Help sharing Eircom BB and networking 2 PCs

milltown

Also posted this in Nets/Comms but there seems to be a bit more traffic through here and it's also relevent here I think.

Father in law asked me to come have a goo at the PCs in his office (2 of). Usually this means installing AV software or plugging in a new USB hub or external hard drive but this time he caught me out.

Dell PC on his desk with 3com NIC, running Windows 98(!)
Dell PC on his secretary's desk with NIC running Windows XP
Eircom DSL connection running into Netopia Cayman 3346 router.

Currently only the secretary's PC is connected to the router/internet. His is all on it's lonesome. Hence, if he needs her to work on something he has done on his PC he has to put it on a disk for her = pain in the @ss. He wants to be able to share files between the two PCs and also share the internet connection and have e-mail to his desk. Router has DSL in and 4 LAN ports so I think it should be up to the job. Unless Eircom supply a stripped down router that only allows 4 PCs to use the internet but not talk to each other. They wouldn't would they?

So the only additional wiring needed was from his PC to the router. Did that, then started getting stuck! Internal ip of sec's PC was 192.168.1.1 so I set his to ditto.2 with the same subnet; 255.255.255.0. Don't know if it matters but both PCs are named and on the workgroup "WORKGROUP". His still won't connect to the internet and can't ping the router or the other PC, iirc I got destination host unreachable. The sec's PC has no trouble seeing the router or opening up the router's config page in IE. Pinging his PC from there I just got timeouts.

There seems to be no end of options to play with in the router setup but I wouldn't know where to begin, maybe someone with Eircom/Netopia setup experience could point me in the right direction. Is it possible when the DSL was installed, on the one PC, that the routing function was disabled?

Sorry for the long winded post. I've tried to include as much info as possible but I'm sure I've probably left out something crucial.

Thanks in advance!

cgarvey

milltown wrote:

So the only additional wiring needed was from his PC to the router. Did that

Did you do it right? .. Does the new cable from his PC to router work if replace the receptionist's cable with it? i.e. you know the reception PC/setup is ok, so try replacing the reception network cable with the new one that was for your dad's PC. Or use an RJ45/Ethernet tester if you have one!

If it does work, are there any firewalls operational on either PC? Does your dad's PC work if you connect it to the router in the same port reception was connected to? If it doesn't work, are you sure you have a straight-through cable? Are there any lights on the router to show activity/connection? Is the network card on your Dad's PC installed correctly (no yellow triangle beside it in device manager or anything)?

.cg

aidanodr

Hi Milltown,

Dell PC on his desk with 3com NIC, running Windows 98

Is this Windows 98 Second Edition [ right click My Computer, Properties ]?

Dell PC on his secretary's desk with NIC running Windows XP

Is this Windows XP Home or PRO [ Same thing as above, right click ... ]?

These are two pertinent questions. AND will impact on how they are networked. XP Home is - network wise - a stripped down version of PRO. Alot of functionality is crippled and cannot be accessed OR needs alot of unofficial tweaks to do so. If you have Win 98 [ Not Win 98 SE ], this may cause issues too.

Networking Windows 98 and XP [ Particularly XP Home ] can be hit or miss. The best advice though that I have found is to set up a logon for the XP PC [ a username and password ]. This is found in the Start / Settings / Control Panel and User Accounts. Now set the same username and password for the Win 98 PC.

Make sure both are on the same Workgroup Name. Your Router should have a DHCP Server on Board. This hands out IP Addresses automatically to any PC's attached. So, in both the XP and the 98 PC's Network Settings - TCPIP particularly - set everything to automatic. Most Eircom Router setups are:

Router addy: 192.168.1.254
DHCP address range: 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.253

You can tweak the DHCP range via the router admin [ pop 192.168.1.254 into your browser address bar, press enter ] now go to advanced, Yes, Configure, Advanced, DHCP Server.

Re XP and WIN 98 networking - their are numourous sites dedicated to this topic. I tend to use:

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/wxpwin9x.html

This is just one article here, have a look around. Also google the phrase "Networking Windows 98 and xp".

The best solution all round is XP [ preferably Pro ] on all PC's. Its the path of least resistance and easiest to troubleshoot.

Hope this helps,
Cheers
Aidan O Driscoll
www.netactivesolutions.net

milltown

Thanks for the responses lads. Will give it another shot next time I get in there.

Milltown.