cables leads and a tangle!

[The Voice]

Hello gurus'

I have a desktop and a lappy and have networked them (amazingly!) and it works well.

I have however stumbled over a minor technical glitch ref the lappy accessing the internet.

The desktop is connected to broadband via the mighty phoneline, thru' a NetComm NB5 modem router.

The Lappy and desktop are networked thru' a Netgear router.

When I set up the network a few months ago, I could access the internet from the lappy, however I was having problems accessing the internet from the desktop after shutting down, and getting a dial up connection window on the lappy from time to time as well.

After speaking with the ISP, leads were changed around and it fixed the drama with the desktop etc .. I now find I can't for the life of me make head or tail of which or what should be where and when, so I can access the lappy when hubby is occupied at night playing silly bloody games on the desktop!

Seeing as how I'm a female now over 40 and formerly a blonde, could someone please, in words of 2 letters of less, tell me which lead goes from which bit into the other bit, so that the bits will do their thing?! :\

Absolutely no point in talking to the man of this house - he isn't technically minded at all!! :{

Ta much ..

[batninth]

TV,
Maybe it's me but it's a tad difficult to work out how you've got the network configured (personally I like to see people drawing pictures with boxes & lines). I'm assuming here that:
(1) The desktop PC is connected to the ISP via the NetComm router
(2) The destop has a second connection (Ethernet?) to the Netgear router which your laptop is also connected to. (It's the two routers that's confusing me)
I suggest you might want to take a look at: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1429 which covers sharing the internet connection in several ways (and includes those idiot diagrams I like)
If that doesn't help, confirm the connections please
batninth

[Keef]

I'm in the same boat as batninth in understanding how you have it set up now.

The Netcomm modem router has one USB and one ethernet port. If it will accept two devices - one on USB, one on ethernet - then I'd connect both the desktop and the lappy via that modem router (one to the USB, one to the ethernet), and not use the Netgear. Sell the Netgear on eBay.

It the Netcomm will only allow one connection, then I'd connect both devices to the Netgear, and the Netgear to the ethernet port on the Netcomm.

You don't mention the Netgear model, but if it's a modem/router, or a wireless modem router, I'd use it on its own and sell the Netcomm on eBay.

Little boxes, or the model number of the Netgear, would help.

With a laptop, I think wireless internet is essential. The Netgear DG834G is available at reasonable prices, and with that and a wireless PCMCIA card (if your laptop doesn't have built-in wifi), you can roam round the house...

[The Voice]

Thanks Keef and Batninth for your replies.

The Netgear router was purchased at the same time as the laptop to enable wirless networking between the desktop and lappy.

I have had another look and the only identifying thing that I can find on it is,
" 108mbps Wireless Firewall Router WGT624 ".

My limited understanding is that the netgear unit is only a router therefore, not a modem, and that both units need to work together. Or do I have that wrong?

[Keef]

If the Netgear device you have is this one (http://www.netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/SuperGWirelessRouters/WGT624.aspx?detail=Specifications) then it's a 4-port router and a wireless access point. It does indeed need a separate modem (the Netcomm).

I'd connect it to the Netcomm, the Netcomm to the incoming ADSL line, and the PC to one of the 4 ports on the Netgear. The laptop can connect to another port if it's in the same room, or by wireless if not.

You may have to "tweak" things, because the Netgear's got a fair bit of security and protection stuff built in (not at all a bad thing), but once that's done, the PC and the laptop are well protected. I'd use the WPA etc stuff, since you have it!

Once you've got both PC and laptop connected, you should be able to network them (share files, printer, etc between them).

[The Voice]

gidday Keef,

I connected the netgear router via ethernet to the netcomm modem/router, then the desktop via ethernet to one of the 4 ports on the router, and left the ADSL line intact (in the modem/router).

Looked gorgeous, all those flashing lights where they should be, but I then couldn't access the internet on the desktop. :ugh: Needless to say I didn't try with the lappy - I figured that wouldn't go there if the desktop wouldn't.

Tweaking isn't my strong point ... :sad:

[batninth]

TV,
The chances are that the Netgear Router doesn't yet know about Netcomm. There's a sequence of events that go on at the start of day:
Your Netcomm box talks to ISP Central and between them they make sue that you are who you say you are. Part of that process (if your ISP works like ours) is that the Netcomm looks for the Desktop machine that was originally plugged into it using some data hardwired into your desktop (called the MAC address), sort of "Desktop, are you there?" and the desktop would reply "Yes".

I suspect this is so because that would also explain why the laptop didn't work when it was plugged in.

Now you have plugged in the Netgear - so the Netcomm wakes up, says "Desktop, are you there?" And the Netgear says "No it's me, Netgear" so all stops.

As you have it now, your Desktop system is plugged into your Netgear router, so you should be able to open the Internet Browser on the desktop and type the address for the router (http://192.168.0.1 if my memory serves me) - it will be in the documentation - and then you'll see the various setup options.

There should be an option in the Netgear router which says "Copy the desktop data - the MAC address - to the Netgear router" which you need to do.

Once this is done, then next time everything starts up the Netcomm comes up and says "Desktop, are you there?" and the Netgear will say "Er...yes...it's me...Desktop" (In a similar vein to a husband when asked "You have remembered our anniversary?". Answer: "Er...yes...")

After that, you should find that both the Desktop & The lappy work with the Netgear.

Summary here is that your next action is to run the browser on teh desktop to connect to the Netgear & force it to spoof the desktop address to the Necomm. The user guide that comes with the Netgear should talk you through it.

[Keef]

Ah - there's another possibility. It may be that both "routers" are bagging the same DNS address - probably 192.168.0.1

Try this:

Unplug the Netgear from the Netcomm and the desktop, and plug the desktop into the LAN socket (NOT the USB one) on the Netcomm.

On the Desktop, click Start - Run, type CMD in the box, and press the enter key.

Up will pop a Command prompt.

Type IPCONFIG /REGISTERDNS <enter>

Wait for about 10 seconds, then type

IPCONFIG /ALL

You'll get a load of stuff back, among which will be something like
IP Address 192.168.0.10

Note that number.


Unplug the desktop from the Netcomm and plug it into the Netgear.

Do the same IPCONFIG /REGISTERDNS <enter>
wait...
IPCONFIG /ALL

If you get an IP Address that starts 192.168.0 anything, then the two devices are trying to use the same DNS.

What that means is that the Netcomm and the Netgear both think they are 192.168.0.1 and therefore are having a standoff.

If that's the case, the next step is to change the DNS in one of them - I'd make that the Netgear, but it's not critical which one. Once that's done, all should work fine with them daisychained.

[Saab Dastard]

I think that what Keef is getting at is that you cannot have both the Netcomm and the Netgear acting as DHCP servers.

What you should end up with is the WAN / uplink port on the Netgear connected to the Ethernet port on the Netcomm. Then the computers connect to the netgear LAN ports or via Wireless.

It is probably easiest to use the Netcomm as the DHCP server, in which case you will need to turn OFF the DHCP service in the Netgear (it's in the manual). Advanced / Lan settings

Note that you may also have to specify a fixed IP address for the Netgear that is within the same subnet as the Netcomm. By default, the Netcomm uses 192.168.1.0/24 (the /24 means a 24-bit subnet mask - i.e. 255.255.255.0) as the network, while Netgear uses 192.168.0.0/24.

So, assuming that the Netcomm Ethernet port is 192.168.1.1, you would need to set the Netgear IP address to 192.168.1.2, then ensure that the DHCP scope on the Netcomm starts from 192.168.1.3 (or higher).

The Netgear is then effectivley acting purely as a switch (with an internal bridge connecting it to its wireless network). You may as well switch off the firewall on the netgear, as the firewall functionality is on the Netcomm.

All this is in the manuals for the Netcomm and Netgear devices, btw. :)

SD

[The Voice]

Thanks you Gurus' .. I will follow the advice when next I'm home!

Just have to love this flying game where in!!!