Thats right! From the makers of the Fix-my-computer Challenge, and "Lan Party" comes the Fix-my-network Challenge!

The proceedure is simple:
1)Think of a possible solution.
2)Post it.

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So at any rate...I need some help with my home LAN. It runs on Cat 5e cable, 2 win98 se computers hooked to an 8 port 100Base T switch, which is connected to a cable modem. the modem ISP is AT&T. I have NOT gotten a separate IP yet.

The cabling is all good, the lights on the switch are blinking happily. but one of the computers, (the one which didnt originally have the modem, isnt showing up on the network neighborhood, even though it is apparently running info thru the switch.

How to I get the two to share files and a net connection?

Diagram of network:
ISP-------CableModem-----Switch+----ComputerI
|
\--Computer II

damn, that was a crappy diagram, computer II should be coming down from the plus sign after "switch".

Also, anyone know where i can downoad a copy of Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)?

put them all on the switch, uplink that to a second nic on the machine connected to the net, and make that a gateway.

yea I could do that, but I dont have an NIC laying around. Is there a way to do it without buying any new hardware?

Isnt there a way to just share files with this setup, regardless of the net connection?

Oh, and is this setup (if it works) defendable against scripters?

[This message has been edited by Dr Spock (edited 05-27-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Dr Spock (edited 05-27-2002).]

why did you buy a switch for just two boxes. you can buy a 20 dollar hub, plug them all in, and just press the uplink switch. you dont need a switch if you only have two computers. at any rate if you want to do it in a switched architechure i would have recomended buying a router/switch combo.

I originally intended to buy a 4 port hub, but because i had just built a custom computer at the same shop they gave me an 8 port switch for the same price.

Why the hell dont my comps see each other?? the network settings should be just about identical....

OK, I have succeded in getting the computers to have simultaneous net access without a traditional 2 NIC gateway and without buying a second IP.

However, I still don't have file sharing. Any ideas?

yeah, get xp, i have a similar setup, could not get internet or file sharing in 98, reformatted put xp on and on the first boot up both computers could get on the internet and share files, without me having to fuck with anything, now thats impressive

i did the same thing for free with linux and windows 2000. if you learn one thing here make it be that windows xp sucks nuts. are they one the same workgroup? are the ip's on the same subnet? give us some exact info

xp is better than 2000 anyday, but linux is the best, xp is the best if your going to use windows

Ok, for one thing, cut the debate on the right OS. I'm using win98se on both and thats that.

As for IPs I don't know what the subnet mask does so I left it out. they are both set to obtain an IP automatically. I think what made the difference was to mark one of them as a gateway, even tho it wasnt physically performing as a gateway.

DNS, WINS, and DHCP are all diabled on the non gateway, and DHCP is enabled on the gatway but the rest are disabled.

if the non gateway computer is not running DHCP then you must have an IP specified for it. are you sure that the gateway knows the IP of the client computer? and be sure they are on the same workgroup

yes they are on the same workgroup.

Where do I tell the gateway what the client IP is? How do I find the client IP?

if i remember correctly you dont. you tell the client the ip of the gateway machine. i believe you set the clients ip the same as the gateway except for the last set of #'s. for example the gateway has an ip of 126.192.65.123 then you would set the client as 126.192.65.124 or alternatly use dhcp on both of them. thats just a guese tho since i dont use a gateway.

perhaps i am talking out of my ass, i think thats what will work but i hate networking and im terrible at it. no promises but try it. you really would be better off with a router.

Ok ill give it a shot. I cant buy a router cuz im broke from buying my latest gaming comp 8).

No good, specifying an IP removes my net access entirely, and specifying the gateway has no effect.

Your problem lies in the fact that you have both your machines plugged into the switch which is plugged into the cable modem.

This setup can work in certain situations but its really a half assed one at best. Here is my suggestion if you can afford around $200:

buy a crappy older computer and an extra NIC so that the machine has 2 NICs. Plug one NIC into the cable modem and the other into the switch. DHCP running on the NIC plugged into the cable modem. If you are going to run Windows on this machine, use ICS (Internet Connection Sharing), it is a feature available in win98se, 2000, etc. This will set the IP address for the NIC on the switch AND run a dhcp server on that interface.

Setup all other client machines with DHCP and plug them into the switch. They will pickup all the data required to get an internet connection, DNS, etc from the crappy box that is now technically acting as a basic router.

I will *never* suggest sharing an internet connection without the use of some router or another. I find those solutions only work for some people and explaining what is really happening when you are doing this is just confusing.

Like i said, some kind of router works best. It does not have to be expensive or anything, just worthy. I have a Cyrix 120Mhz 20Mb RAM ISA NICs running as my router (it is running linux tho) and it works great. I still get super fast downloads from good sites.

Anyways... that is my suggestion.

--
cEnsE

umm.... or you could buy a linksys router for 100 and you would never need to configure it and it will be less of a power hog.

That is the other option but thats no fun (setting up and configuring your own box is sooo much fun) and rather limiting later when you want advanced stuff. But hey, hes just a home user so it would be perfect.

Cense the router idea sounds exactly like the comp I just built for my sister from hand me down parts except for the HD.

A linksys router would be a good idea too.

There are just two problems:

1) I have NO money.

2)Its aleady been fixed. I talked to a network tech at my dojo, who knew just what to do. The net connection was already shared, and I could ping the opther computer but it wouldnt show up on the network neighborhood.

"Classic windows problem." he says, and he was right.

Simply install the IPX protocol and the NetBEUI protocol, and BAM! there is all is.

Easy as pie. Keep this one in mind, its useful.