Author Topic: Connect to the internet via another computer (Read 4129 times)

McClane · « **on:** April 28, 2006, 23:29 »

Basically I am trying to get my girlfriend connected to the internet via my computer. Just to give you a little information on my setup.

- I have a netgear DG834 router connected to the internet
- Connected to this are 3 computers and a switch
- 2 computers are connected to the switch

Now there is space to connect my girlfriends laptop to the switch but it is all the way downstairs and we don't have a cable long enough. My computer has 3 network ports and my girlfriends laptop has 1 network port. I have connected my girlfriends laptop to one of my network ports using a cat5e straight-through cable.

We are both running windows xp home and I have tried running the connection wizard. On my computer I selected "This computer connects directly to the Internet. The other computers on my network connect to the internet through this computer". On my girlfriends computer I selected "This computer connects to the internet through a residential gateway or through another computer on my network". However, this has not worked.

Both computers get a message saying "This connection has limited or no connectivity. You might not be able to access the internet or some network resources. For monre information, click this message". My computer still connects to the internet fine.

My girlfriend is only here till monday so I would appreciate the help in getting her connected asap.

Sandra · « **Reply #1 on:** April 29, 2006, 00:06 »

If you are connecting directly from the laptop to your pc then you need a crossed ethernet lead.
The straight one will only work from router to pc and possibly from router to switch and from switch to pc although I am not 100% certain about the switch part as I have never used a switch.

McClane · « **Reply #2 on:** April 29, 2006, 01:16 »

I made a crossover cable using the diagrams from this site: http://www.lanshack.com/make-cat5E.aspx

Still no luck

Sandra · « **Reply #3 on:** April 29, 2006, 02:06 »

Well if its now a crossed cable it should work.

Have you tried disabling the firewalls on both the pc and the laptop as that may be stopping it working ?

McClane · « **Reply #4 on:** April 29, 2006, 10:40 »

Yup, I always have windows firewall disabled and I disabled zone alarm on my girlfriends laptop.

Simon · « **Reply #5 on:** April 29, 2006, 11:02 »

This may not help, but it's worth noting that disabling firewalls often doesn't actually switch them off, or if it does, they leave the current security level maintained. This is so that malicious programs can't disable your firewall. The only way is to find the option which makes the firewall start with Windows, disable it, and reboot, so the firewall doesn't start in the first place. It's not adviseable to use your internet connection without an active firewall, but it's OK to set up something like this.

However, you may just need to configure ZA to allow your network IP, so it might be worth having a tinker in ZA's settings first.

McClane · « **Reply #6 on:** April 29, 2006, 11:53 »

I'll try that out

I've been trying to setup the connection by assigning IP address. I have kept my NICs current settings that I use to connect to the internet and for my other NIC I have assigned it an IP, the same subnet mask and left the other settings blank (I found this info in microsoft help and support, not that I'd necessarily trust it). On my girlfriends laptop I assigned her a unique IP, gave her the same subnet mask and default gateway and set her preferred DNS to my second NICs address (the one not connected to the router).

The strange thing is, both computers can ping each other fine and my computer can connect to irc but neither can look at websites. The only way i can look at websites is to disable my second NIC.

Simon · « **Reply #7 on:** April 29, 2006, 11:55 »

Do you have Printer and File Sharing enabled on both PCs?

McClane · « **Reply #8 on:** April 29, 2006, 11:59 »

Nope it's disabled. I wouldn't of thought that would matter if we are just trying to share an internet connection.

Sandra · « **Reply #9 on:** April 29, 2006, 12:35 »

It does sound like maybe its an IP address problem.

Usually for pc to pc they use the 169.xxx.xxx.xx range.

Although any IP range should really work :?

McClane · « **Reply #10 on:** April 29, 2006, 13:18 »

I've been using 192.168.0.xxx because that's what my router is setup to use.

McClane · « **Reply #11 on:** April 29, 2006, 13:37 »

Ok, I'v found a guide on setting things up http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/ics_xp
However, I get stuck at the step where it tells you to "Choose the Sharing tab, and turn on the Enable Internet Connection Sharing for this connection option". It isn't there for the NIC with the internet connection but it is there for the connection without the internet connection. Any ideas?

Sandra · « **Reply #12 on:** April 29, 2006, 13:38 »

I would set the pc and laptop to obtain the IP addresses automatically.

Then in your main pc go to Start the Run and type CMD

That will open a dos window.

Type : ipconfig /all /renew then press enter.

Hopefully that should reassign the laptops IP address to one that will work ok with your pc and internet connection.

Sandra · « **Reply #13 on:** April 29, 2006, 13:42 »

Quote from: "McClane"

It isn't there for the NIC with the internet connection but it is there for the connection without the internet connection. Any ideas?

That sounds like its the part you need then

Its not necessary on the connection to the router, only for the one between the 2 pcs so if you tick it to allow sharing then it should work.

McClane · « **Reply #14 on:** April 29, 2006, 14:16 »

Ok, I enabled it for the connection to the laptop and it didn't work. Basically both connections were set to obtain an IP and then I enabled the connection sharing. An IP address in the range 168.xxx.xxx.xxx was assigned to the NIC which was connected to the laptop. The internet connection stopped working on my PC. It also came up with a message about limited connectivity for the NIC connected to the laptop. I tried changing the IP to one in the range of my network and gave it the correct subnet mask (it had assigned 255.255.0.0 instead of 255.255.255.0).

Nothing seems to be working

I've run out of ideas and I don't seem to be getting anywhere. I think I'm just going to give up as I don't to spend my whole weekend getting it up and running. Thanks for the help though, it is very much appreciated!