Internet Sharing

I assume you are running XP. If this is the case, you might try to confirm you XP firewall isnt the culprit. I turn it off on my computer as I am running another firewall anyway.
Also have you tried to ping the other computer?

[toetoe (Peter)]

XP on both, have not done the ping or anything else as the network icons in the system tray on both machines are not active, (red X over the icon) connection unavailiable is what it says. I thought the card would become active on start up regardless of being configured or not.
I need a smoke i`m getting cranky.

[mojo (Terry)]

Stop. Take a deep breath. Calm blue ocean. Calm blue ocean

The cards wont become active if there's no network. If there's no network, windows puts a pretty X in the tray.

The ethernet cables to the wireless devices are the cables that came with the devices? You're not using crossover cables when you're not supposed to, or vice-versa?

When you look at device manager, are there any errors. That is, are the drivers for the ethernet cards working properly as far as windows is concerned?

Describe the equipment you have and how exactly you're connecting them together.

[toetoe (Peter)]

Hi Terry, it`s a wireless network system. The pc has a Belkin wireless network card and the NEC Laptop, it is a Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG network card. I have tried using the Belkin software with the pc and no luck with that, removed that software and let XP do the configuring and no luck with that. In device manager on both machines, it is saying all is ok, no conflicks, device is working prop and so on. Looking pretty close to getting me a tech down here..

[Dennis]

Hello, toetoe

If you have Norton Internet Security or just Norton Firewall installed, you need to configure the Networking Tab so that the Firewall does not block your computers from communicating.

Regards

Dennis

[iceman (Mike)]

I've been having troubles at home too, i've got a work laptop which obviously connects to the work LAN, but then when I take it home I want to connect it to my home PC (which is connected via ADSL to the internet, through a network card (not a USB modem)).

I bought a cross-over network cable to connect the cards to each other. My work laptop is running Win2k and my home PC is running WinXP.

I can't get them to talk to each other.. when I configure the network card on my home PC, when it reboots, XP complains about something not being verified for XP and asks if I want to stop installation or continue.. I can't remember the error, will have to write it down next time. Something like "deterministic network enhancer port"..

I'm not sure if that's the problem.. or also if Windows XP is blocking it via the firewall.. I ran the network setup wizard on XP and told it to open up for file & printer sharing, told it which card is connected to the internet, and which card is connected to the other PC.

Still no go.. i'll try the IP addresses, it's something to do with that i'm pretty sure, they're not on the same workgroup and probably not the same subnet.

I'm wary of changing the IP addy on my laptop just incase it doesn't work when I take it back to work, but I suppose I can set it up with multiple profiles and when I log on locally ("workstation only" at home) it uses one profile, and at work (on the LAN via Novell) it uses another profile.

Terry or anyone else, any other tips?

[mojo (Terry)]

Peter: Sorry, I was under the impresion that you had ethernet cards into wireless. It makes it more difficult to diagnose, because you don't really know if the cards are actually working. But assuming the cards work, post a screen shot of your network settings.
Also are you running a firewall?

Mike: Format C:, Install windows 2000. I can't believe people use that POS masquerading as an operating system.
Your laptop will have a completely different network configuration to what you need. You're going to have to change the laptop settings or if it gets its ip's dynamically on the work LAN, you'll need a dhcp server. And seeing as you don't have a dhcp server, you'll need to change the laptop settings as has been described in the previous posts.

[toetoe (Peter)]

G`day Dennis and welcome to the forums I don`t have any norton s/ware on either machines.

[toetoe (Peter)]

Terry, the f/wall is on with the pc which is the one connected with the adsl modem, the laptop`s f/wall is disabled. I will try and do a screen shot of settings for you (if i can work out how to do it as i am pretty dumb with computers) prob Tues or Wed.
Cheers.

[toetoe (Peter)]

Hope you get yours sorted out Mike, this stuff is a pain at times.

[mojo (Terry)]

turn off the firewalls. if you're connected to the internet, unplug the cable modem while you're testing.

Alt+PrintScreen takes a picture of a window and puts it onto the clipboard.

[toetoe (Peter)]

My son bought home a wireless adsl router (with inbuilt modem) and i have sorted the internet sharing problem out. Both computers are going well on the internet together but i still cant get them to look at each other for file sharing etc etc. I will look at this a bit more over the next few days so there might be a few more tips needed from some of you who know what to do.

[toetoe (Peter)]

Hey Mike, how did you end up with your two computers.??

[Dennis]

Hi Peter

I must have used some illegal characters in my previous response because some important text is missing. I have replaced these illegal characters with "" marks instead.

Repost follows:

Do both computers belong to the same workgroup? I believe that they need to have the exact same Workgroup name in order for them to share files.

Check the Workgroup name as follows:
"Double click" the "My Network Places" icon on your desktop.
Select "View workgroup computers"
"Right click" the Computer icon and select "Properties" from the fly out menu.
This should display the Computer name and Workgroup.

If you do this on each computer, is the Workgroup name the same?

Cheers

Dennis

[acropolite (Phil)]

P.C.'s don't have to belong to the same workgroup to share. It's a rather complicated business but in a nutshell you should be able to map a shared resource (on a client machine) once sharing is enabled by using \\machine_name\sharename e.g. if you have named your machine "fudd" and you have shared the c drive as "c" then you can simply select tools, map network drive from the explorer menu, then type \\fudd\c and enter. The same trick works when you are connecting to a shared printer. Many people are blissfully unaware of this fact and simply assume that the network is not working because they can't see it immediately in network neighbourhood. Shared resources don't always appear immediately in network neighbourhood. I personally rarely if ever use network neighbourhood to connect to network resources. If you're interested in why this is so, do a search on windows browse master for an explanation. You can also map drives at the command prompt or during startup with scripts and batch commands. If you're interested in this method open up a command prompt window and type net use /?

[toetoe (Peter)]

Thanks guys for the input,
Phil, i tried your way and it said the "the network path could not be found". All drives are enabled for sharing on both PC`s and same error on both..

[Howzat (Phil)]

Frustrating isn't it?
Are both network cards set to the same channel?

Try downloading netstumbler it actively searchs for wireless networks and displays channel, ssid and encryption information

NetStumbler is a tool for Windows that allows you to detect Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) using 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g. It has many uses:
# Verify that your network is set up the way you intended.
# Find locations with poor coverage in your WLAN.
# Detect other networks that may be causing interference on your network.
# Detect unauthorized "rogue" access points in your workplace.
# Help aim directional antennas for long-haul WLAN links.
# Use it recreationally for WarDriving.

[toetoe (Peter)]

At times it is beyond frustrating. Both have same ssid and channel number. It would have to be something so simple surely as they are so close and yet so far. Off to work now so i will be home at 8pm and have a bit more of a fiddle then. I d/loaded netstumbler so i will have a gander at that also..

[acropolite (Phil)]

The key thing that has been repeated in this thread is to ping each machine. If the ping test doesn't work nothing else will. There should also be diagnostics with the wireless cards that will indicate connection, signal strength, errors etc.

[toetoe (Peter)]

Soon as i get both PC`s to my self , i will do the ping thing and anything else that comes to mind. My son is on the desk top shooting and blowing stuff up on line and will not move.