SBC DSL screwing with my LAN?

[Toshiro]

**Sorry for the long post!

I recently moved 4 hours away from my hometown, where I had a perfectly good SBC Yahoo! DSL connection with a 2WIRE HomePortal/Modem/GateWay. I had a solid, fast, reliable connection and I could connect the 2WIRE to my hub, and from there, connect any computer I wanted to the hub and get instant Internet and file sharing access (with a little tinkering).

However, I left the 2WIRE with the old residents so I can keep in touch with them.

In my new apartment, new DSL account, those AT&T/SBC people send me this crappy little Speedstream 4100 modem. After a lot of hassle finally getting the internet to connect and several hours on their "tech support" hotline, I decide it's time to try and set up my LAN again with the same computers from before.

Here's the problem.

I try to connect my main PC (the one directly connected to the modem via yellow ethernet cable) with my girlfriend's PC via crossover cable from my second ethernet card and set up Internet Connection Sharing. LAN sets up fine, but I no longer have internet access on the main computer OR the second one. I try my hub with a patch running from comp 1 to hub, and a patch from the hub to comp 2 (just in case the crossover cable got messed up in the move).

Still nothing. Funny thing is, the second I pull out the second ethernet cable, the Internet kicks back in. I can be on MSN Messenger and LimeWire the whole time, too, it only affects the browsers. It wouldn't be so bad if I could have the LAN and at least one comp with Web access at the same time.

It all worked fine before, and the only thing different is the DSL modem and the actual phone line and account. I never changed any other settings or anything.

---Could the AT&T/SBC people have it set up so that I can't use Internet Connection Sharing? Their website makes it sound like I can do it no problem, but it's "not recommended" and they recommend I buy some fancy hardware.

---Should I try to get a 2WIRE Residential Gateway like I had before? I know I started out with a Speedstream at the old location, too, and did not have a problem like this.

Keep in mind all computers involved are running Windows XP and were previously in a LAN and working fine with SBC DSL before now.

Oh, one last thing: I haven't tried connecting the modem to the hub, then connecting the computers to the hub. Although that's how I had it set up before, I'm pretty sure that it wont even let me connect to the internet that way now. Should I try that?

 

[Law]

Unfortunately the SB4100 modem is not like your old 2Wire/modem/router. The SB4100 by default does not have any routing feature (1:1NAT, DHCP), it can be turn on though but at some expense.

The way you setup ICS, you did it wrong when you connected the 1st computer to the modem with a yellow cable (which I assume is a cross over cable). Is it a cross over cable?

How to tell if the cables are cross-over or straight-through: Hold the end of the cable side by side.

If the color coordination matches: they are straight-through

If the green and orange switch places: they are cross-over

If you use a hub to connect to the modem, and the computers to the hub, this won't work. You will need a broadband router. Instead of activating the SB4100 modem to do this, you are better off to just buy a router. In the future when you need to add a third or fourth computer, you won't have to worry about activating the SB4100, you can just plug it right into the router assuming it has enough LAN ports.

If you want to use ICS, take a look at the first part on this thread http://www.techist.com/showthread.php?threadid=114149

The only thing you should keep in mind, is that you are not using a router like the one in the guide. Instead you will just connect the 1st computer to the modem with a straight-through cable and make sure it can get online before preceeding. Then you connect the 2nd computer to your 2nd network card with a cross-over cable. Then use the wizard as the guide has done.

 

[Toshiro]

...you will just connect the 1st computer to the modem with a straight-through cable and make sure it can get online before preceeding. Then you connect the 2nd computer to your 2nd network card with a cross-over cable. Then use the wizard as the guide has done.

That's what I was trying to do, but it doesn't seem to work.

I checked the yellow cable and it's straight-through... orange, blue, green, purple, in that order on both ends. It's the "modem to computer" ethernet cable that came included with the modem. I didn't think you could connect the modem to the computer with a cross-over cable and get a connection, anyway. I tried one of my own straight-through cables and everything is the same.


This is how I was trying to set it up...

Modem
v
Straight-through cable (yellow one) into host's first ethernet port
v
Host computer
v
Cross-over cable (white one from Radio Shack) from host's second ethernet port
v
Client computer
...Then run connection wizards and make sure ICS is set up with the host connecting directly, and the client connecting through a 'gateway'.


I've run through the connection wizards on both computers, but it's not made any difference. The LAN connected fine, and I still had internet connection on the host, but I couldn't access web pages while the LAN was connected. Like I said, MSN and LimeWire kept going fine, but FireFox and Internet Explorer wont find ANY pages.

I tried following the instructions in that link, but when I take my TCP/IP properties off of "obtain IP Address automatically" I can't access web pages anymore (again). Otherwise, pretty much everything in that topic is what I already tried.

I'm not bothering with the hub because I only want these two desktops to have internet connection. I have a laptop I'm not worrying about right now, because I don't use it at home much anyway. I was thinking of buying a wireless router so I can add the laptop to my LAN and get a wireless internet connection, but it's got an ethernet port I can use, too.

Can you recommend a brand or model of wireless broadband router that will do what the 2WIRE did (without the built-in modem, of course)? Will that even work, since my setup is rejecting everything else?

 

[Law]

Yea seems odd from your point of view. It should work right away unless you have a firewall or something, but I donÂ’t recommend ICS. It would save you a lot of headache by just buying a router.

I recommend the WRT54G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124010

Basically itÂ’s a good overall wireless router with good features like:
Enhanced Internet Security Management Functions: Internet Access Policies with Time Schedules, Website Blocking, IP and MAC Address Filtering; Port Filtering; Wireless MAC Address Filtering; Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) Firewall; and NAT Technology
Wireless Security with up to 128-bit WEP Encryption
Wi-Fi Protected Access(WPA)
4 10/100 LAN ports for up to 4 wired computers
Supports Dynamic Domain Name System (DDNS) Service, Static and Dynamic Routing (RIP1 and 2), DMZ Hosting
Web-based Utility for Easy Configuration from Any Web Browser
DHCP Server Capability to Assign IP Addresses Automatically
All Ethernet Ports Support Auto-Crossover (MDI/MDI-X)—No Need for Crossover Cables

WPA is an example of a good feature, SPI, Website blocking. And the router is only $40.

 

[Toshiro]

Ah! I was already looking at getting that one from SuperTarget, but it's about $65 there. I might just go and get it anyway because I don't want to wait for it to be shipped from NewEgg (though my past experiences with NewEgg were excellent).

I just hope I don't buy a $40-65 router and STILL be unable to share the Internet connection.

Thanks, Law!