I'm assuming my hub is what's making this PC to PS2 connection all screwy

[Mike4]

I hate to be asking a question like this because if there's anything I don't know, I usually figure it out on my own. This problem has me scratching my head, though.

I got my memory card loaded with some elf's, including ExecFTPs, and everything works fine. I load up ExecFTPs, and like I said before, it runs fine. I transfer an elf or two with no problem. A few days go by. I load up ExecFTPs on the PS2, but now FlashFXP won't connect. By the way, I have it set as a favorite in FlashFXP, so no settings were different (like passive mode). I tried over and over, but it never connected. I let it sit for a week and a half while I went on vacation. I thought about it a little bit and decided my cat5 cable might have got messed up somehow. I have a super long cable that runs from one room to the other (where the PS2 is), so when I'm done, I roll it up and put it away. I figured maybe it got messed up somehow when that happened. Now, my setup involves a hub (I'll get a router one day) with my PC in one slot, my PS2 in the other and the LAN connection (from the modem) in the Uplink spot. To check the cable, I switched the PC cable with the PS2 cable (the super long one) and the PC connected just fine. I switched the cables back and all of a sudden ExecFTPs and FlashFXP worked fine again. This is without changing a single setting. Just to make sure I wasn't going nuts, I logged in and out of my PC and PS2 a number of times and it worked fine everytime. That was a few days ago.

The very next day, I go to connect again, and it doesn't work. I promise you that not a single thing changed. I checked every single connection and everything is exactly how I left it from the night before.

I let it sit overnight again.

The next night, I was magically able to connect again. I was able to transfer some files and had zero problems.

I leave it alone for another day.

I go to connect again last night and we're back at the beginning again. I swear to you nothing has changed. Does this thing have a mind of it's own? Since last night, I've been trying on and off and haven't connected since.

What could be going on here? I connect to my own personal website with FlashFXP and don't have any problems.

Some things to keep in mind:
- I have tested all my cables in various positions and all work fine.
- The network adapter is fine, considering I just went online with Madden and played a game flawlessly.
- My PC has no problem connecting to the internet through any slot in the hub.
- I have rebooted everything (PC, PS2, hub, modem) many times.
- My settings for Execftps are fine, seeing as I've been connected a few times now.
- I'm broke, so can someone please mail me a free router? (Oops - did I just type that? )

[HypERSoniC]

very simple problem.

you are using a lesbian cable.

this is why it worked in the uplink

lesbian (or cross over cables) have 2 pins switched. these cables are used for connecting 2 devices without a hub. if you try to use this cable in a network configuration with a hub/router then it will not work (unless in uplink). but uplink is bad and you don't want to use that. so you need to purchase/aquire a normal cable.

oh, you shouldn't plug in your modem to the hub cause it will do **** all (maybe your hub is getting confused )


oh, and sure. i'll mail you a free router:
www.smoothwall.org
linux based open source firewall / router distro. it's great, best thing that ever happened to my pentium 90 24mb ram 200mb hdd. why buy a router when you can download one and use your existing hub...

[Mike4]

very simple problem.

you are using a lesbian cable.

lesbian (or cross over cables) have 2 pins switched. these cables are used for connecting 2 devices without a hub. if you try to use this cable in a network configuration with a hub/router then it will not work (unless in uplink). but uplink is bad and you don't want to use that. so you need to purchase/acquire a normal cable.

I wish it were that simple. No, it?s definitely a straight cable. Even though I don?t have a crossover cable, I have read up on and know a little bit about them and how they work.

this is why it worked in the uplink

I never plugged it into the uplink. The only cable I plugged into the uplink was the one coming from the modem.

oh, you shouldn't plug in your modem to the hub cause it will do **** all (maybe your hub is getting confused )

So you?re saying I should have the PC in slot #1, the PS2 in slot number #2 in the hub, and leave the internet cable completely unplugged? Even if that did work, why would it have worked so many times before with the internet cable plugged in?

oh, and sure. i'll mail you a free router:
www.smoothwall.org
linux based open source firewall / router distro. it's great, best thing that ever happened to my pentium 90 24mb ram 200mb hdd. why buy a router when you can download one and use your existing hub...

I?ll check it out, but looking at the main page, it only mentions ?firewall.? Is this going to be hard to figure out?

Regardless, thank you for the reply. I really appreciate any feedback, as this is really driving me nuts.

[HypERSoniC]

I wish it were that simple. No, it’s definitely a straight cable. Even though I don’t have a crossover cable, I have read up on and know a little bit about them and how they work.

but then how did you get the ps2's networked in the first place in a configuration without a hub?

So you’re saying I should have the PC in slot #1, the PS2 in slot number #2 in the hub, and leave the internet cable completely unplugged? Even if that did work, why would it have worked so many times before with the internet cable plugged in?

it won't do anything bad, i'm just saying having the internet cable plugged in at all will do nothing. perhapsa you should try different ports for the ps2 and pc? perhaps one of the ports is faulty

I’ll check it out, but looking at the main page, it only mentions “firewall.” Is this going to be hard to figure out?

it's *very* simple. you just need a PC with 2 network cards (pci if possible). you just boot the installation disc, 20 minutes later you'll be able to log into the web-interface. you only need a videocard and monitor for the installation.

[Mike4]

but then how did you get the ps2's networked in the first place in a configuration without a hub?

I don?t think I ever said I did do it without a hub. Every time I?ve been networked it was with the hub. That?s why I?m saying there?s absolutely no difference in anything between the times that it does or does not connect. I can?t find any real logic behind it, so I was hoping someone else could.

it won't do anything bad, i'm just saying having the internet cable plugged in at all will do nothing. perhapsa you should try different ports for the ps2 and pc? perhaps one of the ports is faulty

That?s what I figured. I only leave it plugged in so I can continue to have internet access on my computer. I have tried all the ports. (You don?t mean firewall ports, right? Because I have firewall disabled. I assume by ports, you mean the slots in the hub where the cables get plugged into.)

it's *very* simple. you just need a PC with 2 network cards (pci if possible). you just boot the installation disc, 20 minutes later you'll be able to log into the web-interface. you only need a videocard and monitor for the installation.

Hmm, I only have one network card. Last night, I did connect my cable modem through the USB port, therefore leaving my lone network card open. I played around with ICS, but since I never used it before, I couldn?t get it to work. Would you suggest I do it again but run this installation disc?

[HypERSoniC]

yeah i mean hub ports...

ics is pathetic. microsoft just baught this guy's program and integrated it into windows. it's not so good. i'd disable ics since in my experience ics just complicates things (last time i enabled it my internet didn't work at all).

as for the network cards, there like 5 dollars from the markets.

"smoothwall" is a standalone server product. it's a linux distrobution, so you will need a dedicated machine to make it work.

[Mike4]

yeah i mean hub ports...

ics is pathetic. microsoft just baught this guy's program and integrated it into windows. it's not so good. i'd disable ics since in my experience ics just complicates things (last time i enabled it my internet didn't work at all).

as for the network cards, there like 5 dollars from the markets.

"smoothwall" is a standalone server product. it's a linux distrobution, so you will need a dedicated machine to make it work.

I turned ICS off as soon as it didn't work.

That may be true, but besides money being tight, I'm not in a position to get to one of these places anytime soon.

So you're saying I would need a server in my house to get it to work? I'm confused as to why I wouldn't just get a $25 router.

[HypERSoniC]

well if you can buy a $25 dollar router go for it. my experience (at least over in australia) is a bit more expensive. i'd say $25 for a switch, then around 100 for a router.

so, if you have an old computer lying around, you can turn it into a router for free

[Mike4]

well if you can buy a $25 dollar router go for it. my experience (at least over in australia) is a bit more expensive. i'd say $25 for a switch, then around 100 for a router.

so, if you have an old computer lying around, you can turn it into a router for free

Yeah, they have deals over here for routers that are anywhere from $20-$40. I don't have a spare computer, so that's really not an option.

[Mike4]

Because of all the troubles I had networking; I erased all the exploit files off my memory card and reinstalled the exploit from the disc I originally installed it with. Unfortunately, that did not fix the problem. So I let it sit for a day or two.

I - like many others - had gone through a few cd-r's while trying to get the exploit to work properly. Since I made my first successful cd-r, I've made tweaks here and there and have discovered a few new elfs. I've also customized and patched HDL and HDA. All of the elfs were transferred to my mc during those times I was able to network successfully, but even though my mc had everything setup right, I didn't have an up-to-date cd-r to load everything back on in case I needed to start fresh. After reading about the new beta KeyLauncher being available, I decided it was time to make a new cd-r. While I was at it, I decided to change my config.dat file. Because I wasn't using a router, I was told by someone from "another" forum that the last address in the file should not be my actual starting IP. I was told that since I was using a hub, if I had that as my real starting IP, the hub would get confused and I wouldn't be able to connect. So it was basically just a made up IP. Even though this config.dat file had enabled me to connect before, I haven't been able to in many days, so I decided it couldn't hurt to change it. So I went ahead and changed that for my new cd-r, and now I'm back in business! I restarted the PS2 and FlashFXP a few times and I was connected every time. I was even able to get HDL_Dumb to connect, which I had never done before.

It's so nice to finally get something working again that had been frustrating me so much. Of course, I have to knock on wood, because who knows if it'll work forever?