed you on something.
 
Switches do work perfectly unfortunately they cost money. Not much, but some. The crossover cable is the poor man's solution. Enjoy.
 
William

I have a similar problem, I've been using ethternet cable for years (pretty much same cables with a new one every 3-4 years) and I've been able to connect 2 computers together without any problem.

Internet==>Comp A==>Comp B

Giving the internet and file acces to Comp B (btw it is imposible that I have a cross-over cable between A and B as I've switched cables around a million times)
*Edit* could someone explain why that is...

In order to use a crossover cable you need to set your computers ip's manually since there is no DHCP(Like that found in your router unless you enable the computer to do it, but its easy to just manually set ip's)

If you do not do this the computers will not see one another

If you are just copying files from computer to computer just manually set the ips to something like

Comp 1

ip : 192.168.1.1
mask : 255.255.255.0
gateway: 192.168.1.2

Comp2

ip : 192.168.1.2
mask : 255.255.255.0
gateway: 192.168.1.1

This should allow the computers to work together. also make sure they are on the same workgroup.

What prevents a cable from working normally is that you have cables as follow(example please correct if i have it wrong)

1. send +
2. send -
3. receive +
4. not used
5. not used
6. receive -
7. not used
8. not used

the cross over crosses the send and receive so when ones sends it sends to the other computers receive. With out this you are just sending to the other computers own sending wires and those to not normally listen.

There is something called Auto MDI-X that allows any cable to be used the ports will auto adjust to the cable in use. Its normally on routers and switches, but it may be on new network cards now. That would explain how jonyb222 gets it to work.

The general rule is when connecting like devices(computer to computer | router to router | switch(or router to switch without uplink port) use cross over and unlike(computer to router | Switch to computer | Router to switch with uplink port[uplink is just a crossed port anyway]) use straight through. That said, most new routers and switches all have auto mdi-x, so cable type is not so important any more.

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http://tinyurl.com/26uxxb - Core2 Temp Guide? http://tinyurl.com/cj3pw - VGA power use?  
http://tinyurl.com/5v55wk - Core2 Memory performance? http://tinyurl.com/6pmbke - SLI/Xfire?

That's news to me.  I remember a few years back I needed to use crossover cables, but I thought any recent network card would compensate automatically, crossover or not.  I've lost track of which of my cables are crossover and which are standard.  I know i've used crossover cables with switches and regular cables for direct connections, and have not had any problems.
 
I mean, it's just silly that in the year 2008, you still need to worry about wires crossing to get networks working.  Anyway, in my experience, I haven't had to worry about this for a few years now.

 
If that is true then you have done what Future shop, Best Buy and another computer store couldn't (well actually Future shop had the answer but they took very long to find it and weren't as precise)

 
That's exactly what I though when I heard of cross-over cables a month ago (never heard of them before) and the idea of two cables was pure ludicrous as my reasoning for it was the same as that of a highway, (information is sent out on the right side of the cable and received on the left type of deal, as left and right would be interchanged between devices)

I remember doing that once. Good times, good times. Ever try to do your first LAN gaming get-together with only two people only to find out an Ethernet cable does not a suitable network make? I did. Went to my friend's house with all my computer gear to do just that. Epic fail. But we did eat an entire bag of Oreos and played countless hours of Halo 2 in the process. Which is almost the same thing. Not really.

well now i have to use a straight cable from pc to pc and see what it does....lets face it, last time i used a crossover was many years ago.

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http://tinyurl.com/26uxxb - Core2 Temp Guide? http://tinyurl.com/cj3pw - VGA power use?  
http://tinyurl.com/5v55wk - Core2 Memory performance? http://tinyurl.com/6pmbke - SLI/Xfire?

AUTO MDIX is the reason, it has been around on switches for years... it effectively reverses the wires for you. Go look at switches and see how many have that now, and yes there are crossover cables, I have one in my closet for you stunned newbies.

Hehe, and I thought crossover cables where very basic stuff... I guess not everyone runs into it a month after getting his first pc.

They WERE basic stuff, right after the BAD old days of BNC coax and terminators