Networking questions!

[dimpan]

Hi all!

I am trying to set up a SOHO with 3 Desktop PCs and 1 laptop. I have a 'Yahoo! SBC' DSL connection and a US Robotics wireless router. One of my 3 Desktops is a 10 yrs. old(!) Compaq Pentium XL5120 with an AMD Ethernet Adapter that's integrated in the motherboard. My other two desktop PCs and the laptop are less than a year old so I am confident that their components are new, fast and compatible for what I am trying to accomplish.

In case you're asking why do I need to use the older Compaq, instead of sending it to a PC museum, well, I will try to set it up as either a print server or -maybe later- as a gateway/firewall running linux. But first I just need to establish if it is ready to be networked or not.

Anyway, at this point I am having trouble connecting the Compaq to the network. Everything else with the other PCs works fine, including Internet sharing using the USR router but the old XL is acting up! The connection LED on the router says the connection is being physically made -I see the light, it is orange which means it is making a 10Mbps connection, that's OK, it's expected from such an old PC- but I am unable to access the router's configuration page when I type http://192.168.2.1 in my Internet Explorer. When I ping locally at the Compaq with 127.0.0.1 the response is normal and OK.

I am wondering if you could help me troubleshoot this problem with simple step by step instructions. I am not an IT professional by no means but I am pretty comfortable with PCs in general. No need to be very detailed in your infos so this should save you some time.

I thank you very much in advance for your time and help!

Sincerely,

Dimitrios.

 

[JonathanAnon]

Be Clear.

Hi Dimitrios,

You need to be clear with what you are asking. Separate the questions between router and PC, it's confusing.

Should the router's conifguration page not be 192.168.1.1 ?? most come with this as default. Also to connect to this you will need to configure the client PC to have the same an address on the same network.

i.e.

Router : 192.168.1.1 Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Client PC: 192.168.1.4 Netwmask 255.255.255.0

Then try to ping.

regards,
J

 

[dimpan]

Dear Jonathan!

Thank you for your so prompt response. Sorry about the confusion, I'm new to this.

Here's what I have so far: 3 desktop PCs connect to ports 1-3 of a router, while a 4th PC (laptop) can connect via either port 4 (wired) or a wireless USB adaptor. My old Compaq is on port 3. Of course the router then connects with my DSL.

All lights come up on the router, running at full 100 Mbps while port 3 -understandably so- runs at 10 Mbps.

The router manual instructed me to access the entry point of the setup at http://192.168.2.1 using Internet Explorer. I understand that this is slightly different from the norm but this is what the manual says and it worked. Well, it worked fine with all machines except the Compaq.

Once finished with the rest of the router setup (I used mostly the default settings it suggested) I was able to access the Internet from all machines including the wireless laptop. Everything worked great! Again the Compaq is the exception.

I then accessed the router's "Status" page and it clearly identifies three machines (#1, #2 and #4), with all their info (names, workgroups, IPs, MACs etc.) Unfortunately, #3 (i.e. Compaq) looks like it has not been found/identified by the router's set up.

Long story short only this machine is not set up but other than that everything else is as expected. I am not sure if it is worth bothering with it. Like I said before this machine is by today's standards only good for the museum, so I could easily just let it go. However, from an educational stand point and for the "heck of it", I would like to make it work. Also, do you think trying to use it as a print server or a linux based gateway/firewall is a worthy project? This is what others have suggested but have not read much into it ?!?

In anticipation for our next communication, thank you so much again!!!

Best,

Dimitrios.

 

[JonathanAnon]

IP Addressing

The other PCs are probably using DHCP (Dynamic Host Configutaion Protocol) for automatically assigning IP addresses. You may need to manually assign the Compaq an IP address on the same range as the router.

Use the IPCONFIG command from the DOS prompt and find out if the Compaq has any IP address. If not, then give an IP address on the same range as the router, i.e. 192.168.12.x with the same subnet mask as the router, and gateway as 192.168.2.1. You will need to set up DNS to get Internet access working aswell.

As regards whether it's worth using, if it's ten years old then it prob a Pentium or 486, I think - could be wrong. I wouldnt bother using it. But if you're just doing it for the heck of it .......

 

[dimpan]

Thanks again!

I understand exactly what you're asking me to do except for the part saying " You will need to set up DNS to get Internet access working aswell." I am assuming that once I have established connectivity from Compaq to router and the other machines all I 'll have to do is setup the DNS in the Compaq the same way the other 3 machines are?

If I am wrong can you please briefly explain. Since I am not at home right now I will need to try your advice first and then post back. It might take till after the weekend.

Thanks again!

 

[dimpan]

Resuming the subject ...

OK, it took me a long time to get back but we got hit with a strange summer-cold in the house, it wasn't fun at all.

In the meantime I figured out that using the winXP build in Network wizzard can be counterproductive at times. Before I proceed is there anyone out there who can tell me how to:

1) Reverse all settings the network wiz has implemented to their windows defaults? This is because I initially tried to set everything up by selecting the option referencing computeres "connecting via a residential gateway". Apparently this is not what I intented to do.

2) For someone (like me) that DOES NOT want to use the windows built-in network wiz, is there anywhere on the net a written "step by step", "idiot's guide" for setting up a simple peer-to-peer network, with 3 wired PCs, 1 wireless Laptop, with Internet sharing via a wireless router? These 4 machines will be running Win 2000 pro sp4 (1), WinXP sp1 (2), WinXP sp2 (1).

Thank you !

Dimitrios.

 

[dimpan]

I was just wondering if this thread is still active or I should start a new one?

Thanks!