Concept of Crossover Cable

Crossover cable: A crossover cable is needed to directly connect your computer and Xbox. You would plug one end of the cable to your computer and the other end into the Xbox, there are no devices in between. If you have a hub, switch, or router you will not need a crossover cable though some still will work with one. With connecting to hubs, switches, or routers you should use a straight-through cable. The image below shows the difference between the two:


To easily tell if you have a crossover or not, simply look at the two ends side by side. If all the pins, 1 through 8 on both ends are all the same color in the same order, you have a straight-through cable. If pins 1, 3 and 2, 6 are swapped you have a crossover cable. Notice the TX, RX as well. This shows why in pc to pc connections a crossover is required. Otherwise one pc will be transmitting over the same wire the other pc is trying to transmit on.