Registered: May 2000
Location: Cleveland, Ohio 44067
Posts: 242

Need more home networking help...

Anyone have ICQ and can offer me ten minutes of their time to solve my home networking issues? I have a linksys network, one desktop and one laptop (wireless). I run Windows 98 on both systems and the internet works fine but my home network is screwy!

Either PM me or ICQ me at 164483916, I should be on all night!

Thanks,
Rob

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What does it look like I am doing...I am kickin' my @ss!!!

Registered: May 2000
Location: Cleveland, Ohio 44067
Posts: 242

I am on tonight which is Wednesday, August 7th. I think I need suggestions with IP addresses. It is weird because both computers are setup for the Workgroup "Home" but when I log on and check the Network Neighborhood, they each only show themselves.

Then it gets weird, if I do a Log Off and Re-Log On to my Desktop, both computers show up in my Laptop's Network Neighborhood but I cannot access it. Additionally when I click on Network Neighborhood on my Desktop is says the network is down.

Huh? Please anyone who can help!

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What does it look like I am doing...I am kickin' my @ss!!!

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: New York, New York
Posts: 560

Maddog,

I don't do ims. Sorry.

How are the PCs getting there IPS? Static or Dynamic?

Was it ever working?

Make sure both the laptop and PC are on the same workgroup.
Make sure you are at least sharing one resource (directory drive, printer) on each machine.
Make sure each is getting their own IP.


Can each connect to the internet at the same time? Or only one at a time?

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Felipe Garcia
Happy Treo 600 user, so far. Thanx Cingular for having an unlocked phone.

My Treo 600 is my phone, my PDA, my watch, and my MP3 player. Oh yeah, I take a picture once in a while with it. Convergence is such a great thing.

Registered: May 2000
Location: Cleveland, Ohio 44067
Posts: 242

Felipe, thanks for responding. They worked for one session and then quit on me.

Both computers are on the same Workgroup and they get their IP addresses automatically. Both computers are sharing a resource.

I think the problem is with the IP addresses but I am not sure what kind of address to assign them.

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What does it look like I am doing...I am kickin' my @ss!!!

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: New York, New York
Posts: 560

Can they both get onto the internet at the same time?

I used to have a win98 machine (buffy was her name) that would be able to get to the net but would lose the other PCs on the network. It would see the network every now and then, but would eventually lose it. I ended up removing the network card from device manager and letting 98 re-install it.

On both machine, start menu . . . run . . . winipcfg. both should pretty much match except for the IPS.

__________________
Felipe Garcia
Happy Treo 600 user, so far. Thanx Cingular for having an unlocked phone.

My Treo 600 is my phone, my PDA, my watch, and my MP3 player. Oh yeah, I take a picture once in a while with it. Convergence is such a great thing.

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: St Petersburg Fla
Posts: 224

Related sites

I found these two sites helpful when I networked a Win98 laptop to Win98 desktop. And then converted both to WinXP.

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/

http://www.homepcnetwork.com/

Problems I have had were due mostly to configuration problems that require you to hunt them down. Some even require registry edits.

Biggest problem I found is that the error messages do not give enough information about the problem.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

The most likely solution to your problem is to make an LMHOSTS file on each of the machines. In Win9x/Me, a sample file is located in C:\WINDOWS as LMHOSTS.SAM (it's in C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC in NT/2K/XP - substitute WINDOWS for WINNT if necessary in XP). The basic format for the first box (we'll call it MachineX for this example, and the second box MachineY) is:

192.168.0.yyy MachineY #PRE

and on the second box (MachineY):

192.168.0.xxx MachineX #PRE

edit: There are supposed to be some spaces between each of those (or tabs), but apparently they're reduced when posted. Also, the file needs to be plain text.

Save each of these as LMHOSTS. (no extension) on the respective machines in their C:\WINDOWS directories and reboot. Microsoft Networking over TCP/IP in Windows 9x is a bit flaky without either an NT/2K domain controller to act as master browser or manual LMHOSTS entries IME, and will produce the exact behavior you describe.

Last edited by Toby on 08-08-2002 at 02:45 PM

Registered: May 2000
Location: Cleveland, Ohio 44067
Posts: 242

Thanks guys, when I get home tonight I will try some of these ideas out.

Felipe : yes both machines have no problems accessing the internet. Both machines automatically obtain IP addresses. I was thinking I could try assigning IP addresses like 10.0.0.151 and 10.0.0.152 and use a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Do you think this might work? I really believe my problem lies in that both compters are being assigned the same IP.

Bud : I am definitely going to check out both sites but the www.homepcnetwork.com looks pretty good at first glance!

Toby : I am going to try the other ideas first as I am more familiar with playing with IP addresses. Besides it looks to me like that is where you were headed with your "192.168.0.yyy MachineY #PRE". BTW, I have been to Houma, LA. My wife and I drove cross country this past Spring and we went from New Orleans to Cocodrie (LUMCON).

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What does it look like I am doing...I am kickin' my @ss!!!

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

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Originally posted by maddog
[...] Felipe : yes both machines have no problems accessing the internet. Both machines automatically obtain IP addresses. I was thinking I could try assigning IP addresses like 10.0.0.151 and 10.0.0.152 and use a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Do you think this might work?

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