Cable Modem - Connecting to PC

[PJ]

I didn't know how to word the title, so Imma gonna try this

Ok, so my computer is connected to my modem through USB. For the past few weeks, my connection has been crap (There's no way around that, it's just the truth). My friend suggested that my Modem maybe just randomly doesn't like the USB (As in, I assume he means USB cable might have gone bad http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif), and that I should try connecting it to the PC with my crossover cable

Ok, done that, at the moment, my modem is now connected to my computer with both the crossover cable and the USB cable, but only because I don't know how to change the settings to allow the modem to just go through the crossover; I unplug the USB, and out goes the internet.

What settings do I need to change to get this to work?

[VioletSkye]

You don't want both the USB and the ethernet cable plugged in. That's a major mistake I see on many people's home setup. On the Modem side there isn't anything you need to do to make the ethernet port work, I will automatically assign an IP to whatever device it detects on the other end. Secondly, you do NOT want to use a crossover cable. A crossover cable is cross wired and often times used to connect two devices (pcs for example) together. It will not work in your setup because the modem is already crosswired and requires a standard cat5 cable. Using a crossover cable with your modem will result in it not being able to communicate with your pc.

Buy a standard ethernet cable, connect it to your modem and pc. Make sure your ethernet port is enabled (it can often times become disabled when using other methods of connecting as in dialup or using a usb cable for your connection.) Once you have verified that your ethernet is enabled, try connecting. It will most likely be given an IP address and you should be online. If not, turn your pc off and power cycle the modem. Then turn your pc on and see if it connects. If it is assigned an IP address but doesn't go anywhere check the internet settings and make sure it isn't tryng to run through a proxy and make sure DNS is set to automatic. You may also need to run a winsock fix. Is this for Windows XP?