Whats the difference in a standard ethernet cable and an ethernet crossover cable ??

I have both, but was just wondering what the difference is and if they can both be used for same things ? I.E - connecting modem etc etc.

from what i know cross over is more advantage over ethernet. why ?

well for example if you have a dbox it is in effect a computer and to talk to a computer staight ( without routers and so on ) you will need to use a crossover cable.

but for modems and so and router connections you can use both. well that is what i think. crossiver is like the " daddy" between the two it is the better one

Originally Posted by harveybham

from what i know cross over is more advantage over ethernet. why ?

well for example if you have a dbox it is in effect a computer and to talk to a computer staight ( without routers and so on ) you will need to use a crossover cable.

but for modems and so and router connections you can use both. well that is what i think. crossiver is like the " daddy" between the two it is the better one

ahh, i see i see , i thought it was summit like that myself, just wasnt sure, cheers mate : bart :
Plus i wasnt too sure if the crossover could work with modem etc, so now i know

if u get the two ends of a cross over cable u can see the coloured wires are different at each end on a cross over cable where as a ethenet the coloured wires are the same on both ends. and very true what harvey said in order for you to program a dbox/dreambox or to connect your lappy to pc u need a crossover. if u wanted to test your self u can make crossovers very easily if u have a spare ethenet lead. if u fancy making one if you're bored just google and theres diagrams on there

basically an ethernet is a straight through cable. where as a crossover the transmit and recieve legs are crossed

Originally Posted by madnlooney

basically an ethernet is a straight through cable. where as a crossover the transmit and recieve legs are crossed

The simplest and most correct answer here

madnlooney is exactly correct on what he says. To give a little more info...

A crossover cable has (as madnlooney says) the transmit and receive wires crossed over; pin 1 crosses to pin 3, and pin 2 crosses to pin 6. These are only used to cut out the need for a hub or switch; not really a router as if you are using a router for this kind of thing its actually only using the hub/switch portion of the router, not the routing interface.

Hubs and switches have a trafficing system built in which does all the crossing of transmit/receive lines for you and ofcourse can deal with alot of nodes at one time.

The only reason you can use a crossed cable on your router/modem is because of a newer standard that was brought in a good few years back now but has only recently become 'standard' on cheap hardware. This system is MDI / MDX ports. This is a nice little addition to hardware that allows the device to auto sense what cable you are using (it just checks the TX/RX lines). Strangely this autosensing isnt often built into NIC's. If you have a look at some older hubs/switches you will see an 'Uplink' port or a port with button next to it; these devices do not support auto sensing the cable type. The 'Uplink' port is just a normal port with the TX/RX wires crossed inside the unit; the port with the button next to it are standard port but when the button is pressed the TX/RX lines are crossed for you.

Its very rare for routers/switches not to have autosensing ports on them nowadays. Its the kinda thing, if you buy a switch/router that doesnt support MDI/MDX ports, you got ripped off.

Just some useless info. lol

good info, clears up any illusions rgd the backgrnd of it! well in my opinion neway!
Ta