You said you are a newbie. I am going to give you a command by command. This should allow you to cull off anything that you already know. Some of these things I do here are for later on, but start with good habits.
Connect up your blue (rollout) cable to switch 1. I am going to assume these are 2960-24TT's. I will also setup a connection between the switches. All switches connect to switch three, rather than daisy chain.
type
switch>enable
switch#conf t
switch(config)#host sw1
sw1(config)#interface vlan 1
sw1(config-int)#ip address 192.168.16.1 255.255.255.0
sw1(config-int)#exit
sw1(config)#interface fa 0/1
sw1(config-int)#switchport mode trunk
sw1(config-int)#description "Uplink to switch 3 fa 0/1"
This sets up a trunk connection to the other switches. The switch will do this automatically, but it is best to define it, if for nothing else of remembering what you did the next time you connect.
sw1(config-int)#exit
sw1(config-int)#exit
sw1(config)#exit
sw1#write memory
Now take an ethernet cable and connect port fa 0/1 on switch 1 to port fa 0/1 on switch 3.
Connect up switch 2
switch>enable
switch#conf t
switch(config)#host sw2
sw2(config)#interface vlan 1
sw2(config-int)#ip address 192.168.16.2 255.255.255.0
sw2(config-int)#exit
sw2(config)#interface fa 0/1
sw2(config-int)#switchport mode trunk
sw2(config-int)#description "Uplink to switch 3 fa 0/2"
sw2(config-int)#exit
sw2(config)#exit
sw2#write memory
Now take an ethernet cable and connect port fa 0/1 on switch 2 to port fa 0/2 on switch 3.
Connect up switch 3
switch>enable
switch#conf t
switch(config)#host sw3
sw3(config)#interface vlan 1
sw3(config-int)#ip address 192.168.16.3 255.255.255.0
sw3(config-int)#exit
sw3(config)#interface range fa 0/1 - 5
Notice the command is interface range. This is how you can change several ports at once.
sw3(config-int)#switchport mode trunk
sw3(config-int)#description "Uplink from switches"
sw3(config-int)#exit
sw3(config)#interface fa 0/6
sw3(config-int)#switchport mode access
sw3(config-int)#spanning-tree portfast
sw3(config-int)#exit
sw3(config)#exit
sw3#ping 192.168.16.1
sw3#ping 192.168.16.2
This should return a ping on both of the last two commands. If not, you haven't connected up something right. The ping will come back as
"!!!!!" if it is right, and "....." if it is wrong.
sw3#write memory
Connect up switch 4
switch>enable
switch#conf t
switch(config)#host sw4
sw4(config)#interface vlan 1
sw4(config-int)#ip address 192.168.16.4 255.255.255.0
sw4(config-int)#exit
sw4(config)#interface fa 0/1
sw4(config-int)#switchport mode trunk
sw4(config-int)#description "Uplink to switch 3 fa 0/4"
sw4(config-int)#exit
sw4(config)#exit
sw4#write memory
Connect up switch 5
switch>enable
switch#conf t
switch(config)#host sw5
sw5(config)#interface vlan 1
sw5(config-int)#ip address 192.168.16.4 255.255.255.0
sw5(config-int)#exit
sw5(config)#interface fa 0/1
sw5(config-int)#switchport mode trunk
sw5(config-int)#description "Uplink to switch 3 fa 0/2"
sw5(config-int)#exit
sw5(config)#exit
sw5#write memory
On your client machine set the IP to 192.168.16.10 255.255.255.0. Connect your client machine to fa 0/6 on switch 3. You could use any switch port, but this one has the spanning-tree portfast, so it will work faster.
From your machine, bring up a command prompt and see if you can ping 192.168.16.1 - 5. If so, open your Cisco Network Assistant and go to connect. It should work.
Hope this helps.
