How to connect my laptop to DSL line?

I have a home PC connected to a DSL modem. I also have an old Presario 1030 laptop running Win 95 I would like to go online with. It has a modem card, Megahertz brand, model "XJ10BT or HJ10BT", but I have DSL. It does not have USB port. How do I hook that up so I can use it at home at same time other PC is online? My DSL modem has USB and ethernet ports, and right now the desktop is connected by USB. I tried to upgrade to Win 98 which I have, but before I knew about product keys I put all my disks neatly in a pocket system and tossed the cases (with the keys on them). Life goes on. I run XP on my desktop.

 

W95 does not support USB. W98SE needs drivers downloaded to support USB. M$ may be able to help you with the product keys for W98, otherwise, maybe, buy a full copy of W98SE off ebay. Make sure the product keys are included. Maybe put a requesthere in MG "buy and sell" forum for a copy. As mentioned in the previous post, you will probably need a PMCIA (PC) card as it does not have USB ports, on your old laptop. Bazza

 

I have a PCI slot working according to device manager, and i have that little card with the pop-out receiver for the end of the ethernet cable. I tried hooking that to my DSL modem's ethernet slot, but nothing happened. I guess I need to know some very baby steps:

How do I get the Megahertz card to work (I was given a disk with the drivers but don't know which files to do what with), and

How do I hook the laptop by ethernet to what? Can I make it get internet through my main PC so it's covered by the firewall on XP SP2? Or can I hook it up to the modem's Ethernet hole right next to the modem's USB hole that the desktop is connected to?

The laptop has regular phone line holes in it, but of course the DSL modem takes in the phone line but doesn't have any hole that size to send out through to a computer.

I did buy a wireless card, too, but when I hooked up the network and got it working, it kept cutting my desktop off and Belkin said that a wireless network won't work in a home with a cordless phone, for crying' out loud! I have the whole network not being used at all now.

I appreciate you guys so much. The spy guys got my desktop working. I was off the net for a while (HORRID).
(I have another desktop I'd like to tie into a home network too down the road. It's XP too.)

 

why would you use usb, ethernet is a much better connection?

 

uh ... because I recognized the USB and didn't know what the other funny looking cable was for? (where's the sheepish icon?)

 

I found a hook-up tutorial at HP Network Assistant. I'll give that a try. Don't want to waste your time on basics I can get elsewhere. If I can't get it figured out from that, I'll be back begging for help!

 

I take it you're referring to the PCMCIA card that fits into a slot in the side of your laptop.

Assuming its a network interface card (NIC), it'll likely need to be registered with your internet service provider (ISP) before your ISP will recognise it and provide service to it. That registration may take place automatically and transparently -- i.e., you may not be aware that it has been done.

NICs have a unique address (MAC address) that is hard-coded. ISPs like to have the MAC address registered in their system so that they have better control over access to their services. You may not be able to register both your desktop and your laptop NICs at the same time unless your ISP is willing to assign more than one IP address to your account.

I'll leave that one for somebody who has access to the manual for a Megahertz card. Is it in your laptop or your desktop?

You'll need a hub or router to connect your laptop and desktop to the DSL modem. I doubt that there is a way to put the laptop behind the firewall provided by your desktop O/S. Maybe somebody will correct me on that?

If I'm right, you might want to consider buying a router that includes a firewall. The D-Link DI-604 is popular and effective, and not expensive. Another advantage of using a router instead of a hub is that you need register only the router's MAC address with your ISP. The router will look after the address translation that distinguishes the laptop from the desktop.

Anyway, you'd use an Ethernet cable to connect the laptop to the hub/router, using the PCMCIA NIC you mentioned above. If the desktop doesn't have an Ethernet jack, you'll need a hub or router that allows both Ethernet and USB connections to it.

A quick terminology lesson. It'll make other instructions easier to deal with....

A standard phone line uses a RJ-45 connector. It can have up to 6 conductors. The standard phone line provides 4 conductors but uses only 2 in a residential system.

An Ethernet CAT-5 cable uses a RJ-11 connector. It has 8 conductors. You can't plug an RJ-45 plug into an RJ-11 socket.

It sounds like your laptop has only RJ-45 sockets -- presumably for connecting a phone line to a dial-up modem in the laptop and providing a pass-through to a telephone. If that's the case, it won't likely have networking capability unless you can use a PCMCIA card that provides networking.

That seems odd -- unless the cordless phone is using the same radio frequencies as the wireless network system. Are you sure the Belkin guy gave you accurate information?