Wireless Networking Question

Still not sure - but a few more things to know,

1. You can't have both the wireless and the wired plugged in at the same time. not even for a second !

(this may be causing the name resolution problem i.e. 192.168.1.102 and 103 both have the same network name laptop)
2. the router(by default) is 192.168.1.1. You should be going to http://192.168.1.1 from one of the desktops to configure the router.

3. Take out your wireless adapter on the laptop

4. Plug in the built-in nic on the laptop

5. Verify all FOUR adapters (2desktops, 2 in laptop) are set for DHCP in network settings

6. Power down all computers and hit the reset on the router (little button in hole)

7.Start up the laptop and and verify you can see http://192.168.1.1

8. Start up a desktop and verify you can see http://192.168.1.1

9. Try browsing each computer - What happens ?

10. verify the IP's with ipconfig at command prompt - laptop should say 0.0.0.0 for wireless and 192.168.1.10X for 3Com

11. If you can see router at http://192.168.1.1 but can't browse network - it's an authentication issue - we can resolve that and then get wireless working.
If you can browse each other, then disconnect 3Com and enable wireless - then GOTO 6 : )


Good Luck

Ok , I forgot to include this important point- You said you were logging on with unique user names - unique is not important - whats important is the password.
Since you are not using a domain controller - you have no way of keeping the user passwords synchronized. All 3 computers need to have Raj and Lisa as users with the EXACT SAME PASSWORD on each computer. i.e.

desktop1 has User:Raj with Password:opensesame
desktop1 has another User:Lisa ,Password:prettyplease
desktop1 has another User:Jerry, Password:Garcia

laptop has user:Raj with Password:opensesame
laptop has other User:Lisa ,Password:prettyplease
laptop has another User:Jerry, Password:garcia

Give all users share access to whatever folders/drives you want.

Jerry logged onto laptop will not be able to browse desktop1 because his password is different on each computer ( Garcia vs. garcia )

Blank passwords won't work either in XP (I'm pretty sure that causes problems - plus not a good idea)

you can be logged on as Raj on all 3 computers at the same time

Hope that helps

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Grateful_Dad

Still not sure - but a few more things to know,

1. You can't have both the wireless and the wired plugged in at the same time. not even for a second !

(this may be causing the name resolution problem i.e. 192.168.1.102 and 103 both have the same network name laptop)
2. the router(by default) is 192.168.1.1. You should be going to http://192.168.1.1 from one of the desktops to configure the router.

3. Take out your wireless adapter on the laptop

4. Plug in the built-in nic on the laptop

5. Verify all FOUR adapters (2desktops, 2 in laptop) are set for DHCP in network settings

6. Power down all computers and hit the reset on the router (little button in hole)

7.Start up the laptop and and verify you can see http://192.168.1.1

8. Start up a desktop and verify you can see http://192.168.1.1

9. Try browsing each computer - What happens ?

10. verify the IP's with ipconfig at command prompt - laptop should say 0.0.0.0 for wireless and 192.168.1.10X for 3Com

11. If you can see router at http://192.168.1.1 but can't browse network - it's an authentication issue - we can resolve that and then get wireless working.
If you can browse each other, then disconnect 3Com and enable wireless - then GOTO 6 : )


Good Luck

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Well I did all that, and again, the desktop PCs can access each other but the laptop is still out of the loop. Although when I did ipconfig at the command prompt, it didn't show anything for the wireless (well, the wireless card wasn't plugged in, so I would assume it wouldn't). All the computers could see the router at http://192.168.1.1 without any issues.

At ipconfig, this is what I got:
Desktop #1 IP Address: 192.168.1.100
Desktop #2 IP Address: 192.168.1.101
Laptop IP Address with only NIC plugged in: 192.168.1.103
Laptop IP Address with only wireless card plugged in: 192.168.1.102

In all cases in ipconfig, the Subnet Mask was 255.255.255.0 and the Default Gateway was 192.168.1.1

So as, you said, it seems to be a friggin' authentication issue. So how do I solve that?

Thanks! :thumbs:

OK - network seems to be in order since you can see router from all 3 - if you had dsl, all computers would be able to use internet -

First, on laptop - go to network connections in control panel and verify that file and print sharing is enabled on both (3Com and Wireless) adapters. You must have something on the laptop shared - pick a folder and share it. you can choose share to everyone or just Raj and Lisa etc... restart laptop. Logon to Laptop.

Now logon to desktop1 with the same user name and password as you did on laptop - the logon credentials are what is used when you try to access a shared folder. I can't stress enough that the User Name AND Password must be the exact same on both the laptop and desktop - don't use blanks.

now on desktop1 double click on "My Computer" - in the address bar where it says my computer type "\\192.168.1.102" or 103 depending on which network adapter laptop is using - you should be able to see the shared folder
or an authentication window pops up - let us know

Yet another point i thought of after posting - when you boot windows xp , is it autologging on someone or do you get to choose logon ?

Having just got my new toy - centrino laptop with everything (droool) and set up a wireless AP to a netgear adsl modem/router, I feel a tad more qualified to put my two cents in....


First up XP ALWAYS makes one share - shared documents... unless this has been deliberately removed, it should be there.

What you have is a netbios problem

You can ping by ip, but not by netbios name.

So check the settings for the internal lan connection as follows on all machines:

Right click my network places, select properties
Right click the lan connectiod (icon), select properties
They should all be set to dhcp and everything is greyed but the advanced button, click that.

Under Wins tab, look at the netbios setting - it should have the radio button "enable netbios over tcp/ip" checked

Reboot the router, then reboot all the machines.

Woohoo! Problem solved. I had everything setup as Grateful_Dad had said, but it still didn't work until NooNoo mentioned NetBios. I enabled it under TCP/IP but it still didn't work...

That is until I actually installed the friggin' NetBios Protocol. Then everything worked so smoothly, I nearly wet myself. :mult:

So know I have a couple more questions. I'm getting DSL soon (hopefully the kit should be in either today or later this week), and I was wondering if setting up the internet firewall in WinXP for the wired and wireless connections would screw up my home network. Obviously I'd want a firewall with the connection basically always being on. Or should I get another internet firewall instead of the one in WinXP?

Also, if I set up WEP for the wireless connection, that shouldn't screw up the home network should it?

Thanks a lot you guys. This calls for some celebration. :drink:

Windows XP firewall is almost a complete waste of time. While it will stop incoming stuff on popular ports, if the machine generates the request and the incoming is the answer, then it lets it through, regardless. So if you have a trojan broadcasting for its master, then the master can sail right through the firewall like it wasn't there.

Get a proper firewall!

I don't know what the firewall is like on your LinkSys Wireless-G Broadband Router - perhaps others can comment?

Excellent - congrats
as far as firewall - I agree with NooNoo - don't use Windows XPfirewall.
I have a Linksys 4 port router and i still run ZoneAlarm
Now most would say that all you need is the linksys -BUT i have had a few
(more than 1 less than 5 ) "hits" come across that and be caught by Zonealarm
I would not have known of the packet getting across the linksys if not for ZoneAlarm. Also, as NooNoo said, ZoneAlarm will tell you if an application wants acces to the net. Some Programs (adobe reader for example, and nero 6 on install) try to acces the internet for updates. ZoneAlarm will ask you if you want to grant permission or not. A trojan can be discovered this way.
So - to make a long story short , When you get DSL, power down linksys and PC's. Connect DSL modem into WAN port on Linksys, Power up DSL Modem, wait for DSL link, Power Up Linksys modem , wait for link, power up PC's. Nothin but net : )
WEP shouldn't interfere - but no experience with it.
Zonealarm , and any other firewall, takes some time to get a handle on , but as a guide - if you caused the zonealarm to popup a warning then its ok to allow - if you didn't do anything - read the alert.

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/conten...id=zadb_zadown
get the FREE one
or
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_download.html

Good Luck : )

Ok...now that I've enabled WEP on my router, my laptop can't access my home network via the wireless card. In fact WinXp kept asking me to enter a network key (which I'm pretty sure is the paraphrase for setting up WEP), but when I did, it kept yelling at me to enter it in 5 to 13 ASCII characters or some # of hexadecimals.

I got frustrated so I switched to WPA Pre-Shared Key using the TKIP algorithm, but it's still basically the same friggin' thing; I can't access my two desktops using the wireless router but I can access the internet (WEP or WPA).

Should I even use any encryption, or should I just stick with a personal firewall (like Zone Alarm...which I'm pretty sure has a CRAP load of spyware on it)?

Thanks!

You need wep encryption. Some where in your wireless access point set up is a generator to create the hex code that xp wants.

I dont have wireless yet, but have heard this same thing before, and as (once again) NooNoo said, use wep -- I'm sure its a simple setup issue -
No spyware in ZoneAlarm , but if you use the "more info" button when an alert pops up, they try to push pro on you.
Kerio personal firewall is just as good IMHO but not as pretty or intuitive - but once again NO Spyware ! :flame:
( thats me flaming spyware , not you)

you got this far - you'll get it , and i hope post the solution so when i get my wireless, I'll know : )

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Paco L 250

Should I even use any encryption, or should I just stick with a personal firewall (like Zone Alarm...which I'm pretty sure has a CRAP load of spyware on it)?

Thanks!

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Why do you think Zone Alarm has spyware on it ? I've never heard this or found any evidence of it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by edball

Why do you think Zone Alarm has spyware on it ? I've never heard this or found any evidence of it.

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I just read this from reader reviews on Download.com. I'm too sure of it either, which is why I'll just try out the software anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NooNoo

You need wep encryption. Some where in your wireless access point set up is a generator to create the hex code that xp wants.

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So I can't use the paraphrase instead of the hex code that was generated by that paraphrase? I also did 128-bit, so it made four keys so which do I choose?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NooNoo

Windows XP firewall is almost a complete waste of time. While it will stop incoming stuff on popular ports, if the machine generates the request and the incoming is the answer, then it lets it through, regardless. So if you have a trojan broadcasting for its master, then the master can sail right through the firewall like it wasn't there.

Get a proper firewall!

I don't know what the firewall is like on your LinkSys Wireless-G Broadband Router - perhaps others can comment?

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Ahhhh an 'invitation' to stick my beak in ! :D

These are ok - but they won't stop trojan activity any more than any other hardware firewall will - for that you want a software firewall solution (or something else !) ... all hardware firewalls do generally is block ports !

& on the subject of Zonealarm & 'spyware' - well it does & it doesn't have 'spyware' in it - one of the features of zonealarm is to 'phone home' with new threats (but I think you can turn that off) - now is that spyware or not ? Litterally ... I guess it is !