# Windows XP Not Recognizing Crossover Cable **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-not-recognizing-crossover-cable/202640 "2003-09-19T17:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-not-recognizing-crossover-cable/202640/1 "2003-09-19T17:34:19Z")
I plugged a crossovercable into the correct port on my XP machine, yet XP claims it’s not plugged in. Why is it telling me this? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-not-recognizing-crossover-cable/202640/2 "2003-09-19T17:46:30Z")
Does the NIC indicate a link? (solid green light, usually) If there’s no link, you’ve either got a bad or incorrect kind of cable. It’s a hardware issue and Windows has nothing to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-not-recognizing-crossover-cable/202640/3 "2003-09-19T17:52:17Z")
WHere’s the light located? Near the cross over port? I don’t see anything lit… ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-not-recognizing-crossover-cable/202640/4 "2003-09-19T17:57:45Z")
Are you sure it’s actually a crossover cable? If you look at one end of the cable, the colors on the wires are in a particular order - on the other end they should be reversed. No telling how many times I’d have to troubleshoot something like this only to find out it was a standard CAT5 cable and not a crossover one. And the link light is usually somewhere on the backplane (for a standalone NIC) or just above the plug (on a motherboard with an integrated NIC). If you’re not getting a link light, the cable is probbaly the wrong type or is bad. ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-not-recognizing-crossover-cable/202640/5 "2003-09-19T18:13:17Z")
Ah shit, I think you’re right about it being a wrong cable. Damn, I don’t know how I made that mistake. thanks. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-not-recognizing-crossover-cable/202640/6 "2003-09-19T18:14:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rex Fenestrarum \* > \*\*Are you sure it’s actually a crossover cable? If you look at one end of the cable, the colors on the wires are in a particular order - on the other end they should be reversed. \*\* Not reversed. That would be a rollover cable. On a crossover cable, pin 1 on one end goes to pin 3 on the other end and pin 2 goes to pin 6. The other pins stay the same. The correct color coding is like this: Straight through end: White/Orange, Orange, White/Green, Blue, White/Blue, Green, White/Brown, Brown Crossover end: White/Green, Green, White/Orange, Blue, White/Blue, Orange, White/Brown, Brown ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-not-recognizing-crossover-cable/202640/7 "2003-09-19T18:16:13Z")
Mine had purple, red, green I think and one other. What cable do I have? ---
**Author:** ![Jpeg\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@Jpeg\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jpeg_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-not-recognizing-crossover-cable/202640/8 "2003-09-19T18:31:00Z")
Purple, red and green? Holy crap! Whatever you do, _don’t touch that cable_. Please. Think of the children. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-not-recognizing-crossover-cable/202640/9 "2003-09-19T20:31:50Z")
- - - Some NIC’s do not allow the use of crossover cables. I do not know why this is, but I have a couple of Linksys cards (model #LNE100TX, version 4) that refused to work with one, and when I was in networking casses the instructor also noted that some cards would not work with them either. If you have any cards that fail to work with a crossover cable, then you may need to get regular cables and a hub. ~