Sharing connection through wirelessly connected laptop

[CrazyChihuahua]

Hey folks. I have a small question to ask of ya.

I recently picked up an Xbox 360, and would like to get it online, but don't want to spend $130 on a wireless adaptor for a wireless connection. Due to the current location of the 360, the only thing it could be connected to with an ethernet cable would be a laptop (which is connected to our router wirelessly).

I found out how to get the laptop to share the connection when connected to the 360, but when I try to actually do it, I get an error relating to the IP. It generally says that the laptop needs an IP of 192.168.0.1 (or extremely close to that. that's a router IP, is it not?).

Now, 2 things. First, how would I go about changing the laptop's IP to work like that. Secondly, would that affect the laptop's normal internet use when not connected to the 360? Third, is there an easier way to do all this (as simple as this stuff seems)?

Hopefully this is enough info, but if not, I can try to get the exact error posted later.

I look forward to any help you can give.

[johnwill]

Running an XBOX with ICS and another NAT layer in the router will be an exercise in futility. However, if you insist, let me see this from the laptop.

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt:

Type the following command:

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

[CrazyChihuahua]

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\John>IPCONFIG /ALL

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mebryn
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : wite1.on.cogeco.ca

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : wite1.on.cogeco.ca
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-6F-B1-71-4A
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.115
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : October 11, 2007 5:15:27 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : October 18, 2007 5:15:27 PM

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Eth
ernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-D3-45-85-21

There it is. Hopefully that's all you need. Also, why do you call it an exercise in futility? I mean, I plan to eventually have the console connected to the router, but this is a temporary fix, or so I'd like to hope.

[johnwill]

You will need to change the base address of the router, it's already using the 192.168.0.1 that ICS wants to use, and you can't change the ICS address.

The reason I call it an exercise in futility is that I've seen a number of people trying to live with the same lashup. When you go to forward ports, you have to manage them on the router and ICS.

[CrazyChihuahua]

Well, there's already a bunch of other stuff using the router, and I really don't know if changing the base address of the router would affect anything, so I'll leave it be for now. It'll probably be hooked directly to the router eventually anyways.

Now if I get problems then, I'm not sure what I'll do :P

Thanks for your help johnwill.

[johnwill]

Well, without changing the base address of the router, you can't use ICS on that machine.

[CrazyChihuahua]

By 'that machine', I assume you mean just the laptop and not the 360, right? If it is the 360, well then I imagine I'd have to change the base address eventually :P

[johnwill]

With the router using 192.168.0.1 as a base address, ICS can't be used anywhere on your network.