The insanity of home networking...

[Piyer]

I need some input and guidance from someone who actually understands what they are talking about when it comes to home networking. Suffice it to say that the guy at my computer store does not. *grumble*

The facts:
I have a dial-up internet connection.
I want to link two computers, one a desktop, the other a laptop, both running Windows XP home edition.
I want to be able to share files between the two, and the printer.
Sharing the internet connection would be nice, too, but isn't a must-have.
The laptop came with a wireless card, the desktop did not.

The computer guy said that the Linksys Wireless-G router he sold me would work with that setup. He.... was wrong. When I called Linksys, they said I couldn't use the router, but a switch would do the trick. At this point I am doubtful, and every article I Googled seems to be aimed at the broadband user, so I now turn to the experts of this forum to save my sanity -- or what's left of it.

What do I really need to link those two computers?

[Spathiphyllum]

Using a switch as a central connector to join wired and non-wired portions, consider:

Telephone jack (NOT DSL) --RJ11-> Desktop Modem|Desktop NIC RJ45 --CAT5+-> RJ45 Switch 10/100
Laptop Wireless NIC --No physical connect-> Linksys Wireless RJ45 --CAT5+-> RJ45 Switch 10/100

This could be a generic series of connections. Without knowing the specs of your product, there might be some modifications depending on the physical I/O on the Linksys unit itself.

The concept is to make a connection from your outside source (phone line) to your desktop computer as the ready-made "main" computer. Next, connect via ethernet the desktop to an automatic negotiation switchable (10/100) hub, aka "switch". Next, you need to get the mobile laptop to connect to your network. Since you have a wireless modem, then it will need to communicate over air to the wireless router which will enable that portion of your network to tap in to the wired portion. To do this, the router should have some RJ45 ports which will allow it to connect via wires to another device. Hopefully, yours has this RJ45 ethernet port which you can connect to the switch which will allow it to become "hot".

I hope this makes sense. As far as connection sharing using WinOS, I've not used it since everything I have is tapped directly into a switch which then goes through my firewall and on to my broadband router. However, the setup I've described should get your physical connections for home networking set up and allow internet access from your desktop whether you opt for ICS or not.

Good luck.

[JPC-Greg]

Spathiphyllum I know my way around a network but even I was alittle like "huh?" when I read your post .

Piyer,
That router should work to serve as a hub to get your wireless laptop to share files with your wired pc. The router wont be able to split your dialup account directly to both machines but you could setup the laptop to connect to the internet through your pc once you have them shared and able to see them both on your home network. Just set both pc's to the same workgroup.

Share your printer from your desktop and then set up a network printer on your laptop specifying the name of the network printer you are trying to use once its setup on your desktop.

I cant think of any reason why that wireless router wouldnt work for you.

[Spathiphyllum]

Spathiphyllum I know my way around a network but even I was alittle like "huh?" when I read your post ...

Crap. I was afraid it might read too poorly.

Without researching (hey, I'm lazy and don't feel like drawing an ASCII art schematic or 'spec'ing the Linksys) that particular wireless device and considering the most scalable option, I figure setting a switch as the central device to connect different technologies is key. If the wireless router has several RJ45 ports (the typical 4 and 1 uplink) to complement its wireless capabilities, then it could serve as the central "hub" for the domain and accommodate the desktop too (as you noted).

[Piyer]

Spathiphyllum, if Jag was going 'huh?' you can just imagine what my reaction was. However, I do thank you for your reply.

Jag, based on your comments, I decided to give the router another shot. I seem to be halfway there in connecting them, but I am running into the same problem I had last night when I called Linksys:

On the desktop pc when I click on 'view workgroup computers' I can see both the desktop and the laptop computers, but when I click on the link to the laptop it says that it isn't accessible and that I might not have persmission to use this network resource.

On the laptop, it is seeing the router and is connecting to it. However, when I click on the 'view workgroup computers' I get an error saying that the "homesystem" is not accessible and that I might not have permission to access it.

I suspect that both errors are related, but I haven't a clue as to what needs changing. Both are pointing to the same workgroup name.

[jason]

You might have to search for the computers manually instead of selecting them from the Network Neighborhood (or whatever they call it these days). Most of the networking dialog boxes let you search for a computer by name. If there isn't a search feature, just try entering \\computername.

--Jason

[Connie]

If you have a firewall installed on either or both PCs they could be blocking access. I have had that happen.

[Vin DSL]

On the desktop pc when I click on 'view workgroup computers' I can see both the desktop and the laptop computers, but when I click on the link to the laptop it says that it isn't accessible and that I might not have persmission to use this network resource.

On the laptop, it is seeing the router and is connecting to it. However, when I click on the 'view workgroup computers' I get an error saying that the "homesystem" is not accessible and that I might not have permission to access it.

I suspect that both errors are related, but I haven't a clue as to what needs changing. Both are pointing to the same workgroup name.

Since XP is basically W2K with a Teletubby interface, I assume you have to jump through the same hoops when you setup a network. For instance, in order for a machine to be able to view another machine, you have to be logged into Windows with a username and password, have admin privileges, and be authed to access that machine, et cetera. In other words, XP probably needs a lot of configuring. It's not like the old days when you plugged in a cable and ran with it...

Speaking of which, I need to run. BBL!

[Piyer]

Well, I have spent the better part of the day bashing my head against the computer desk with no obvious progress, so I'm going to head out for a bit.

The firewall issue is a possibility, but not one I am in any mood to tackle at the moment -- there are probably a mix of two walls per computer: windows and norton on the laptop and windows and zonealarm on the desktop.

One thing that I'll add here that might give someone a clue to help explain things to me is that on the desktop pc, when you right click to see the properties of the laptop in the 'view workgroup computers' screen I get an error message that reads: "The server Hp2 could not be found on the network."

[Spathiphyllum]

Piyer,

Sorry about confusing you. It made sense when I typed my original response, I swear.

Well, it looks like you have the physical connections working and now it is the software that is hanging you up. The battle is half over. Have you configured your router as the DHCP server? Does the product insert have any directions for setting it up as one, or does it have that capability?

The reason I say this is because something on your network needs to be the node (usually) that assigns and controls connection "leases" and this is typically done by a primary domain cntroller (PDC) on a Windows network. I'm a bit shaky on the steps to do that in Windows since I use Linux to act as the domain server in my networks. It handles the node management so there are no competing PDC nodes (i.e. Windows boxes) to fight for domain control. Presumably, you could assign each node (Windows box) an IP specifically and that would handle things OK, but the scalability and advantage of DHCP would be lost.

Do you have the networking protocols installed on each OS? Have you enabled resource (file/printer) sharing on each OS? Are you using each of the following:

Client for MS Networks and
File/Printer Sharing for MS Networks and
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) - [routable] or
NetBEUI Protocol - [non-routable]

TCP/IP would be optimal as long as you have the proper safeguards in place to control traffic into your network when you are connected to the internet.

Finally, if you can see the PC icons in Network Neighborhood but cannot access any folders, make sure you have created some shared folders to browse. That is a permissions issue and you'll need to set them appropriately.

I hope this isn't confusing either. As always, the devil is in the details.

[mattsiegman]

Based on the errors, it sounds like you don't have file sharing properly setup on the laptop. On my friends computer, all we had to do to fix that problem was share a folder out.

I still haven't figured out what's wrong with my computer, however, so it could be significantly more complex than just sharng something out.

Also, your firewalls may be impeding progress. Try turning all of those off and testing your networking. If everything starts working, well, it's a lot easier to fix the firewall settings than to fix networking.

If all else fails, reboot it and leave them alone for a while. That actually worked one time

[Jaded]

Using the network setup wizard on laptop (and then pc) create a network name etc. making sure to select a gateway option which uses the pc as an internet access and you won't have to worry about configuring WAN (Internet) (sounds like you have already done this)

MAKE SURE TO SET A NETWORK PASSWORD IF USING WIRELESS!

I suggest allowing the router to dynamically assign ips. If you want to assign static LAN ips to your units...enter the router interface and assign the ips to each unit. (see manual for step-by-step)

In each computer -- enter the firewall security settings and set as "Trusted Zone" the following ip range: 192.168.1.1 -- 192.168.1.153

(139.168.1.154 should be the WAN ip which you won't be using on the LAN side)

THEN: enable file and print sharing on each computer.

Now, the two computers should be able to communicate and if you turn one or both off, they will be assigned new ips on start up but still be within the "Trusted Zone".

The network password is crucial if you are using a Trusted range with wireless so a roving laptop doesn't link into your system and access all your files.

[Piyer]

Just a quick update to this.

I broke down and spent $150 to have a tech guy from the store where I bought the router come to my house and install the router for me. Of course, I was fearing that I would have spent all that money so that he could spend all of five seconds showing me that I forgot to dot an I or cross a T somewhere. But, after an hour and half of trying, he was as puzzled with the connection, or lack there of, as I was.

He needs to do some checking with other tech people and will be back on Wednesday -- hopefully with a fix to the puzzle!

[Jaded]

LMFAO! Get your money back and call someone else!

[Spathiphyllum]

$150?! That's ridiculous. What store?

Consider the rate for this endeavor:

If the tech gets $15.00/hr (approximating a typical hourly wage for megastore employees), that would leave that tech with ten hours worth of "work" to drive and install the device - a ridiculous amount of time for someone who knows what he's doing.

If the tech gets $30.00/hr (because he's especially good), then the tech has 5 hours in which to get this done.

Either way, particularly since you bought the stuff at their store, they are really doing you a disservice... and now they've sent an untrained tech to frustrate you more.

You have my sympathies. I figure the people assembled here could talk you through despite being a bit cumbersome. You might try posting the exact model (or a link to it and its owner's manual) you purchased so some of us could look at the specs and provide better instruction.