Topic: wireless networking on xphome

[annonymouse]

Hi there,

im having a really hard time trying to get a wireless network working and internet connection share between my desktop pc (a compaq presario5200UK)  my wireless router (linksys wrt54G)  and my laptop packardbell Easy note)   my desktop has dial up modem which i would like to share the connection with my laptop,  i cant get broad band in my area as im to remote.

so far this is what ive done

plugged my router in  

cabled it to my desktop

on my desktop and on my laptop  i have gone into internet explorer and  gone to 192.168.1.1 and can get into the router

on my desktop and laptop i have ran the  network setup wizard and used the same work group name and selected my desktop as the  pc that connects to the internet and that other pcs conect to my desktop

ping results
my laptop can ping my pc
my pc CANT ping my laptop
my pc can ping my router
my laptop can ping my router


my desktop can see my laptop  in my network places  only when i click on it i get a "contact network administrator" error message

on my laptop i dont even have a  my network places icon,  i have tried to map a network drive but in mshome i cant even see any other pcs



can any one help me on what ive done wrong or what ive not done its  tearing my hair out now

many thanks

Ben

[Clive]

Hi Ben and    Sandra is our resident wireless expert and will hopefully look in later on.  I'm sure that she will be able to help you solve your problem.

[Sandra]

on my desktop and laptop i have ran the  network setup wizard and used the same work group name and selected my desktop as the  pc that connects to the internet and that other pcs conect to my desktop

Hi Ben, I think that you have selected the wrong method.
The router connects to the internet via your modem, not your desktop pc.

Run the wizard again and select the option, "This computer connects to a residential gateway".
Enable the file and printer sharing option if you want to swap files, if you just want the internet connection you can leave it disabled.

Once you have done it that way I think you will find it should work, firewall permitting.
If it still doesnt connect temporarily disable the firewall and see if that allows it.
Often the firewall is the tricky part to get working.

Let us know if this cures your problem as we dont want you ending up like Simon and Clive ( hairless that is )  

Rethink after re reading your post  :?

Can you confirm that you have a PCI modem in your desktop and how the router is connected to your pc please ?
If the router is connected by ethernet cable then I dont think it can work that way round  
In fact if it is that way then I cant understand how the laptop can ping the pc, I would have thought that it could only ping the router :?

[annonymouse]

hi there

thanks for coming back to me,

the modem is a pci card in my desktop yep

on the router i can see both pc's in the dhcp table, so  shouldnt i be able to resolve the address from my laptop

i had this working under xp pro on another laptop wirelessly except for the ics which i couldnt get working at all

all firewalls has been disabled

very confused

[Sandra]

The reason that the router can see both the PC and the laptop and show both IPs is that they are both detected and being assigned IPs by the routers DHCP.

I am 100% certain that you cant get an internet connection from the laptop through the router and your PCI modem the way that you have it set up.
I cant even work out how you are able to ping the desktop pc from the laptop although as its going through the router I suspect that its going by the ethernet cable to it but in that case I would expect the pc to be able to ping the laptop  :?  

With a PCI modem the only way I can think of getting it to work would be to use a Wi Fi access point connected to your desktop, I dont think the router can work as an access point to the internet without having an internet connection to it.

Do you know anyone who has got a setup the same as yours working ok for ICS ?

[Sandra]

Well I have been informed by a friend that it should work  :?

Have you set your dial up connection to allow ICS ?

[Sandra]

Reading the User Guide (PDF file) from here :

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?childpagename=US%2FLayout&packedargs=c%3DL_Product_C2%26cid%3D1115416825557&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

It seems that it should work how you have it set up but it isnt the normal way or even anything I have tried to do before  

On page 29 it mentions about an Advanced Routing Tab, I think that you will have to possibly change the mode in there as you are not using the router as a gateway.

The Setup Tab - Advanced Routing
This tab is used to set up the Router?s advanced functions. Operating Mode allows you to select the type( s) of advanced functions you use. Dynamic Routing will automatically adjust how packets travel on your network. Static Routing sets up a fixed route to another network destination.
Operating Mode . Select the mode in which this Router will function. If this Router is hosting your network?s connection to the Internet, select Gateway . If another Router exists on your network, select Router . When Router is chosen, Dynamic Routing will be enabled. Dynamic Routing . The Dynamic Routing feature enables the Router to automatically adjust to physical changes in the network?s layout and exchange routing tables with the other router( s). The Router determines the network packets? route based on the fewest number of hops between the source and the destination. This feature is Disabled by default. From the drop- down menu, you can also select, LAN & Wireless , which performs dynamic routing over both your Ethernet and wireless networks. You can also select, WAN , which performs dynamic routing with data coming from the Internet. Finally, selecting Both performs dynamic routing with both methods described.

On page 57 this confuses me as it says (the bold parts are my emphasis) :

What is ad- hoc mode?
When a wireless network is set to ad- hoc mode, the wireless- equipped computers are configured to communicate directly with each other. The ad- hoc wireless network will not communicate with any wired network.

What is infrastructure mode?
When a wireless network is set to infrastructure mode, the wireless network is configured to communicate with a wired network through a wireless access point.

The way you have run the wizard is for an Ad Hoc network which it says that wi fi cant connect to wired networks with  :?

This is possibly a silly suggestion but I think that you may have to run the network wizard on the desktop the way you already have and the one on the laptop saying its connected to a residential gateway, then it can use the router as a Wi Fi access point.

I cant think of anything else to try at the moment  :roll:

[annonymouse]

hi there


im currently reading the pdf seeing if theres anything ive missed,

i can now ping the desktop from the laptop   but still cant share files or internet connection
i followed the wizard through selecing the laptop connect therough a residential gateway

hrmm this is  so confusing,

ive set up a network using sbs 2003 and hard wired that into a router and had xp pro boxes pick it up  it seems windows home isnt very robust when it comes to networking

thanks for your efforts to help me on this one your a star!

ben

[Sandra]

I think thats the main advantage of XP Pro over XP Home, the pro version is expected to be used on networks so its easier to set it up.

Is anything showing in the Network Places on the laptop now ?

Did you check that ICS was set in your dial up connection ?

Try opening the router right up by disabling the DMZ, as long as the wi fi side is set up for WEP then I dont think that you have any need for any protection through the router as its not accessable from the net the way you are tryingto set it up.

I wish I had heard of someone doing it this way, it seems a little unusual to me but theoretically I suppose if you can ping then theyre connecting so we should be able to sort it out.

One easy way round this would be if you could find an external dial up modem that had an ethernet connection.
They all seem to be serial or usb ones these days though