Ethernet adaptor port thing....

[Zell's Fists of Fury]

My computer is from 1998.
My computer does not have an Ethernet port or whatever.
I need one for a router so I can hook my mom'computer up to the internet.
Is there anyway to hook up an Ethernet cable to my computer through attachements or whatnot or am I s.o.l?

[Burtsplurt]

Those cards are really cheap anyway (about £10 over here), and they just plug into a spare PCI slot. No real installation worries.

[Dr Unne]

Yep, ethernet cards are very cheap (about $10 around here) and available at any computer store. Make sure you have a PCI slot on your motherboard to put a card into though before you buy one.

[Zell's Fists of Fury]

Talk to me like I'm an idiot, because I am when it comes to tearing my computer apart. WHere is that and what does it look like?

[Burtsplurt]

<IMG SRC="http://www.overclockersonline.com/images/articles/msi/6362/bottom.jpg">

See the five long white-ish coloured things near the bottom left? They're the PCI slots on your motherboard. A couple of them may be used already, but you should have at least one free. If so, then you can buy an ethernet card. The ethernet card just slots in; you don't need to connect it up with any wires or anything like that.

[crono_logical]

You do need to connect the external wire though that leads to the hub/switch/router But that's after installing the card

[Zell's Fists of Fury]

I bought a memory card a while ago. I put it into a slot that looked like those. It was the last slot. Am I screwed?

[wax]

Well, that depends, they also make ethernet adaptors that use USB, but if you don't have an open USB port...

Also...are you sure you filled your last PCI slot, or was it the last memory slot...PCI slots are usually located in such a way that PCI cards are at the back of the PC, since they allow you to connect various peripherals...it sounds like you filled the last open spot to put in RAM

[Burtsplurt]

If you bought RAM, then I doubt it would go in a PCI slot. RAM goes somewhere else on the motherboard.

Just open your computer up and have a look around. It should be pretty easy to see whether you've got a slot free or not. Find where the modem is, and just look around that area.