Wired & Wireless

[kojo88]

Hi there, I am new to this forum and have a hopefully easy question...

I currently have a network in my house, i have a broadband router connected directly to my cable modem. connected to this router i have the family pc(win xp home) and a long (20m) cable which goes to my bedroom, originally this went into a pc but now it is connected to a wireless access point, this serves 2 laptops and the pc in my room which are all wireless. i have a wireless usb stick in my pc which works fine but, i have just bought myself a tiny little switch to connect my laptop and my pc (and friends when they come round) but the laptop wont recognise my pc and my pc wont recognise my laptop. my laptop is running vista and my pc uses xp, i have followed online tutorials etc to get the right settings but does anyone know what i addresses to use on the machines and how to gt them to recognise eachother off the wired network rather than the wireless.

[kojo88]

Btw I Forgot To Say Thanks In Advance...

[johnwill]

Turn off any firewalls for debugging. If the firewall is the problem, you'll have to configure it to allow access to "trusted zone" addresses. Note that some firewalls must be completely uninstalled to stop them from affecting your networking.

PING each computer by IP address, and if successful, PING by name. You can obtain the IP address of a computer by opening a command prompt (DOS window) and typing IPCONFIG. This should work for any Windows version. A failure here needs to be corrected before you go any farther.

All computers should be in the same workgroup for computer browsing to function properly. File & Print Sharing has to be enabled on any computer you wish to share files or printers from. You also need to actually share the resource in question from My Computer, right click on the drive/printer/folder, and select sharing.

If you encounter difficulties accessing computers that are visible in Network Neighborhood, make sure the computer being accessed has an account with the same name/password as the system connecting to it uses to login.

[kojo88]

ok well it wont ping

i have my pc set up as:

ip address: 192.168.1.3
subnet mask: 255.255.255.192

my laptop is:

ip address: 192.168.1.2
subnet: 255.255.255.192

i havent set up a default gateway because the tutorial i used didnt so if anyone can tell me what addresses i should be using here i would be grateful.

[johnwill]

Change the subnets to 255.255.255.0

If you're attempting to share Internet, you'll have to setup ICS on the machine with the Internet connection, and set the other machine for automatic IP address assignment.

[kojo88]

subnets changed = no difference,

do i need a gateway address or dns or anything like that, i dont really understand them or what addresses to put in is there any hidden settings i need to activate/ deactivate??

[kojo88]

im not after internet sharing just a quick way of sharing files when im not using wireless, i know i could use a crossover cable but i want to be able 2 connect more than 2 computers, hence the switch i bought. i thought it was just supposed to work!

both computers have the same workgroup name and the same subnet, the ip addresses are different from the ones used on wirleless, is this right?

im struggling to tell you anymore i would however like this to work. i dont have lmited connectivity or anything like that so i know theyre connected to the switch ok!

help!!

[johnwill]

Why are you not using DHCP to assign the addresses of the machines? The make/model of the modem, router, and the WAP would also be useful. I'm not sure exactly how you're connecting, but it seems this shouldn't be as hard as it sounds.

[kojo88]

Originally Posted by johnwill

Why are you not using DHCP to assign the addresses of the machines? The make/model of the modem, router, and the WAP would also be useful. I'm not sure exactly how you're connecting, but it seems this shouldn't be as hard as it sounds.

yeah i agree it should be simple and im probably just being stupid. when i used dhcp it said limited or no connectivity, am i doing this right? im using a belkin access point but it has nothing to do with the network im creating because sometimes the wireless will be off, i just want to connect 2 computers using a switch, one on vista, one on xp home!! i have done a diagram HERE

thanks again for all the help im learning loads!!

[johnwill]

Why are they in two different subnets? Does that WAP have a DHCP function? You need to configure the WAP as a simple WAP that's transparent to the network.

[Vinaygk]

You can configure your wireless comps to take the IP automatically or you can assign static IP in the range of your router [ie,192.168.2.X] After doing this if you are unable to connect then there is definately some configuration problem with the access point[AP].

If you could provide me the model numbers for both Router and AP, I assure i will definately help you to fix the problem.

[kojo88]

its got nothing to do with the wap cos im not on about wireless i just want a vista laptop and xp computer networked using a switch