Help Needed- home networking idiot at work..

[Mark]

Hello all,

I have finally decided to try and setup a home network, since I have 3 computers going through a router that is also my internet gateway I would like to be able to share files between them all.

I have a XP machine that also handles the software controlling the router, a laptop with XP that I connect wirelessly, and an old win 98 machine that ironically I use as my main work computer. The reason it is my work computer is all the games run on the other 2 computers, so my kids tossed me off of them....

Anyway, mainly what I want to do is be able to back up the 98 computer to an external hard drive on the XP computer. I've tried and even though they are all set up to share files none of them sees the others.

Can some patient help me figure this out? Thanks!

Mark

[rk]

Hi Mark,
What make/model of router do you have?
How are the three machines connected together and to the router?
regards,
rk

[snIPer]

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/
These WILL help

[badshah0522]

Dear Mark for connecting all the Pc and enable file sharing yo have to create a local network(LAN) first of all the WORKGROUP of all systems should be the same (Can Rename them to -workgroup also
2) check the IP Address ,it should be in same IP Scheme,for eg. 192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.2, 192.168.0.3.
3) Subnet Mask should be the same in all Pc ,Eg. 255.255.255.0
4)Enable file & Printer Sharing .
5) Share the drives in you computer


restart all the system and i think they will come on network.

[snIPer]

The best thing will be to enable DHCP on the router and it will automatically assign IP addresses to the systems connected. the systems connected have to have "automatically obtain an ip iddress" enabled on them. check the links i posted earlier they have good steps there.

[mundaire]

Hi Mark,

What kind of router are you using? Specifically I'd like to know if it connects to the (master) machine running XP using a USB cable or does it connect using an ethernet cable (that's the one with an RJ-45 jack that looks like a large phone jack). If the latter, does it also have other (free) ethernet ports allowing for it to be used as a networking switch (also sometimes known incorrectly as a networking hub)?

Since you have not mentioned any trouble in wiring them all together I am assuming that either you do have a stand alone switch or your router has this feature...

So, if everything is wired together and the lights are glowing green... then either the computers are on different IP schemes or different workgroups or both.

You can check the local network IP assigned to/ configured on each computer by going to the command prompt and running the command "IPCONFIG" (without the quotes). The result will look something like the following:

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Home Network:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.4
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

ALL THREE of your computers SHOULD be configured to be on the same IP range. For example in the above mentioned case, the queried computer has an IP address of 192.168.1.4 and the router (configured as the gateway) has the IP address of 192.168.1.1 - so lets say we wanted to add 2 more computers to this network we should then assign them IP numbers 192.168.1.x WHERE x IS NOT = 1 OR 4 (as these have already been assigned) BUT CAN = ANY No. between 1 and 255.

This WILL NOT show you the workgroup though. For that in Windows 98 you will need to right click on the Network Neighbourhood icon and go to properties. On XP you will need to right click My Computer go to properties and then click on the Computer Name tab.

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[mundaire]

And as mentioned by Sniper - using DHCP would be the most hassle free way forward...

[Mark]

Everyone,

Thanks for the help so far. Let me tell you where I am right now and then I'll tell you my suspicions.

I have DSL, and I have a speedstream combo modem/router. Some of you may be aware this is all relatively recent, maybe 4 months old now. (the tide of progress runs slow in my county!). I have an XP machine that I run the software from hooked up to an ethernet port, my old 98 machine connected to a USB port, and my laptop is usually connected wirelessly.

Not from the beginning, but early on I had trouble with the wireless part, I would lose the connection and it would take a minute or two to re-connect. So I plugged in a linksys wireless N & G router I had and it fixed the problem. A few days ago I finally called my internet service and they are sending me a new router. After a bit of thought and trying a bunch of different approaches, it occurred to me I may have an additional problem with the router/modem, and it might prevent a lot of hair pulling to wait for the new one. It makes more sense to me as I have tried for quite a while to get everything talking even before I posted this query, anyway I will take a brief break for another day or two until the new hardware arrives. At that point get ready for another onslaught. <G>

Thanks for all the help and advice so far, I'm sure there will be more questions!

Mark

[biking3819]

And as mentioned by Sniper - using DHCP would be the most hassle free way forward...

hi mark,
in case u need to forward ports dhcp wont work,since the port you wud forward for a certain ip may get changed and dhcp assigns ip randomly,thus a static ip assigned wud be much better in the long run.
in case you were thinking why you wud need port forwarding is because most of the p2p file sharing platforms ,torrents etc,even some web phones, wud need to be assigned ports or else they wont connect or break a lot,plus you also have an added advantage of monitoring each machine with the static ip assigned to it incase you wud need that

thus i wud suggest let their be a lil hassle initially but go for static ip for each of your machines.

regards sanjiv

[rk]

Hi Mark,
Normally, routers with firewall will have three interfaces (ports)- the so called "Green" interface where you connect your LAN (your network of home computers through a switch/hub) the "Red" interface which is connected to the 'internet' and the "Orange" interface, to which you connect those machines (again through a switch or a hub) that needs to be accessible from the internet (The DMZ or demilitarised zone).
I will check the config for the specific router and will post the connections. Till the connections are fully understood, I would recommend you to remove disk/file/printer sharing on all of your home machines (including the $ admin shares) to avoid unsolicited access to your home machines from the outside world.
regards,
rk

[snIPer]

First of all find out if your modem has DHCP enabled on it. if both the modem and the router together have DHCP on them then it will be a conflict so have it switched off on one and let the other do it for you.
I too have a linksys wireless router. so what ive done is have switched off dhcp on the modem and let it be on the linksys. so dhcp is managing my network.
i have 3 systems on the network now and they work fine (one wireless included).
The linksys router comes with an installation CD all you need to do is run it and it will do the rest for you.

[biking3819]

Hi Mark,
Normally, routers with firewall will have three interfaces (ports)- the so called "Green" interface where you connect your LAN (your network of home computers through a switch/hub) the "Red" interface which is connected to the 'internet' and the "Orange" interface, to which you connect those machines (again through a switch or a hub) that needs to be accessible from the internet (The DMZ or demilitarised zone).
I will check the config for the specific router and will post the connections. Till the connections are fully understood, I would recommend you to remove disk/file/printer sharing on all of your home machines (including the $ admin shares) to avoid unsolicited access to your home machines from the outside world.
regards,
rk

there it goes rk clears it all for the set up for your home network.
cheers sanjiv

[rk]

Hi Mark,
Does the router you are using belong to the 5100/5200/5400/5500 series?
regards,
rk