Network/ICS problems

[Binoculars]

I have two problems, I suspect connected, which have appeared for the first time since formatting my hard drive.

My gateway computer, called DAD, recognizes my daughters’ computer (called GIRLS) on the network, but vice versa does not apply. Network Neighbourhood in Windows Explorer on GIRLS shows both DAD and GIRLS, but when DAD is selected, nothing appears. Similarly when the desktop shortcut to DAD's Poota is selected, an error message appears "The drive or network connection is unavailable".

Secondly, no matter how many times I try I cannot get GIRLS to share the Internet. I have run ICS, I have configured GIRLS with the floppy disc made from ICS, it says everything is fine, but GIRLS cannot connect to the Internet. I have uninstalled everything and started again; same result.

Both computers have more TCP/IP’s and NetBeuis installed than you can poke a stick at. I have file and printer sharing selected, but it makes no difference if I deselect them. I’m using W98SE on a 900 Celeron, with Realtek PCI Ethernet NIC network cards. Device Manager shows no conflicts. Everything used to work fine. It’s almost as though somewhere I have selected something accidentally which stops GIRLS getting any access to DAD.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

PS: Also, should my primary network logon be Client for Microsoft Networks or Windows Logon?

[GeneralElectric]

Bino,

First, check that you have 2 disctinct IP addresses for each computer on the LAN.

IE, Dad should be 192.168.1.1 and GIRLS should be 192.168.1.2.

Subnet mask in both cases should be 255.255.255.0.

You enter this in TCP/IP properties FOR EACH OF THE 2 NETWORK CARDS.

If you've done that, try and share your C drive. (make sure file and printer sharing is enabled). Sometimes, a computer will not appear in Network Neighborhood if it has no shared resources on a Win98 network.

Make sure that you have ZoneAlarm on to protect your shared resources in the Internet Zone (it has 2 zones, 1 for local net and another for the Intenet). Set the Internet Zone to high protection.

Let me know how you get on with this, then we'll work on the ICS!!

One more thing..... you need Logon for Microsoft Windows not Windows Logon .

And don't forget the friendliest, most helpful, networking-for-beginners site on the Web:

http://www.helmig.com


Cheers

GE

[Mac the Knife]

Most likely there are no shared resources on DAD for Explorer to see. Try sharing any folders or printers that GIRLS might need to access. Suggest you only give access to selected folders and that Read Only.

Setting up ICS can be a ba*tard. There is some good advice at http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/ics
Also look at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q238135

Ooops, more editing... - http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/ics/ics_troubleshoot.htm is also very good.

Twiga http://www.twiga.ltd.uk/ have a neat free utility (RDU) in their Downloads section for handling the remote disconnect that M$ didnt think to include.

[Binoculars]

Thank you both, gentlemen. As you both suggested, despite the fact that File and printer sharing was selected, there were no shared resources for GIRLS to see. Selected C drive, and changed properties to allow sharing and lo and behold, network problem solved!

Alas, still no joy with ICS. General Electric, ICS set up wizard makes it fairly clear that it should be allowed to select an IP address automatically, which is what I have always had selected, but I gave your numbers a go on both computers. Neither computer could access the internet at all, so I've gone back to automatic selection of addresses.

Now I'm off to investigate the URL's you both kindly supplied me with. Will advise further. :(

Should Logon for Microsoft Network be selected on both computers, or just the host?

[GeneralElectric]

Hi again Bino

It should be "Logon to MS Networks" on both as you've created a peer-peer MS network.

You are right that it wants to use auto-addressing, I've had better results myself just setting up the initial LAN with my addresses and then running ICS on top of that. Luckily these days I just use a Linux box linked to the DSL and everything's hunky-dory!

The ICS site that MAC has shown above is great......

Best of luck

GE

[Binoculars]

Gentlemen, I thank you both once again. After several false starts and a lot of stuffing around, the annoyances.org site that Mac posted turned out to work for me, and both computers now have internet access; I owe you both a large drink or three.

The only thing I can see I did differently was remove NetBeui from the client, so I can only assume that was the problem, but who knows, in fact who cares?

Oddly enough, now GIRLS has disappeared from DAD's radar, and trying to repeat the previous trick has no effect. But hey, I'm way ahead, and my girls think I'm wonderful for a few minutes.

Thanks again, guys.

:) :)

[Binoculars]

*Frowns*

Tonight I had cause to take the network connector out of GIRLS and place it into GIRLS2, which DAD immediately recognised and had access to. Work finished there, I replaced connector in GIRLS, and DAD still couldn't see it.

Question; does the mysterious NetBeui that I removed from GIRLS have anything to do with the ability to be accessed by DAD? I'm not game to try adding it again in case it did in fact have something to do with the ICS problem, and ICS is certainly more valuable than having full access to GIRLS.

:confused: :confused: :confused:

[Mac the Knife]

I've been waiting for someone smarter to answer, but why not try putting NetBeui back? It's only a protocol and you can always remove it.

[GeneralElectric]

You definitely need NetBEUI as this is the protocol that does "the sharing" in a Windows Network.

It's possible to set up a Windows Lan without it, and just use "Netbios over TCP/IP" option, but I've always found it unpredictable to say the least.

Larger networks (eg in a call centre or similar) will have SMB servers, WINS servers and other such delights. In such cases you don't need NetBEUI as the servers will take care of address and share resolution.

TIP - you really should password protect your shares if you are accessing the Internet on a PC with shared resources (like Dad). It's not enough to simply rely on your firewall (which I hope you've installed!!). Your password for the shares should be at least 8 characters long including numbers and letters! If your firewall software fails to load correctly or breaks somehow, your password is your last line of defence against somebody having direct access to your c: drive!

Cheers

GE

[Binoculars]

I can't believe it could be this simple, but I reinstalled NetBeui and lo and behold there was my network.

I hereby double the previous offer of drinks, reversible in the event of everything falling over as it usually does.

Thank you again, gentlemen.