OT: Need Help With Home Networking

Fyron · #1 July 15th, 2004, 06:43 AM

Basically, the problem is that you have a PC running XP... it really screws with networks.

Good luck getting it to see the 2k computer! Make sure to kill the built-in XP firewall. It is wholey useless in any practical situation. All that it does is give you a huge headache trying to get networks running... you can disable it in the properties of the connection used in Network Connections. I believe it is in the Last tab.

As Starcrusade alluded to, you can not use mutliple PCs on the same internet connection through a hub. You must have a router (most routers have a hub or a switch built in). And no, having 2 separate connections with different IP addresses to DSL does not count...

I suggest using a build of linux as the server, rather than win2k server. There are some builds designed specifically to be used on PCs set up as routers. No need to buy an actual router, just a second network card for the comp to turn into a router. It can also act as a web server, mail server, print server, etc.

[ July 15, 2004, 05:48: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Atrocities · #2 July 15th, 2004, 07:06 AM

I have the Actiontech 54meg wireless DSL modem. Both PC's are accessing the internet simutaniously through the D-Link hub which is connected to the DSL modem.

Thanks for the info guys. I think I will invest in a router or two wireless cards later this week and go directly through the Modem.

Fyron · #3 July 15th, 2004, 07:10 AM

Is the modem capable of serving as a router? Check the box before you go out and buy wireless network cards...

Just install Linux as a router on that PC you were going to install 2k server on. No need to buy anything extra, other than another 10-15 dollar network card.

David E. Gervais · #4 July 16th, 2004, 01:04 AM

Hey AT, I had/have that same problem. My brother and I can both access the internet (DSL) but we can't see each other over our home network. We both have Win XP Home. I even paid an IT guy to come and try to make the home network work, in the end things got screwed up really bad, and both my brother and I had to format and re-install. We have basically given up on getting the home network to work.

When we have something we want to share, we send it via e-mail, or if it's big, just burn it to a CD.

Before Win XP, I was running win 98 and my brother was running win NT Pro. We both had access to the net and could see each other fine. So I blame WinXP. it's the only thing that has changed on our systems. And I can't understand how a mixed system 98 & NT could work while both systems running the same OS can't. (Oh, we tried the network setup wizard and created a 'network config' floppy disk. It crashed my system and I had to format and re-install. So stay away from that option.)

Nuf said, Cheers!

QBrigid · #5 July 15th, 2004, 02:12 PM

Quote:

(Oh, we tried the network setup wizard and created a 'network config' floppy disk. It crashed my system and I had to format and re-install. So stay away from that option.)

I can see if it was XP to Windows 9x. But XP to XP and without a hub or router the floopy has never failed.

I have seen this advised on a lot of gaming sites and all with success to include my families home network.

How did the network professional you paid for install your network did he also have to reformat your drive. Maybe it was something you already had installed and the new format resolved it?

Ragnarok · #6 July 15th, 2004, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
...

WinXP Home is your problem there. XP Professional would work just fine as here at work we have no problems with it. But if we used Home Edition there is no way a network would work.

Slynky · #7 July 15th, 2004, 02:44 PM

We have 3 PCs on our router that have XP Home and there is no problem mapping drives.