help setting up home network

[68falcon]

i have recently bought a router in hopes to set up a small network of 3 computers (would have gotten a switch but the router was on sell and it works)
i got 2 computers to work fine with each other, ones a xp machine, the other 98SE
however, one of the computers (xp) says the network cable is unplugged, but it isn't its plugged to the computer and the router. I have tried several cables all that work on other machines. It think it the NIC. I put the nic in a different PCI slot, reinstalled drivers and it still didnt work. it has work fine up until now. i took it off the network a while back and just tried it again today and now it give me that error. its a 3com etherlink xl 10/100 PCI. sometimes it will say connected and then pop up saying it was unplugged then go away and the pop up again and do that continousouly. any way to be sure what the problem is

another quick question, i have a 56k modem and dial up but i only get 26400 bps, why not 56K

 

[ktwebb]

Sounds like a duplexing and/or speed issue. Force 10 Mb half duplex from the NIC's advanced properties tab (or whatever tab you find it on. Different NIC's have different properties characteristics/tabs). That should solve your problem. You can then try 100 Mb half, then force 100 Mb full duplex. See what works for you. If you've eliminated the physical layer (ie..patch cable and different port on the switch) then that is the next thing to try before you replace the card.