Nicholas Evans wrote:
Hello,
I've just spent the past four hours trying to get my two computers to use the one ethernet port on the back of my 2wire Home portal, which serves as a router and DSL modem. I bought a 10base T splitter from radioshack, brought it home, and hooked it up. After a bit of tinkering, I got my old computer to work, but my new one wouldn't. After four hours, I've tried every trick I can think of, and some I didn't think of, to no avail. My new computer /refuses/ to work when I use the splitter. I've tried switching the wires around, re-adding the ethernetcard 5 or 6 times for each compter, played with the 2wire settings, played with the hosts, route, and network services. Is there something I'm overlooking? Do I need some exotic network service? Or is the splitter just crappy?
<snip DHCP log info>
Help?
Thanks,
Nicholas Evans
Unless I'm mistaken, a 10BaseT splitter does nothing but put merge 2 ports on one end of the cable, only so thatt they can be split back into two ports at the other end of the cable. It does this by putting the second port on a pair of wires that are unused by the first port. In this case, the DSLModem/router isn't looking for a second system on those unused wires, and thus fails. In essence, the "splitter" you refer to, does nothing more than allow you to run 1 cable rather than 2 for two systems, requiring a "splitter" at each end of the cable.
The only way you can get two systems to work with a 1 port router/DSL modem, is to connect a hub or a switch to the router/modem, and connect the systems to the hub/switch.
HTH,
John
