I have acquired an old yellow cable and on it is printed the following:

TYPE CM 24AWG 75.C C(UL) E201854-B ETL VERIFIED TIA/EIA-56B-B.2 CAT.5 UTP PATCH

It is 2 metres long.

I have also taken a close look at the connectors and it looks as if the wires match at both ends,
although to be fair the clarity isn't clear because the plugs are worn and I can't make out exactly
on two of the wires if they are the same or not.

At home, I would like to connect my XP Home machine to my old Win98 maching using a cable via the
NIC sockets, but I am not sure if the above cable would do the trick.

On some websites I have read it says PATCH is equivalent to CROSSOVER, on other sites it says they
are not the same thing. Some sties suggest it would work, other are not so clear.

The only thing that really bothers me is that if I use this cable, will it cause any damage to my
network cards on either PC (or to the PC itself in other ways)?

Can somebody please advise?
Thanks

gargoyle60 wrote:
> I have acquired an old yellow cable and on it is printed the following:
>
> TYPE CM 24AWG 75.C C(UL) E201854-B ETL VERIFIED TIA/EIA-56B-B.2 CAT.5 UTP PATCH
>
> It is 2 metres long.
>
> I have also taken a close look at the connectors and it looks as if the wires match at both ends,
> although to be fair the clarity isn't clear because the plugs are worn and I can't make out exactly
> on two of the wires if they are the same or not.
>
> At home, I would like to connect my XP Home machine to my old Win98 maching using a cable via the
> NIC sockets, but I am not sure if the above cable would do the trick.
>
> On some websites I have read it says PATCH is equivalent to CROSSOVER, on other sites it says they
> are not the same thing. Some sties suggest it would work, other are not so clear.
>
> The only thing that really bothers me is that if I use this cable, will it cause any damage to my
> network cards on either PC (or to the PC itself in other ways)?
>
> Can somebody please advise?

You can identify crossover cables if you follow the pictures here
(Figure B-4 Crossover Cable):

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/cabl...html#wp1006093

It wouldn't hurt the NIC's if you use a straight patch cable... it just
won't work properly.

John

On Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:19:35 -0300, John John - MVP <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>You can identify crossover cables if you follow the pictures here
>(Figure B-4 Crossover Cable):
>
>http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/cabl...html#wp1006093
>
>It wouldn't hurt the NIC's if you use a straight patch cable... it just
>won't work properly.
>
>John

Thanks John

From the diagrams the closest match seems to be Figure B-6 Straight-through Cable.
Off to the shop for me then.

gargoyle60 wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:19:35 -0300, John John - MVP <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> You can identify crossover cables if you follow the pictures here
>> (Figure B-4 Crossover Cable):
>>
>> http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/cabl...html#wp1006093
>>
>> It wouldn't hurt the NIC's if you use a straight patch cable... it just
>> won't work properly.
>>
>> John
>
> Thanks John
>
> From the diagrams the closest match seems to be Figure B-6 Straight-through Cable.
> Off to the shop for me then.

You're welcome.

John