[JamesKass]

I've got an iMac DVSE downstairs and a brand spankin' new G4 1.25 upstairs. Both are running Jaguar. The one downstairs is hooked up to a Motorola Cable modem.

I bought one of them fancy Belkin cable/dsl routers, but for some reason the damn thing couldn't sense the cable modem.

Here's what I'm hoping to do: run a long-ass ethernet cable from upstairs to downstairs (which is what I was going to have to do anyway for the router) and hook the two machines together. Then buy an ethernet PCI card for the G4 and hook the cable modem directly into that. That way, the iMac could use the cable modem via the ethernet connection to the G4.

So, here are my questions:

1) Will the extra ethernet connection screw up the G4? Will it know how to handle both of them?

2) Will I need a crossover ethernet cable to connect the two machines, or will a regular ethernet patch cable do?

3) Given the length of the cable (It's going to wind up being 50 feet or so), will cat5 do? cat5e? cat6? Does it matter?

4) Based on the above configuration, I'm assuming that the G4 will need to be on in order for the iMac downstairs to access the internet. Does the G4 have to be in non-sleep mode as well? (I'm guessing yes...)

Any help would be greatly appreciated by this networking newbie! Thanks!

[superlarry]

It'll work.

1) It will know to handle both of them as well as you get a mac osx compatible ethernet card (just look for that as you're buying). the listings will be in the Network pane of the System Preferences. Note that under "Network Port Configurations" (pick it from the "Show" menu near the top), you'll want to put the connection to your cable first, and your second ethernet card second. By default, OSX will share the first connection with the ones below it (This may have been changed in system updates, but you might as well do it anyway so that the mac will first look for webpages on the real internet instead of inside your house).

2) Technically you should use a crossover cable, but the G4 1.25 will actually autosense the kind of connection and adjust accordingly, so a regular cable will do without consequence. Finding a 50-foot crossover cable might be tough, anyway ;c)

3) Any cable type should work for 50 feet - cat5 i believe can go 100 feet, according to its standard. try to get shielded cable to avoid interference in your house. i.e. electrical lines. even if you get shielded, you shouldn't run the line next to power lines if you're really worried about speed. but the difference for internet will be negligible. in fact, your imac probably isn't even fast enough to handle the bandwidth that the interference is hurting. (this is the case with my B&W G3 at home and my long-ass wire connecting it to my room upstairs).

4) yes, the G4 will have to be on and not-asleep in order for the imac to be online. sleep mode disables network connections (the monitor can be asleep, though).
if you don't want the G4 to have to be on, you can buy a simple router. they're pretty cheap these days ($40-$60?). they do, in hardware, the same thing as sharing the internet connection from your G4. In this case, you'd need to plug your cable internet's ethernet cable into "uplink," and run two normal ethernet cables, one to your G4, and one to your iMac. This is one reason to use a normal ethernet cable for the super-long wire - the router may not be autosensing (and I'm assuming that your iMac isn't).

okay, have fun with it :c)

[JamesKass]

Superlarry, dude you're the best. I managed to find a 50' crossover cable for about $30, and a d-link Jaguar compatible card for about $12. They should be arriving tomorrow morning, so I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks again for all the help!

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by JamesKass:
I bought one of them fancy Belkin cable/dsl routers, but for some reason the damn thing couldn't sense the cable modem.

WHy not? You should get this working, it would be the best way. Try turning everything off (cable modem and router). Leave off for a minute. Turn on the modem. Let it come all the way up 'til the lights are on properly. Then turn on the router and let it initialize. Now try connecting.
Forget the additional NIC. You're much better off with the router. You'll also never have to worry about the host machine being on/off/awake etc.

[JamesKass]

Originally posted by aaanorton:
WHy not? You should get this working, it would be the best way. Try turning everything off (cable modem and router). Leave off for a minute. Turn on the modem. Let it come all the way up 'til the lights are on properly. Then turn on the router and let it initialize. Now try connecting.
Forget the additional NIC. You're much better off with the router. You'll also never have to worry about the host machine being on/off/awake etc.

Why not? I don't know.

I tried everything, did all the steps, including the procedure I've outlined above, the router simply did not sense the modem.

Maybe it's a problem with the router, maybe the modem (though the modem works fine when connected directly to the iMac)... I don't know. At this point, I'm rather fed up with it.

I know I'm much better off with the router. Maybe I'll try another brand some day, but in the mean time, this solution seems fine.

[superlarry]

Originally posted by JamesKass:
I bought one of them fancy Belkin cable/dsl routers, but for some reason the damn thing couldn't sense the cable modem.

wow, i totally skipped that line when i read your post. triple-a norton is on the ball here - if you want to try out the router again, you'll need to power down the cable modem because it keeps in memory (while it's on) which computer is hooked up to it, and doesn't allow any others. the good part is that it forgets this information when it's off for more than about 30 seconds.
i've heard good things about belkin, and the router may be autosensing like your computer is, meaning you'd be able to use the crossover cable you've bought to connect to it. my SMC router is autosensing, so i'm willing to bet yours is too.
good luck, whichever way you choose.

[aaanorton]

Try what I suggested exactly.
It will only take a couple times of not having the host machine on/awake when you want internet upstairs to justify a little more configuring. These things really are simple to set up, so maybe you can get it running with some help here.
If you MUST do it the other way, use a regular cable. Then when you do add a router, you won't need to switch out the cable too.

[JamesKass]

Like Styx once sang "I've tried... oh, Lord I've tried..."

I've gone through your list exactly as written. I keep running into the same stubmbling block: When I power up the router, after it initializes, it does not sense the Cable Modem. The cables are all in place, but the "WAN" light does not come on. I've gone through the troubleshooting list in the back of the user manual, but nothing seems to help at all.

I've reset the router to its factory settings, I've left the modem unplugged for five minutes, I've verified all cables are working. I don't know what else I should do, other than pack it up and bring it back to the store and get a refund.

[PatrickB]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JamesKass:
[B]Then buy an ethernet PCI card for the G4 and hook the cable modem directly into that.


I don't think you need a second Ethernet card: just go to the network control panel and add a "network port".
I have a setup like the one you describe, and only one card !

Patrick

[superlarry]

Originally posted by PatrickB:
I don't think you need a second Ethernet card: just go to the network control panel and add a "network port".
I have a setup like the one you describe, and only one card !

this isn't really viable because he'd still need to use a hub/switch and he'd have to disable DHCP and set everything manually (Apple's sharing turns on a DHCP server, which can seriously mess up cable internet by having other subscribers receiving IP addresses and settings from your computer). you can get it working this way if you use the old ipfw scripts (like we had to before 10.2) and then set up your client computers manually, without getting visited/shut down by your cable company. also, your client computer might receive a DHCP address from your cable internet when your main computer's offline, and then the main computer has lost internet.
if you want details on how to set up this network with one network card and a hub/switch (you could use your router even just for the switch), ask and i'll post them here, but it's easier to keep it (relatively) simple.

[TMLai]

If I were you, I will buy another router. I know that Apple Airport and Linksys will work for most case.

May I all suggest you to try you Belkin one more time. Turn everything on, wait until everything are ready and steady, press the reset botton on the back of you motorola modem. This will reset the cable modem memory and let it work with your router. If this is done successfully. The next time your connect the modem back to your iMac. You shouldn't be able to get a connect without pressing the reset button again. You cannot reset the modem by simply unplug it. It have back up memory to keep the setting intact in case of power outage. If you modem does not have a reset button then I don't know what can you do to reset it.

[John Strung]

It sounds to me as if you have one or more of the following three problems:

1. If the WAN light does not come on on the Belkin, this likely means you have the wrong type of cable between the modem and the Belkin. Probably you have a cross-over cable when you need a straight-through, or the cable is just plain bad or miswired -- check the end wiring against the diagram here:

http://www.incentre.net/incentre/frame/ethernet.html

2. You may have got a bad router.

3. Your ISP may (and in fact probably does) use MAC address authentification. This means that it records the hardware (MAC) address of the first device to connect to your modem and won't let another device connect thereafter. Some routers have a "MAC Address Cloning" feature which lets you manually enter the MAC address of your computer into the router so that the router can fool the modem into thinking that the computer is still connected directly. You might check the Belkin docs to see if it has a MAC Addr. Cloning feature and give that a try.

If all else fails and it is not too late to do so, exchange the Belkin for a LinkSys BEFSR-41 which does have the MAC Addr. Cloning feature and is known to work.