Testing Ethernet Ports

[Ames, Jonathan (N-ENSCO)]

Hi,

Can someone give me a hand with this?

A PC has two ethernet ports, both directly on the motherboard.  Can I connect them externally with an ethernet cable and ping from one port to the other to test them both?  How?

Another PC has the two ports listed above, plus an additional ethernet port in a PCI card.  Can I connect externally with the same cable from any port to any port to test them?  How?

Any help will be really appreciated.  Thanks.

-Jon