Wired Home trying to set-up Home Network with XP Home

My home is CAT5 wired for networking. I have two laptops in different locations running XP Home. I am trying to set-up a home network and I am beyond confused.

In our mechanical room we have, what I refer to as a Hub, it is a large box which connects phone lines, satellite, etc. I have my office connected to my husbands with a CAT5 cable on this box. Each of our computers are connected into the wall from the Ethernet port into the wall port labeled Data CAT5.

I have tried to run the Network set-up wizard on my computer, which is going to be the host, and it continues to show that the Local Area Connection is unplugged. I do not know where to begin to troubleshoot this issue.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I'm a little confused as to whether you are connecting the computers directly or though a hub. If you're connecting them directly together, don't forget that you'll need a crossover cable. But if you're connecting via a hub, then a straight-through/patch cable is what you need.

If you're sure that you've got the correct cables, you just need to test individual components. Start by skipping out everything else and just connecting the computers directly with a crossover cable. Then connect both directly to the hub using straight-through cables. Then, try connecting one from your office and one from the mechanical room. Finally try it the other way around. Hopefully this will allow you to find which part makes the network fail.

I tried connecting the two computers together using CAT5 cable, but that didn't work. I have a crossover cable, so I will try to connect the two using that.

My ultimate goal however is to connect the two computers using the hub. You mention a Straight-through cable, what is that?

A straight through cable is where both ends of the cable are exactly the same. This is different to a crossover cable where the ends are different, and wires are crossed over.

You just need to start by connecting the two computers directly, then testing your individual components one by one and see where the problem starts.