USB Crossover Cable Software

[parry]

Hi, I have a crossover cable that I bought a couple of years ago that came with a disc which had a driver and an application. It installs a Generic USB Hub. Trouble is I have recently upgraded and have XP Pro on my desktop and XP Home on my laptop but the disc only has drivers up to Win2K & I am getting errors when using this driver.

Anyone know of some software online that I can download to connect 2 XP PC's via crossover?

[somebody]

If it's a Crossover UTP or CAT5 cable (with the RJ45 plugs on either end - the ones which look vaguely like phone plugs), then you shouldn't need drivers.

If it's a USB cable, you might want to try the Generic drivers in XP, or go to the manufacturer's website and see if you can download XP drivers.

[zminos]

if its something like a XH8177 that you can get from dick smiths ( but the older usb 1 version ) then you can use the windows 2000 drivers as I never found any windows xp drivers.

[B.M.]

Be careful hooking two computers together using the USB port Parry. I can’t remember the exact morbid details but it was to do with the power supplies in the individual computers having a set too when they both try to power feed one wire. Apparently the damage does not always occur, but when it does it’s substantial.

Cheers

Bob

[parry]

Cheers thanks for the replies. It is the an old Dick Smiths one - USB Link Un-161 if that means anything. I will give the Win2k drivers another go then as perhaps it was a one off glitch. Thats a bit scary about power surges. I should set myself up with a proper network.

[B.M.]

The power supply problem is very real Parry. It occurs when people try to connect two computers together via the USB ports using a cord with an A-Male connector on both ends.
Not sure about UN-161

No problem with serial or parallel ports, but no go with USB. I’ve heard of computers actually catching fire because of this type of hook up. I think pin 1 carries the power so you MAY get away with disconnecting it and not power feeding.

Yes, a proper network configuration may save considerable cost.

Cheers

Bob

[Graham L]

But a "USB crossover" cable is not just a cable with two type A connectors. A-A are fairly rare beasts, because there's no real use for one. The standard specifies A-B, so there's always an upstream and a downstream end. A "crossover" cable has a big lump in the middle which has the logic which makes it a data transfer cable. So it "knows" about power. Ther is no concept of a crossover cable as with UTP and RS232/423 cables. A USB cable has +5V, signal+, signal-, and ground. That's it.

[zminos]

actually like in my previous post, there nothing wrong with using the usb network kit, you use the win2k drivers and you only need to use two folders on the cd un101 and un161 filders... you don't need to install the cable app.

I have in the past used this setup with mixed OS such as win ME and XP for example for shared net connections and multiplayer... I've also used it for back-up purposes.

The new version at DSE is backward compatable with usb 1, and when I used to work for DSE we never ( and still don't as I understand ) had power problems! only people not knowing how to install it and problems not finding xp drivers.

[SolarSauna]

I have a USB link cable with a lump in the middle. Where can I get drivers for USB Link UN-161 to run on Windows XP?

Thanks
Jim
Tsawwassen BC
Canada

[somebody]

Hi Jim,

Welcome to PressF1.

This may be useful: http://www.labramo.com.br/downld.htm