I want to add a router to my network instead of using one of my machines with ICS. The problem with this is that the cable modem is in the room with one PC and the other two PCs are in another room with one cable (very long and running through tight spaces) and so it's not practical to run another cable. I currently have a HUB in the other room for those two to share the ICS connection. If I get a router, can they still use the hub so that I don't need to run another cable?

[added]
The other problem I have that is related to this is that my ICS quit working properly and thus the reason I am looking at a router. The ICS was working properly until this weekend. I shut down the other computers as they weren't being used, updated Zone Alarm, and somehow they aren't working now. I thought it may have been ZA, but I tried disabling ZA (setting firewall to "low/off" setting) but it didnt help. I tried rebooting all of the computers after different steps, just in case, but that didnt help either. The odd thing is that I can connect to the file shares just fine and the computers connected to MSN messenger just fine, but for some reason they can't use IE or AIM. So, if anyone knows a solution to this that could possibly save me from hassles in the router question, that'd work too.

Thanks.

Connecting your Modem to the router and the two ethernet cables - one from your hub and the other to your computer through which you previously made the connection - will be a breeze. You will wonder why you didn't do it before.

I read in some places that a crossover cable would be needed to go between the router and hub?

Funny you should say that, my ICS machine (Win2k Server) just stopped working the other day for no reason. I could occasionally get a web page to load, but most of the time it would time out and display nothing or at best only half a page. Internet browsing from the ICS machine itself was flawless and so was browsing the PC's resources on the network. I ended up having to do a complete reinstall, after that everying was back to normal. Weird.

Sampson, am I right in thinking that to spur a hub off another one you need to use a crossover cable?

No. Not when you use a router. We have two computers connected to one switcher/hub in turn connected to a second switcher/hub (with some several computers hung of of it) separated from one another by some 200 feet close to the limits of ethernet's reach. This second switcher/hub is then connected to router in another building some 50 or so feet away from the switcher/hub. There are two computers attached to the router in addition to the wire from the switcher/hub. The modem is attached to the router. All machines are recognized in the system. No crossover is necessary. The router assigns and tracks the IP of each individual computer.

Okay, thank you very much. You've been very informative.

Cool, thanks. Maybe I was thinking of when you use a dedicated 'uplink' port on a more advanced switch (although I know that the newer higher end models can auto sense what cable is being used and adjust as necessary).

Anyhoo, whilst I haven't got the need for a second hub [yet], it's good info to know.