Wired Home Networking (for a newbee)

bpape · « **Reply #40 on:** 1 Sep 2007, 10:51 am »

Bob is trying to accomplish A. I believe he has 3 devices that all need internet access. He does not have broadband. Once PC with the modem will need to be on all the time in order for this to work.

At this point, he's not even able to log into the router from either PC to run any config routines.

I'm going to be out of town so I probably won't be able to offer any more hack opinions for a couple of days.

Good luck.

Bryan

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #41 on:** 1 Sep 2007, 12:24 pm »

Bryan, thanks for your help to this point. Have a good weekend, be safe. See you in a few days.

Rashiki, Good to see you again. Thanks for the information and link. That's a good site.
I'll check my wires and report back what I'm using. (Wouldn't it be nice if that's all it is

)
Bryan is correct, "A" is my goal.....And "B"..... Oh, And "C" too.

"A" - I'd like the two PC's to be able to use the same dial-up connection. One PC will eventually be placed in the equipment rack and be the beginnings of a HTPC, (the other is my 'daily driver' and will remain at my desk). The first order of business will be for it to store all my songs and be operated by remote control using "JriverMediaCenter" or by the other PC. Kind of like a big Squeezebox if you will. Later will come things like "Thuneau Allocator", and some video applications for the HT. This PC needs internet access to find song tags. The two PC's won't necessarily be "active" on the internet at the same time because that would be painfully slow.

"B" - File sharing between the two: In my Utopian world, I could theoretically load something on the PC at my desk and send it to the PC in the equipment rack for storeage; Songs, videos, photos, etc...

"C" - 'Something else': Also, I've got an XBox360 that's ethernet capable. Would be nice if it could be "in the mix".

Rob, My room is for two channel and 5.1 movie watching. Pieces of software I'd like to integrate are "Thuneau"(when the full version is released), "JRiverMediaCenter", "TrueRTA". From my seating position, I want to be able to control everything by remote, or by the Main PC.
Sometimes I feel as if I may be blind as to the best way (on a budget) to achieve the big picture. I wonder if I'm focusing on all these little pieces and am trying to get them to play well together when there's a better way that eludes me.

Bob

Rashiki · « **Reply #42 on:** 1 Sep 2007, 05:21 pm »

Bob,

A, B and C are all possible given sufficient effort and hair pulling.

Can you try running ipconfig from both computers as I mentioned a couple of posts ago and post the results? It would be useful to know what's going on "under the hood". Once we've gotten to that step, we can configure the rest of the stuff. In your case the router will probably end up being nothing more than a switch. You'll have to use something like Windows Internet Connection Sharing to provide access to the other computers. Here's a link on how to set up ICS:
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/ics_xp

I have a setup similar to yours with the main difference being that I also have broadband. I've got a 5.1 channel rig with a PC next to my entenainment rack. I also have a PS3 in my rack and it's on the home network. And I have a SqueezeBox 3 in the rack for listening to music. I use SageTV for recording and playback of TV and use the remote control that came with my video capture card (Hauppage) to control it. For general purpose things, I have a wireless keyboard and mouse and just drive the Windows UI directly from my couch. I do share files over the home network, but mostly for backups.

Let us know how it goes.
-Rob

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #43 on:** 2 Sep 2007, 01:03 pm »

OK Rob,
Here's the IP config results;

Gateway PC (the slave/secondary PC)
Media state..........Media Disconnected

The Dell (main unit)
Ethernet adaptor local area connection:
IP address...........192.168.0.1
sublet mask..........255.255.255.0

PPP adaptor the internet <1>:
IP address...........172.135.83.15
sublet mask.........255.255.255.255
default gateway.....172.135.83.15

Next up: Measure some wire continuity. I think I'll have to sharpen my Flukes test leads to get in there.

Bob

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #44 on:** 2 Sep 2007, 01:38 pm »

While checking continuity, it occurred to me that I could just check the colors as you mentioned.

Here's what ALL my cables look like:

Next, I'll check out the Windows ICS you linked to.

Thanks Rob!
Bob

Rashiki · « **Reply #45 on:** 2 Sep 2007, 03:51 pm »

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 2 Sep 2007, 01:38 pm

Here's what ALL my cables look like:

So, all of your cables are crossover cables? That seems kind of odd, unless you purposely went out and bought crossover cables.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #46 on:** 2 Sep 2007, 03:54 pm »

Oh Shit.

No.....Sorry man.
All my cables look like the one on the right.

I'll edit that right now.

Bob

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #47 on:** 2 Sep 2007, 03:57 pm »

I grabbed the woring photo by mistake.
Fixed now.......

Rashiki · « **Reply #48 on:** 2 Sep 2007, 03:58 pm »

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 2 Sep 2007, 01:03 pm

Gateway PC (the slave/secondary PC)
Media state..........Media Disconnected

The Gateway PC is connected, but this is what you're seeing? I guess it doesn't like the crossover cable. Do you have a regular cable to try?

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 2 Sep 2007, 01:03 pm

The Dell (main unit)
Ethernet adaptor local area connection:
IP address...........192.168.0.1
sublet mask..........255.255.255.0

So there's no line for "Default Gateway"? That and the ".1" at the end of the IP address make me think that the Dell isn't getting it's address from the router. Normally, a router will assign the ".1" address to itself as the gateway and assign addresses higher than 1 for everyone else. Do you know how to check your TCP/IP settings? If so, check to see if it's set to "Obtain an IP address automatically", or if it's set to "Use the following IP address".

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 2 Sep 2007, 01:03 pm

PPP adaptor the internet <1>:
IP address...........172.135.83.15
sublet mask.........255.255.255.255
default gateway.....172.135.83.15

That's your dial-up, and it looks fine.

-Rob

Rashiki · « **Reply #49 on:** 2 Sep 2007, 04:04 pm »

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 2 Sep 2007, 03:57 pm

I grabbed the woring photo by mistake.
Fixed now.......

OK, got it. It's a normal cable. That doesn't explain why the Gateway isn't seeing a network. When you ran the ipconfig test, did you have a cable between the Gateway PC and the router? Were any lights lit up on the Gateway's plug or the router's plug?

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #50 on:** 2 Sep 2007, 04:12 pm »

Quote from: Rashiki on 2 Sep 2007, 04:04 pm

OK, got it. It's a normal cable. That doesn't explain why the Gateway isn't seeing a network. When you ran the ipconfig test, did you have a cable between the Gateway PC and the router? Were any lights lit up on the Gateway's plug or the router's plug?

Yes, cable was installed between Gateway and router. Two lights illuminated on router; #1 Dell, #2 Gateway. I get lights illuminating on the back of both PC's at the ethernet plug.

Wife just attempted to log on upstairs........Kicked me off in mid post. Lost it all.

I HATE dial-up.
No cute smiley accurately describes my absolute disdain for for dial-up.

Bob

EDIT: Thought it would be cool since you and I are on at the same time....But alas, gotta go.
The wife needs online.

Rashiki · « **Reply #51 on:** 2 Sep 2007, 04:26 pm »

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 2 Sep 2007, 04:12 pm

Yes, cable was installed between Gateway and router. Two lights illuminated on router; #1 Dell, #2 Gateway. I get lights illuminating on the back of both PC's at the ethernet plug.

The lights indicate that the hardware is working, but it looks like the driver is disabled on the Gwy PC, and it would seem that the Dell PC isn't set up to get it's IP address from a server. On both PCs, please go to Start/settings/Control Panel/Network Connections and see if there's a "wired network connection" or something similar. Right click and select Properties. A dialog box will come up. On the "General" tab look for a list of protocols and find the one labeled "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" and double click on it. Check what the first setting and tell me what it says. It should be set to "Obtain an IP address automatically". You may not get that far on the Gwy PC if the network driver is disabled. In that case go back to Control Panel and select "System", then click on the "Hardware" tab and click on the "Device Manager" button. Look under "Network adapters" and tell me if you see anything there. If there's a yellow exclamation mark or something superimposed, it may be disabled.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #52 on:** 2 Sep 2007, 07:03 pm »

OK,
HINT?: I just re-installed the cables after the removeale earlier. As soon as I connected the Dell, a balloon popped up saying "Local area connection now connected, speed 100.00 Mbps". The Gateway said nothing, did not acknowledge the connection.

About your previous question:
The Dell says:
"Use the following IP address" button is 'checked'. The IP and subnet fields are filled in with addresses.
"Use the following DNS server addresses" button is checked. No fields are filled in.

The Gateway says:
"Obtain IP address automatically". None of the fields have numbers/addresses in them.
"Obtain DNS server address automatically". None of the fields are filled in.

Bob

Rashiki · « **Reply #53 on:** 2 Sep 2007, 10:28 pm »

Bob,

Try changing the Dell's settings to get the IP address and DNS server address automatically. Then reboot and try the ipconfig thing again.

I don't know what's up with the Gtwy PC. Since you've got blinking lights, the hardware looks to be working, but Windows isn't recognizing it. Do you see a network adapter in the device manager? I mentioned how to check that in an earlier post.

-Rob

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #54 on:** 4 Sep 2007, 11:02 am »

Quote from: Rashiki on 2 Sep 2007, 10:28 pm

Try changing the Dell's settings to get the IP address and DNS server address automatically. Then reboot and try the ipconfig thing again.

Ok,

Ethernet adaptor local area connection:
Connection-specific DNS suffix ......mshome.net
IP address................................ ..192.168.1.100
Sublet mask...............................255. 255.255.0
Default gateway..........................192.16 8.1.1

Quote

I don't know what's up with the Gtwy PC. Since you've got blinking lights, the hardware looks to be working, but Windows isn't recognizing it. Do you see a network adapter in the device manager? I mentioned how to check that in an earlier post.

Under "other devices", (On the Gateway), it lists eathernet controller:

"Device status":
The drivers for this device are not installed (Code28)
To reinstall drivers for this device, click Reinstall Driver

How the hell did we get THIS far Rob....

Bob

Rashiki · « **Reply #55 on:** 4 Sep 2007, 02:18 pm »

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 4 Sep 2007, 11:02 am

Ethernet adaptor local area connection:
Connection-specific DNS suffix ......mshome.net
IP address................................ ..192.168.1.100
Sublet mask...............................255. 255.255.0
Default gateway..........................192.16 8.1.1

Excellent! This means that the Dell is getting its address from the router. Now you should be able to open a web browser and type http://192.168.1.1 and get the router configuration screen. I know you had minimal success in doing that earlier, but I think it's worth another shot.

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 4 Sep 2007, 11:02 am

Under "other devices", (On the Gateway), it lists eathernet controller:

"Device status":
The drivers for this device are not installed (Code28)
To reinstall drivers for this device, click Reinstall Driver

How the hell did we get THIS far Rob....

Did you try clicking "Reinstall Driver"? This is what I was expecting based on what you were describing. We somehow need to get the ethernet controller's driver installed. If clicking the reinstall button doesn't do it, you may need to download the latest driver. Check out this page: http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/dlcenter.asp and see if you can find the driver for your PC.

-Rob

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #56 on:** 4 Sep 2007, 04:04 pm »

Cool Rob! You ARE the man!

I feel like I can see the light at the end on the tunnel.
When I get back home tonight I'll try that. As I said in the first post, it's got a fresh Windows install. I would have assumed a driver as common as a networking device would have been a given.
But then again, I'm assuming things when it comes to Microsoft.

Bob

bpape · « **Reply #57 on:** 4 Sep 2007, 08:02 pm »

Just make sure you use the stock router login and password. The other is for later on.

Sorry I kind of dropped off but you look like you're in good hands.

Bryan

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #58 on:** 6 Sep 2007, 05:11 pm »

Sorry for the delay.
Searched throught the ethernet controller driver downloads on the Gateway site and found three possibilities:
http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/search.asp?param=ETHERNET+CONTROLLER&st=kw
I need to get back home and see which controller I have.

Bob

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #59 on:** 7 Sep 2007, 12:48 am »

Allright,
I got back to the house and check the ethernet controller type/brand of the Gateway.
All of the device managers information either says, "Unknown", or "not available".....Like it doesn't exist. So I have no idea what type, brand, manufacturer of ethernet/network equipment I have.

I go to the Gateway website and click on the "Gateway download assistant" (presumably it looks for "things I need") thinking it will see the driver missing and recommend an up-to-date driver.....

Of course the Gateway isn't online, so I do this with the Dell. I download "the assistant" to a CD.
I insert the CD in the Gateway and it says, "This setup requires the .NET Framework. Please install the Framework and run this setup again."

Bob - Lost again