Internet cable connection on rear of imac ... am I totally stupid

I had and figured the small version of the ethernet connector

Small version? As far as I know, there is only one size Ethernet connector, and it's the one on the back of the iMac. A standard telephone line connector looks similar, but it is smaller. You probably don't want to stick one of those into an Ethernet port.

You may want to just go buy a new one. The cable's speed rating will also have an effect. If you find an old cable back from the days when 10base-T was fast, it may not work properly with the gigabit (1000base-T) Ethernet port on recent Macs. It should be rated Cat-5e or better.

Also, when you say "modem," I assume you mean DSL or cable modem (which is not really a "modem" but that's what people call it), and not an old-school telephone modem.

Are you trying to plug an Ethernet cable into the iMac's modem port? That is for a telephone line not an Ethernet cable. There is another port on the back which is for Ethernet.

The ports on the back of your iMac G4 looks like one of the following pictures:

What is the manufacturer and model number of the "router/modem"? It looks like the one cable connected to that device is a telephone cable.

Also I noticed that the orientation of the connectors between the "router/modem" and iMac are different. Did you make sure that you were flipping the connector over so that the finger was up when you tried to plug it into the iMac?

Finally... this area is for the iMac G4s. The picture you posted is not from an iMac G4. I would guess that it is from an Intel-based iMac.

If the cable fit in the back of the Netgear DGN 2000 then it would fit in the back of the iMac. It must just be an alignment issue. Make sure that you are positioning the connector correctly to push into the iMac. I know that sometimes reaching around the back trying to connect blindly is difficult.

In the picture you posted it looks as though the locking tab on the Ethernet cable looks non standard, most of these cables have the same plastic tab that you see on your RJ11 modem cable but the Ethernet one in your picture looks bent backwards.

I have seen many instances were RJ45 (Ethernet) plugs although classed as standard would not fit snugly into certain sockets. I am sure a new cable will sort it out.

One thing to check after trying to fit the plug in behind the iMac is that not of the sockets pins have been bent out of shape.

regards

This chap is from the UK, our phone internet system is different to in the US.

What you describe as A, the small connector only goes from your phone socket, into the Wan port on the router (it's not a modem).

To connect the router directly to the iMac you need a piece of network cable with an RJ45 connector at each end, they both be the same, that will go into one of the ports marked C at one end and into what you have marked as D on the iMac.

Hi James,
You are correct the RJ11 goes into socket A, but the larger connector B looks like a RJ45 but with an unusual lock clip. I think it will fit into socket C correctly but not into the back of the Mac because of this clip.
But has you say a new cable should fix it.

regards

These connectors are a universal standard, so if your phone system uses them, it does not matter what country you live in, they are the same, identical in size and attachment.

Most telephony based ADSL systems use a cable with a standard RJ11 connector on each end to connect the wall port with the WAN port on the rear of the internet gateway. The router portion of the gateway uses cables with standard RJ45 connectors and the cable should be rated as Kenichi stated above for proper data rates.

What appears to be confusing is which Mac the OP wants help with, an iMac G4 or an iMac Intel. As Duane points out, if it is his iMac G4, it has both an Ethernet port and a telephone port. An iMac Intel only has an ethernet port. But for either machine the ethernet port, the larger of the two, is the one he should be connecting to one of the ports on the router portion of his gateway with a cable with connectors B in his posted photo.

Dah•veed

You need a Cat5e RJ45 to RJ45 Ethernet cable (also have the name Ethernet patch cable), I am sure I have seen them in the larger Tesco stores, but any of the other shops Currys, PC World etc will have them. You need a standard straight through cable (pin1 to pin1, pin 2 to pin 2 etc) not a crossover cable, it will be marked if it is a crossover type.

If you can only get Cat6 thats OK its a better specification but more expensive. Currys and PC world have 1 M cat 6 cables for about £10, I think thats a bit expensive but then thats my opinion.

If you are in one of the computer stores they will know what you need.