How to install an Additional LAN card?

Hey there folks, I use my built in LAN adapter to connect to the internet through a server. Anyways if I have to hook up with the old PIII I have, I use direct LAN wire, offcourse then I have to take the internet cable out and plug in the other wire to connect the PIII with mine to play some old games with my bro :)

Anyways I have a few extra PCI LAN cards lying around, wondering If I could plug one in to a PCI slot, connect a wire between that and my old PC, where as the built in adapter can keep the internet wire plugged in. I tried that a few months back, but It didnt work out, couldnt make one of the adapters work while the other worked I think. Anyways, any suggestions? Thanks, and yeah, im using Vista ultimate, the old PC has XP.

Well assuming the add in cards are actually working with drivers etc..

You will need a crossover cable to connect two computers together. Or normal cables and a hub/switch of some sort in the middle.

Ya, the cables arnt an issue, Ive got an internet cable, coming from a hub to my PC, now I have to take that cable out from my PC and plug a second cable, which is then plugged on the other end to the old PIII.

To connect back to the internet I need to unplug the cable connecting me to the PIII and Plug the cable coming from the internet hub/switch.

What I want is to use 2 Lan cards, one built-in, one add-on, so I dont have to swap cables, I can have two LAN connections at one time, possible?

Yeah you can have the add in card and the integrated working at the same time no problem.

Okay, any particular settings? should I simply plug it in, when windows detects it, configure a separate local area connection (IP settings etc), both will work independantly? The problem was that windows could not tell which connection brought in the internet data, because when I tried doing this, I could not connect to the internet unless I took out the add-on card.

That's weird. The last time I did it (XP) it just brought up "Lan Connection 2" in network settings and it was good to go.

It was for a business friend and they didn't complain so I'm guessing it worked adequately lol

lol, well I tried it, since im using internet on a local area connection, windows assumes it is the default connection to send and receive the requests, but when it has two connections, how do you tell windows to use one specific one to send and receive internet data?

You would be better off getting a cheap 4 or 5 port switch tbh.

If you want to use two lan cards, then each one will need to be configured separately, and the default gateways will need to be configured appropriately. Both cards should have different Ip addresses, but be on the same subnet so with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 any two Ip addresses in the 192,168,x.y will work - x should be the same in both cases, y should be different (and unique in the network).

You can use XPs built-in "Internet Connection Sharing" scheme and basically turn your main PC [the one with the 2 NICs] into a router.

thanks peterb, n cool signature :)

ive got Vista adam, its kind of more complex than XP in some cases IMO

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Originally Posted by staffsMike

You will need a crossover cable to connect two computers together. Or normal cables and a hub/switch of some sort in the middle.

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Not strictly true, as some computers have LAN ports that can automatically configure themselves for straight or crossed cable as required. All Gigabyte ports do that (it is part of the standard), some 100Mbt ports can as well, especially those on recent Macs.

Having said that, a small switch would be a better solution. 100 Mbit ones are dirt cheap these days, especially if you can find someone who has just upgraded to Gigabit Ethernet.

A 5 port Gigabyte switch isn't that expensive - under £30 if you shop around.

okay, and how is it going to help me? Sorry im a noob at networking etc, but what features will a switch provide me with?

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Originally Posted by Hunain

okay, and how is it going to help me? Sorry im a noob at networking etc, but what features will a switch provide me with?

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a switch distributes network traffic - i.e. all devices plugged into a switch can see each other. in this instance, the idea is you hook the net into the switch, then all computers into the switch, so all computers can see the net

Oh okay, that would be wonderful, thank you guys, that is a splendid idea :) Ill get myself a switch then. Cheerz