| Q: | How do I connect the phone wire to a PCnet™-Home based card and an internal/external modem when I only have one RJ-11/phone jack in my room?
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| A: | The PCnet-Home PCI adapter will be connected to the phone jack on the wall using the phone cable. Use the RJ-11 port on the adapter that is marked with phone-jack picture. The other RJ-11 port on the adapter, marked with a phone-set picture, should be used to connect to the modem or phone. |
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| Q: | Why are there two RJ-11 ports in the PCnet-Home adapter card?
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| A: | You can use one of the ports, marked with a phone-jack picture, to connect to the phone jack on the wall for PCnet-Home networking. The other port, marked with a phone-set picture, should be used to connect the modem or phone. Some older modems/phones are known to create undesired noise that may affect the operation of HomePNA products like PCnet-Home. Using the port on the adapter to connect to the modem or phone eliminates the possibility of such noise interference. |
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| Q: | I have two or more PCs in my room and there is only one phone jack in the room. How can I connect the two PCs to the PCnet-Home network?
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| A: | You can use a phoneline splitter that you can install on the phone jack on the wall. Use the RJ-11 ports on the splitter to connect the two PCs. You can buy a phoneline splitter for a few dollars at any electronics store. |
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| Q: | I have two phone jacks on the wall in my room. I want to connect two PCs by using the PCnet-Home network. Can I connect the PCs to the phone jacks?
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| A: | If the phone jacks are for the same phone number, you can connect the two PCs as you have described. If not, you will have to find another phone jack on the same phoneline or use a phoneline splitter. |
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| Q: | How does the Auto-detect feature in the driver Properties box work? How do I force operation with a specific PHY or port?
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| A: | The device driver Autodetects the ports available on the adapter in the following sequence:
- External Ethernet PHY
- 10BaseT port (Internal Ethernet Phy)
- J11 port (phone)
If an external Ethernet connection is detected, the driver chooses external Ethernet port for data communication. If a link does not exist on the external Ethernet port, the driver checks if a link exists on the Internal Ethernet Phy. If a link exists, it chooses the Internal Ethernet Phy. If the internal PHY link doesn’t exist, it selects the RJ11 port.
If no links are detected, the driver defaults to the RJ11 port.
The user also has the option to force connection through a port using the Driver Properties dialog box.
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| Q: | What is the difference between a phoneline setup and a CAT5 setup?
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| A: | A home phoneline network uses your existing in-home phone wiring to connect your computers. An Ethernet network uses standard Category 5 cable and Ethernet hub to connect your computers. |
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| Q: | Can I make phone calls while using the Internet using the PCnet-Home network?
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| A: | Yes, you can. The transmission of data across the phoneline does not interfere with voice or modem operation. You should be able to do both without noticing any difference. |
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| Q: | The systems can’t communicate with each other! I’ve installed the driver on both machines and checked the device manager and protocol settings. Everything seems to be installed properly. What can be the problem?
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| A: | On the PCnet-Home card, there are three ports, the top two ports are RJ11 ports for the phoneline and the bottom port is for an Ethernet connection. If you are using the phone wire as your communication medium, make sure that the phoneline is connected to the correct RJ-11 port, marked with a phone-jack picture. If you are using the Ethernet wire as your communication medium, make sure that you are connected to the bottom port.
If the above doesn’t solve your problem, verify in the Driver Properties dialog box that the HomeLAN configuration is set to Auto Configuration. Setting it to Auto Configuration will allow the driver to choose the optimum power and data rate required for your home network configuration.
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| Q: | I understand that I can share printers and drives. Can I share the modem too?
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| A: | While you cannot share the modem directly across the network, you can share the services offered by the modem. This includes Internet access sharing which you can enable by installing the Fatpipe Internet sharing software. |
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| Q: | The PCnet-Home Installation program starts the PCnet-Home Internet Access Sharing program automatically. How can I avoid installing this program?
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| A: | You can avoid installing the Internet sharing program by customizing the netamdhl.inf file as explained in this user guide.
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| Q: | Is the PCnet-Home Solution certified by external quality or conformance organizations to ensure that it meets industry specifications and standards?
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| A: | The PCnet-Home solution is HomePNA certified. Please see www.HomePNA.org for more details on the certification process. This ensures that the PCnet-Home solution will interoperate with any HomePNA product. The PCnet-Home device and drivers are Designed for Microsoft® Windows® NT/98 certified and bear the prestigious PC98 Logo status from Microsoft. This ensures that the PCnet-Home solution is fully compliant and compatible with Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT and Windows 2000 operating systems. |
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| Q: | Is there a specific order in which I should install the Internet sharing software?
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| A: | You may install the Internet sharing Server and Internet sharing Client software in any order you chose. There is actually no software installed for the Internet sharing Client. |
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| Q: | I purchased a computer game that can be played over the network. The game requires a specific transport protocol (example, IPX) to be installed. Is this protocol available on the systems where I have installed the PCnet-Home Software using the PCnet-Home Installation program?
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| A: | The PCnet-Home Installation program installs IPX and TCP/IP protocols if they are not already installed. Most games use one of the two protocols mentioned above.
If you require another standard protocol, you can add it using Control Panel -> Network program.
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| Q: | Is PCnet-Home based networking compatible with high-bandwidth Internet access technologies such as cable, Universal DSL/G.Lite and satellite service?
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| A: | Yes. PCnet-Home meets the HomePNA 1.0 specification. Products made to HomePNA standards will complement all of the above high-speed Internet access methods. |
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| Q: | How many PCs can be connected to the PCnet-Home network?
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| A: | Currently up to 6 PCs can be connected to the PCnet-Home network within a home. |
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| Q: | I am currently running Windows 95 on my PC and would like to upgrade it to Windows 98. How can I ensure that my PCnet-Home network stays intact?
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| A: | First, remove all the PCnet-Home software. Follow the procedures necessary to upgrade the system to Windows 98. Reinstall the PCnet-Home software. You will have to re-configure drive and printer sharing and mapping to bring the system back to how it was configured before. |
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| Q: | Will PCnet-Home operate over voice wires and permit simultaneous voice and/or fax transmission?
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| A: | Yes. A requirement has been established that all current and future technologies be transparent to phone services as well as DSL technologies, such as the proposed G.Lite/UADSL. All three technologies (POTS, DSL, home phoneline network) will operate over the same phone lines simultaneously, without interference of regular telephone service. |
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| Q: | I am running the PCnet-Home software on one PC and I have a phoneline adapter from another manufacturer that I want to install on my second PC. Can I have the two PCs networked together and can I share drives, printers and the Internet?
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| A: | First of all, make sure that the phoneline adapter from the other manufacturer is HomePNA certified (see www.HomePNA.org for details). If so, it will inter-operate with the PCnet-Home adapter and you will be able to setup the network. You will also be able to share drives and printers.
If the PC where you have installed the PCnet-Home adapter has a modem and an ISP account setup, you will need to install the PCnet-Home Internet sharing Server software on that PC. This will enable the second PC (with the phoneline adapter from the other manufacturer) to share the Internet access as long as the TCP/IP configuration on the second PC is set to default, i.e., to obtain the IP address automatically.
If the PC with the ISP account and modem has the phoneline adapter from the other manufacturer installed on it, you will need to use the Internet sharing software provided by that manufacturer.
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