NETWORK ADAPTER ANNOYANCES

A NIC IS A NETWORK CARD IS AN ADAPTER

The Annoyance:

My computer-literate friends, and the articles I read about home networks, tell me I need to buy NICs or network cards. How do I know what I need?

The Fix:

Those terms are nicknames for the same thinga hardware device called a network adapter. The following are the most common adapters:

• PCI Cards fit in a PCI slot inside your computer (the slot is sometimes called a bus).

• USB adapters connect to a USB port on your computer.

• Embedded adapters are built into the computer by the manufacturer (which means you don't have to buy or install anything).

• PC Cards (sometimes called PCMCIA devices) slide into the PC-Card port of a laptop computer.

FINDING AN EMBEDDED ADAPTER

The Annoyance:

How am I supposed to know if my computer has an embedded adapter? I bought it a long time ago and I have no idea where I put the paperwork. A friend told me to see if the back of the computer has a device that looks like a phone jack, and if it does, I just have to plug in my Ethernet cable.

The Fix:

Whoa, hold on. If it looks like a phone jack, it might be a phone jack. Many computers come with an internal modem built in, and that might be the device you see. Phone jacks and Ethernet jacks look the same, but they're certainly not the same, and they aren't interchangeable. However, you can find out what you have.

WHAT THE HARDWARE DOES

The hardware handles communications among all the parts of your network. To understand how this happens, you need to know some of the terminology involved in the hardware setup of a network:

• Topology is the type of computer communication hardware your network uses: Ethernet, phone lines, electric lines, or wireless. All the hardware (network adapters, cable, hubs, etc.) must match the topology you've chosen. If you have mixed topology (e.g., a wireless network that feeds into an Ethernet router), you must have hardware that manages the transition, such as bridges and access points.

• Medium is the component that carries the data. The medium can be a wire, or radio frequencies.

• Segment is the total set of hardware (adapters, cable or wireless carriers, hubs, switches, routers, etc.) involved in creating an individual network.

• Node is the term for any device attached to the segment.

• Frame is the data message sent through the medium. Frames have rules of construction; a minimum and maximum size; and required information within the data, such as the addresses of the sending and receiving nodes.

An Ethernet jack (RJ45 jack) is slightly larger than a telephone jack (RJ11 jack). As a result, a phone cord won't fit snugly into an RJ45 jack. You won't hear that little click that indicates a connection, and if you gently pull on the telephone cord it'll fall out of the connector. Also, the connector at the end of an Ethernet cable won't fit into an RJ11 jack.

You can also ask the computer what it is by following these steps:

1. Right-click My Computer and choose Properties to display the System Properties dialog box.

2. In Windows XP and 2000, click the Hardware tab and then click the Device Manager button. In Windows 98SE and Me, simply click the Device Manager tab.

3. In the Device Manager dialog box, look for a listing named Network Adapters.

4. Click the plus sign to the left of the Network Adapters listing to display the name of the network adapter installed in your computer (see Figure 1-1).

5. If no adapter is installed, you won't see information about a specific network adapter.

Figure 1-1. Aha! That connector at the back of the computer is really a network adapter.

JARGON FOR NETWORK ADAPTERS

The commonly used names for network adapters are NIC and network card. NIC stands for Network Interface Card, and the use of the word "card" in both nicknames dates back to the days when the only type of network adapter was a card you inserted in a slot inside your computer.

Today, in addition to a network adapter that's a card, you can buy a computer with the network adapter already built into the system board (called an embedded adapter), or buy a network adapter that connects to a USB port. Regardless of the way that you install a network adapter, most computer professionals use the term NIC. We're all too lazy and set in our ways to change our terminology.

Network adapters are designed for specific types of network topologies: Ethernet, wireless, powerline, or phoneline. You must install a network adapter that matches the network type you're installing.

IT'S A PHONE, IT'S AN ADAPTER, IT'S...PHONELINE NETWORKING!

The Annoyance:

The back of my computer has a metal strip with two jacks, and the documentation says the computer has a PNA network adapter. It doesn't say anything about a modem.

The Fix:

PNA stands for Phoneline Networking Alliance. This group (http://www.homepna.org/) sets the standards for equipment that uses the telephone lines in your home to create a computer network. This is not Ethernet; it's phoneline networking. See the discussions (and annoyances) about phoneline networks later in this chapter.

ENABLING USB PORTS

The Annoyance:

I bought USB network adapters so that I didn't have to open my computers. One of the adapters didn't work. I switched it to another computer, and it worked fine. The computer that can't handle the USB adapter is several years old. Is the problem that the USB port is older?

The Fix:

Age probably has nothing to do with it because most USB devices are compatible with older ports. I'm betting on a disabled USB port. When computer manufacturers first started including USB ports, there weren't many USB devices (and hardly anyone bought the few that were out there). Many of those manufacturers disabled the port, and had instructions in the documentation about enabling the port if and when you purchased a USB device. But who reads the documentation?

Restart your computer and type the appropriate keystrokes to enter the computer's setup program. The keystrokes vary depending on the manufacturer of your BIOS chip, but you should see a message that says "Press X to Enter Setup" (substitute the key mentioned in the message for X). The BIOS Setup program also varies among manufacturers, but it shouldn't be difficult to figure out which selection will let you see the state of the ports on your computer. Enable the USB port, save your changes, and let the computer continue to boot into Windows. Now you should be able to use your USB adapter.

About the BIOS

The BIOS (Basic Input Output System) is a chip that's in charge of the computer's basic hardware. It runs the startup POST (Power-On Self Test), part of which is visible in the form of text that appears on your monitor when your computer first starts. It checks memory, disks, ports, input devices, and other basic components. The last step of the POST is to find the Master Boot Record that Windows installed during setup, and turn the computer over to Windows.

UNUSED EMBEDDED ADAPTERS

The Annoyance:

My new computer came with an embedded Ethernet adapter, but I have a wireless network so I installed a wireless adapter. Now I have two icons for network connections in the Control Panel.

The Fix:

The icon isn't bothering anyone or anything, so ignore it. If you're truly annoyed by two "live" adapters, and the computer is running Windows XP or 2000, you can disable the Ethernet adapter. Right-click the icon and choose Disable from the shortcut menu. The "disabled" status appears under the icon so that you won't accidentally try to configure it.

In Windows 98SE and Me, open the System applet in the Control Panel, click the Device Manager tab, and remove the adapter. However, if the device is Plug and Play (which means Windows notices its presence during startup), the device will constantly reinstall itself. So, as I said, ignore it.