Wireless networking help

[iceman]

Peter (toe toe) will sympathise with me.. and yes i've read the whole thread below about a very similar issue.

I've got 2 computers, one upstairs, one downstairs, both with wireless USB network cards.

Settings
UPSTAIRS:
- Adhoc mode
- Channel: 10
- SSID: "Home"
- IP address: 192.168.0.30 (submask 255.255.255.0)
- Windows XP (current patches applied)

DOWNSTAIRS:
- Adhoc mode
- Channel: 10
- SSID: "Home"
- IP address: 192.168.0.10 (submask 255.255.255.0)
- Windows XP (auto update on so current patches applied)

And I can't get them to talk to each other.

I'm *reasonably* confident that the 2 wireless devices are talking to each other, because the green "Link" light goes on and it's got a signal strength etc.

At first I tried leaving it to XP to work it out, but the green "Link" light wouldn't even go on. Once I turned that off, and set both cards to "adhoc" mode through the "Wireless LAN utility" with the appropriate settings, they seemed happy enough to talk.

I've turned off the Windows XP Firewall on the "wireless network" network connection on both computers. No other firewalls are running.

I can't ping from either computer, no respose.

From the UPSTAIRS computer, after a while (after a reboot), in the network neighbourhood, when you click on the workgroup (MSHOME), eventually it will show both DOWNSTAIRS and UPSTAIRS in the list. but when I click on downstairs, it says I don't have permission.

I've tried manually mapping a network drive, no joy.

I hate computers and I hate networks. I hate networks more. :bashcomp:

How can I verify 100% that the wireless devices are talking to each other? Shouldn't there be a log file somewhere?

Surely I should just be able to ping?

What am I missing?

Eventually I want the internet connection (ADSL) of the computer downstairs to be shared be the computer upstairs, but at this stage I just want the two computers talking to each other.

Any help would be muchly appreciated!

Thanks

[h0ughy]

02 49742643 work call me mike

[toetoe]

I found going with a wireless router solved my problems eventually Mike. There are all sorts and makes out there to do the job. The one i bought was the D-Link DSL-G604T http://dlink.com.au/default.aspx?FolderID=227. Modem/Router all in one. It has good range with the wireless side and so handy to be able to go anywhere in the house or out the back with the laptop. A couple of days ago i put a bigger hard drive in the laptop and more ram then put xp on the new drive and had a few problems setting up the network again, but all fell together with the Router making it easier to look at both machines. I maybe alone on this but i think if you are going to network and share internet on both machines, do it through a Router, i found it to be a lot less frustrating than trying to do it with out a router. Good luck.

[davidpretorius]

generally speaking Windows XP, adsl wireless works very well. So i would not e too worried about using the wireless on both machines.


Have you typed the ip addresses in yourself or are they dynamically generated by one of the computers?

Also i have got the same situation set up but i have specified a WEP key, try a short one for starters.

Does the software that came with the USB cards have a site monitor etc?

Are you running Windows XP Home or Professional?
Early days with Win98, i had to add the netbios protocol, not just tcp/ip to get them to talk.

All that aside. I assume you are getting nothing when you ping?

Also do you currently have adsl and if yes what sort of adsl modem?

[davidpretorius]

I agree with peter, a wireless adsl router (from harvey norman would not even cost $150 from memory.)


It sets the ip addresses itself, you can always connect via usb or ethernet cable to set things up and then go to wireless once you are happy.

Step 1. get both computers talking with adsl router, without and then with a wep key
Step 2. work out your network cards mac addresses and then enable mac filter so that only your network cards can talk to the adsl modem, even if a guru works out you wep network key

Changes with the adsl router usually mean reboots of the router, but it is worth it to make sure it all works.

Let me know, I can send you some screen shots of my system at home. I have two laptops with Windows XP pro and the wireless adsl modem that telstra provides. It works beautifully.

[elusiver]

what's the floor made out of that the signals passing through? if it's timber then it should be sweet. if its concrete then it's gonna have a hard time. Also.. in my experience.. i've had a lot of hassles with w/l usb dongles.. a are nowhere near as good as a proper pci card, as the antennas are usually inbuilt and cruddy. Actually.. i've still got 2(linksys & netgear) usb w/l dongles just sitting in a junk box somewhere at home because i wasn't happy with them. It also could be if you're plugging one of the usb dongles into a USB 1.1 port it'll only work to B(11mbit), whereas on the new machine it'll work with USB 2.0(54mbit), so even though there shouldn't be there may be an issue there. But yeah.. my suggestion is go with a wl adsl router.. the netgear dg834g is probably the way to go. never heard a complaint about it.. plus netgear support's supposed to be awesome.. so i guess it's worth the premium over say something like the smc which is about $130. but yeah.. well worth going for a wl router.. plus u get hardware firewall :) which is pretty much essential these days with all the crap that goes through the net. My pc's at home are behind 2 hardware firewalls, cause i hate software firewalls.

el :)

[Soldant]

I'd agree with the router and wireless PCI cards, the USB dongles are only supposed to be for short-range wirelessm regardless of what they say on the box. It's incredibly easy to setup a router, pretty much all of them come with web admin interfaces. Personally, I use D-Link on my Telstra Cable connection, my friend has a Netgear wireless router which he finds to be a bit of a pain, but maybe he's doing something wrong.

[iceman]

Thanks guys, i'll look into getting a wireless router but the first thing I wanna make sure, is that the device upstairs can talk to the device downstairs (with strong signal). h0ughy reckons that if the signal is weak, it will continually drop out, and windows will have an argy bargy with the other windows arguing over who is the boss.

I'll move the computers next to each other as the first step, to rule out a weak wireless connection as a culprit. I'll also put in a physical network crossover cable to test that too.

The house has wooden/particle board floors between upstairs and downstairs, but it's also a steel-framed house, so I also want to make sure that the frame isn't stuffing up the wireless.

Are the USB wireless LAN cards that bad? What is their effective range? They're only 10mbps cards afaik.

[davidpretorius]

a few years ago, i purchased a 11mps wireless access point for my work place. we have a warehouse, and with a dell truemobile pcmpia card (lucient in disguise), i was able to go to the back of the warehouse aprox 50 metres and the signal was registering as low and i was very happy with that range. The signal had to go through two sets of block bricks that say 20 cm wide. At my house I have a adsl wireless modem which my dell D610 with built in wireless networking can access from all the house, here are some screen shots of the signals i got.

I have floor boards, but even going through garage outside, which is those big bricks again, i never lost signal. I ended going down the driveway, madly taking screenshots, pasting into adobe photoshot, saving to jpeg format and then back to adding to forum post, all while still connected to internet.

[davidpretorius]

sorry everyone, i thought the filenames would be showing as well.


from left to right.

1. same level in house aprox 17m from phone / adsl modem in my office with an open door

2. down the stairs and under the house, still aprox 17m from modem

3 & 4 are from outside walking down the driveway from say 40m and then 60 m

hope these help

[Soldant]

The USB wireless dongles (the little devices that plug into your computer using a USB port) aren't that good. As stated by someone else, they usually have poor antennae and the only real reason you'd want them is... hmm... actually I can't really think of one. Maybe if you want to hook up a laptop to a wireless network, but maybe a card would be better in that situation.

For desktops, they're really a waste of money, it's better spent on a PCI Wireless card. You should find better performance all-round.

[elusiver]

ice sounds like u got a 11mbit usb adapter.. 802.11b, as apossed to the 'newer' standard 802.11g(54mbit). From what i understand b networks will reach further then g for pure line of sight.. but will suffer from degradation alot worse as it passes through solid objects. better off getting an 802.11g pci card for each desktop.. will set u back around $30 something each so not that bad.

el :)

[iceman]

$30!? Is that all?

Thanks, I still need to eliminate the physical location by moving the computers next to each other.. but off to Brisbane for work today, will try again tomorrow.

[tornado33]

I use a Wireless router they definately do seem to be the go. Inside, my main PC is connected to the router with standard lan cable, another pc in the garage has a wireless G card, signal goes through my bed room wall, and garage wall (Hardiplank and gyprock). Signal is "very good" or "Excellent" on the signal strength meter on the garage PC. They work pretty well out of the box, I got them connected without security at first, then put in a WEP key. As I use Zone Alarm I just had to put in the IP range of both computers to Zonealarm in BOTH machines, and then I could ping and swap files between the computers.
Scott

[elusiver]

$33 to be precise :)

el :)

[iceman]

Alright have the two computers next to each other now.. let's see if distance is an issue.

[iceman]

I hate networks and I officially give up. Can't get them working wireless, right next to each other. Can't get them working with a cross-over network cable right next to each other.

The hardware is talking, but Windows refuses to.

I give up. I'm gonna move the ADSL modem upstairs and throw this computer in the bin! :bashcomp:

[h0ughy]

Ok mike, now that i can see that you have calmed :rofl: down lets go through it!