My husband's 400 Mhz. Windows 98 computer is the cable modem "host" computer. My 1800 Mhz. PC is running XP Home Edition but is across the room from the cable. I just installed a Linksys Cable DSL Router with 4-Port Switch following all directions. When hubby's PC asked for the Win 98 installation disk I was unable to find one so I wrote down the "skipped files" and preceded to use Windows XP installation disk on both PCs making sure that host computer was host. Our network does not show up on either PC and my PC is not able to access the internet through the cable modem. I just uninstalled VPN from my PC in case that was the conflict but have not tried to reinstall network since. I have also located a Windows 98 installation disk. Do I need to start over with the Win 98 CD, or is it like the troubleshooter says, the host PC must be the one running XP as ICS seems to be a separate issue from using a router.
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Also, once you are have entered the router's GUI, you will need to configure it to serve out the network addresses.... such as DNS. Again, this is pretty simple and usually well explained in the manual. When your computers are booted up, they will receive a dynamic internal IP address and the DNS information from the router
hmmm... anything else I am missing?
Check out this site.. it has a video you can watch that may help you:
http://www.hardwaretech.in
Long story short, last year a Time Warner cable installer had told me to ask TW for a new cable modem that had USB and to use a USB cable to add the second PC. It did work but host PC was always getting disconnected so I quit doing that. At some point while I was troubleshooting that problem I had disabled my network adapter. My non name brand PC does have a VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adaptor (not a card) hardwired to my MB which is a K7VMM.
To reenable my netwok hardware I:
1. add new hardware, and 2. selected Microsoft Loopback adapter (guessing)
I now do have a LAN to click on in Network Connections, acording to properties I am connected to the network, (but I do not see the other PC) the router shows all the correct lights, I went to 192.168.0.1 and told the config app that Time Warner uses DHCP and to obtain an IP automatically.
But I still am not connected to the internet on the second PC.
As you can tell I know just enough to get myself in trouble, perhaps I disabled/reenabled network capability in such a way that I still have that aspect screwed up, or I should just buy an Ethernet adapter and abandon the one on the MB.
still plugging away at it,
Susan
PS I did install the files that the Win98 PC was asking for from the Win98 install disk.
Also I just pinged 127.0.0.1 successfully but failed when I attempted to ping the IP of the win98 PC that is connected to road runner.
ipconfig on that PC shows a 0 Ethernet Adapter, a 1 Ethernet Adapter, and a 2 Ethernet Adapter. I pinged the 0 adapter, it had what appeared to be the only valid IP address.
Susan
Not sure why the TW tech would tell you that, unless they were just trying to get rid of excess inventory. :) I have had some experience with these USB network interfaces, and none have been good.
I assume that you disabled your NIC via the device manager. You can reenable it in the same fashion.
On the second PC (assume it is the W98 box) best bet is to delete your Local Area Connection and use the New Connection Wizard to reinstall the network stack for the NIC. Go into your TCP properties and make sure that it is using DHCP to get the proper IP addresses from your router. Once this is done, test for internet connectivity. To share resources on the machines you will have to install File and Print Sharing on the W98 PC.. XP will have it done automatically (using Simple File Sharing).
Are we getting close here?
I will be around, so ask if you have any questions.
FE
Been so long since I sat at a W98 box... OK.. here goes..
Lets go through setting up your Network Connections:
Open the Control Panel. (Click on the Start button then Settings then select Control Panel).
Double click on Network.
If you have TCP/IP and Dial-Up Adapter in the list of Network Components you have the necessary protocols for connecting to the Internet. If not, complete the following steps.
Click onto Add.
If TCP/IP is missing, click onto Add, select Protocol from the list and click Add.
Select Microsoft from the Manufacturers and select TCP/IP from the Network Protocols and then click OK.
To Configure TCP/IP:
Double click on TCP/IP.
Click the IP Address Tab and set it to "Obtain an IP address automatically".
Click the Wins Configuration Tab and set it to "Disable WINS resolution".
Click the Gateway Tab and ensure it is empty.
Click the Bindings Tab and ensure that "File and Printer Sharing" is not ticked.
Click the DNS Configuration Tab and set it to "Disable DNS", then click OK.
Click OK. Windows may then prompt you to restart your computer.
Click Yes at this prompt.
Let me know once you have confirmed all of this. We will work on sharing the resources later.
Oh, btw: Go to Start > Run and type in winipcfg This will open a window detailing your IP configuration. (Press Detailed to get a better view of the IP stack) Make sure you are receiving an address in the 192.168.x.x range with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 Also, make sure that your Gateway is 192.168.0.1
I do have TCP/IP Dial-Up Adapter. I also have TCP/IP Farallon NetLINE 10/100 PCI PN993, which is where I used properties to make sure Obtain an IP address automaticaly was checked and that the address on the Gateway tab was blank. Also just did the additional steps as outlined by you above.
winipcfg:
Host Name OEMCOMPTER.cinci.rr.com
DNS Servers 24.29.1.218
Node Type: Broadcast
Farallon netLINE 10/100 PCI PN 93
Adapter Adress 00-0-C5-3F-1D-39
IP: 192.168.1.100Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server 192.168.1.1
restarting PC now...
Farallon makes a good NIC, expensive also...
Everything looks okay as far as the bindings go.
Can you go to the WXP machine and give me the IP config also? This is a little different than 98.
Start > Run.. type in cmd and press OK
Opens a Command Shell (dos prompt)
First, type in... 'cd desktop' ... this will chg the directory to the desktop like this:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Deskto
then..
Type in ipconfig /all >ip.txt .... this will place the ipconfig in a text file on your desktop
Open the ip.txt file on your desktop and paste the info in a comment here for me to look at...
Piece of cake, eh?
FE
a friend stopped by for a cup of joe...
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : susan
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Loopback Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-4C-4F-4F-50
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.25.129
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
Ahhhh... Here is your problem. This machine is not getting a good internal IP address. It is using what is called the APIPA address in the 169.254.x.x range. At least we now know which is the offending machine.
First open up that command shell again and type in
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
and let me know what address it brings back (ipconfig /all)
Had to step away for a minute. but back now..
OK.. You do have the wire (cat5) connected to both the router and the PC right? Take a look at the lights on the router. There should be a bank of lights for each port you connect up to, and when properly connected these (at least one) will turn green. You should notice green lights for the W98 pc already on, since we know it is getting a good connection. let me know if you are seeing green lights with the XP system when plugged in.
Ok.. Try pinging the localhost again.. 127.0.0.1 on the XP machine. I am concerned as to why your lights went out. This could be 1) a bad port on the router or 2) a bad NIC in your XP system...
If you had a green light on the router with the first cable, plug it back in too. These wires can last a lifetime, and we definitely want the green lights.
Means it is not getting the address from the DHCP router. Go into your Network Connections (My Network Places properties) and delete the Local Area Connections. Then reboot, then back to the Network Connections window and start the New Connection Wizard. Choose Set up my connecton manually... When you get to the How Do You Want to Connect window, choose "Connect using a broadband modem that is always on". Reboot and ck your IP again.
If this does not work, we will try using a utility to fix it.
How many Lan Connections do you have? How many NICs do you have in the system? Do you have multiple ports on the back of the machine to plug the Cat5 into? If so, could you move the wire to another port?
Really wish I was sitting in front of this machine... would be so much easier.. :)
Try the repair option in the context menu (right click) and see if that helps....
System Restore has put me back to a time where Device Manager "thinks" I have no NIC. In System Information it says I have a VII Rhine II Fast Ethernet but IP, Subnet and Gareway are unavailable, as is PnP Device ID. I had to use add new hardware earlier to day to start seeing my NIC in Device Manager. I also reuninstalled VPN, after doing system restore. I did have an ugly binary looking crash immediately after system restore, and a recovery from a serious error dialog.
Now lets ck your device manager and make sure your NIC is enabled. Then to the Network Connections window and the New Connections Wizard to reinstall your Network Stack. Once you see your Local Area Connection in said window appear, check the status and then the properties of the connection. Make sure that Client for MS Networks is installed and the TCP/IP protocol. Open the properties of TCP/IP and make sure that you are receiving the IP address automatically, along with the DNS addresses.
Close and run ipconfig /all to see if you have a good address (192.168.x.x)
I had to run install new hardware, just to get a Lan icon. It is connected, IP adresses in TCP/IP are receiving automatically BUT ipconfig is still giving me that bad address of 169.254.25.129. And I cannot ping the router. I went through the whole Linksys troubleshooter. I am now considering that Time Warner requires that the Host Name and Domain Name at http://192.168.1.1 must be filled in for TW and am on hold with TW customer service. If that is not it I winder if I should just buy an Ethernet adapter instead of using the one hardwired to the MB.
:) You cannot ping the router because you are on a different subnet. The host name and the domain name of your internal lan have nothing to do with TW and the IPs they are sending to your router. The router does the network translation allowing packets to pass through it using what is called NAT.
I also do not think that it is the internal NIC that is causing us this pain. It could be that your winsock is corrupted.. let me look for the tool to fix this.
Here is what you are seeing on the XP machine.. Maybe this will help you understand what is happening.
Automatic Private IP Addressing, a feature of later Windows operating systems. With APIPA, DHCP clients can automatically self-configure an IP address and subnet mask when a DHCP server isn't available. When a DHCP client boots up, it first looks for a DHCP server in order to obtain an IP address and subnet mask. If the client is unable to find the information, it uses APIPA to automatically configure itself with an IP address from a range that has been reserved especially for Microsoft. The IP address range is 169.254.0.1 through 169.254.255.254. The client also configures itself with a default class B subnet mask of 255.255.0.0. A client uses the self-configured IP address until a DHCP server becomes available.
In other words, your machine is not seeing the router as a DHCP provider....
We could configure it manually if you would like...
Here is a repair tool for the Winsock stack:
http://members.shaw.ca/tec
It is small enough to fit on a floppy. Copy and run it on your XP machine...
No, the router looks to be already configured with a static address of 192.168.1.1. At least that is what I am seeing from the configuration of your W98 box. The router actually has 2 IP addresses. An internal address called a Gateway (192.168.1.1) and an external address (that it gets from Time Warner)
The way DHCP works is that when a system is booted, it sends out a Broadcast to the network looking for a DHCP enabled service, which is what your router is providing. The router then 'leases' an IP address to that system to be used when accessing the network. If the booting machine cannot find the DHCP provider (the router), it self assigns the APIPA address in the 169.254.x.x range. Therefore, I am assuming that your system is not communicating with your router and not receiving the address.
Tell you what. Lets statically set the IP address in your XP box just to see if it can connect to the network.
Go to your network connections (right click on My Network Places) and open the properties of your Local Area Connection. You should see Client for MS Networks, File and Printer Sharing, and Internet Protocol (Tcp/IP) in the window (at the very least).. open the properties of TCP/IP and instead of using "IP address automatically" click the "Use the folowing address"
Type in:
Ip address..: 192.168.1.50
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
Now reboot and go back to make sure the changes were made..
Then try to see if you are connecting to either the W98 box or the Internet. You can also try typing in the router address 192.168.1.1 in the address bar of your browser to see if the machine is 'seeing' the router...
Also might try pinging 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.100 for grins...
FE
We could configure it manually if you would like...
Actually last night when I did get the right IP addess it was because I did just that as part of the Linksys troubleshooter, so it was not TW that did that by resetting the cable modem. When I switched it back to obtain IP automatically I saw the IP address I chose, which ended in .99
So right now the existing Lan is connected. I am wondering if I need to disable (cannot delete, probably because it is connected) and use the New Connection Wizard or do ipconfig/release and renew?
I wonder if I should try connecting the cable modem directly to the WXP machine as a test? If I do I will be prompted to install the TW software, as I was a year ago when I connected the cable modem to the WXP via USB. That app has been uninstalled, but I can't help wondering if that could be the source of the corruption or conflict as TW level 2 support asked if I had ever had RR on that machine. She BTW did not know why a TW cable installer would have told me that. Admittedly it was an installer I happened to "find" when he was working in the neighborhood.
But you can ping 127.0.0.1... hmmm
Ok, then the most probable reason for this is the NIC in the XP box. If I were sitting there I would immediately swap out the NIC, or in your case, disable the on-board NIC and install a new one in one of your open PCI slots (the white ones..:). NICs are fairly inexpensive. I use 3COM nics, as they are top of the line, or Intel. If you decide to purchase one, get a 10/100 NIC. With XP you will find that the drivers are already there on the machine.
Or you could test the theory by pulling the NIC out of the 98 box and installing it in the XP one.. Just to see if that is the problem...
Wish it were simpler than this, and am sure you are getting frustrated, but.......
Just a comment on TW techs and cable techs in general. I actually managed (view my profile) a force of 115 cable techs a few years ago. I built the cable backbones in quite a few states also. I have a pretty good feel for how they work and the knowledge they bring to the table. Although they usually are pretty good about wiring, I would not let one of them touch a computer... :)
Well the USB thing did work sortof but not only did the w98 box keep getting kicked off, I had huge problems last year with the XP machine around the time that the TW cable installer told me to request a new cable modem that had a USB port. I had to connect 2 cables to reach, and I did go over the 16 ft limit. I had to reinstall my OS twice (I was in an online Flash class and did not have time to troubleshoot and System Recovery did not work). Last summer it locked up after post, during the XP welcome screen, System Restore didn't work, locked up during repair installation in safe mode, locked up trying to do a clean install, locked up trying to boot from a floppy... My SA at work said if it wouldn't boot from a floppy it sounded like hardware, so I took it in to where I bought it and they were able to reinstall the OS.
With all the problems I have had and the possibilities of corrupt or damaged files I am wondering if I should format my HD and do a clean install as there is something f***** up with this PC?
haha.. the wonderful world of IT...
If you were experiencing all those problems, and it were me, yes I would just wipe the drive and start over. I don't even hesitate to do this anymore. You will be much happier in the end. Use ntbackup (backup to a file on the system) to get all your important data off the machine first, and copy the file to a cd... or just copy the actual data to a cd.. And it will only take you an hour or so to reinstall it. When entering the text setup, delete the partitions, recreate them, then format. Suggest you use NTFS for the file system.
I rarely even try booting from floppies nowadays, since all new OS's come with bootable cd's. There is too much that can go wrong with a floppy.. the drive, the actual floppy, etc..
Then if the system still cannot locate the router/dhcp, you will know for sure that it is the NIC...
Again, I would take anything that TW or specifically a cable tech, with a grain of salt.. I actually have a few USB Nics around but have never found them to be trustworthy..!
BTW: did you reconfigure your NIC for Automatic IP and try to plug directly into the cable modem (reboot first)?
Then the problem lies in the XP box. It could either be the NIC or the OS... Being that you had so many issues with the software installed, especially that TW software, I would guess the OS, but.....
You could also ck your event log for errors. Or your Services to make sure that DHCP service has started and is working correctly. They are both in your Admin Tools folder..
I have to go to a quick meeting... Will be back in an hour or so... and ck back then.
yes, the warnings probably pertain to not being able to find the DHCP provider... your router. But we know it is working or your W98 box wouldn't be able to access the network. And since we tried plugging it directly into the cable modem with bad results, I just got to think there is something seriously wrong with your XP box... It could be the softwaret that you installed for the USB Nic, a bad NIC, or possibly corrupt system files of some sort...
BTW: might not be a bad idea to run your system file checker on these..
At a command shell.. type in:
sfc /purgecache
sfc /scannow
and have your XP cd ready to put into the cdrom...
:) Like I always say.. No time like the present, eh? As long as you are SURE you have everything you need.. How bout your address book? email? docs? etc....
If I were you I would start with a clean install... This does mean you will have to reinstall everything again, but it may be worth the price.
Also, I would print out a list of all the devices on your system. Be sure you have your Motherboard drivers also. All this should have come with the system.
Once you have all this, boot from your XP cd. When it gets to the text portion of the setup, I would delete the system partition and start from scratch.. New format, everything... then proceed with the reinstall.
Reinstall completed.
Since XP does not know I have a VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet adapter, just the WAN Miniports and RAS ASync adapter, does it seem likely that there is something wrong with this hardware or that I just do not have drivers installed. I saved my device manager as a prn file but am getting spooling errors. There is a VIA Rhine II driver at http://www.via.com.tw/en/N
That's all for today, I'll think about it tomorrow.
I've decided I am pissed off that I do not have documentation for this system, the first PC I bought and did not build, so I am waiting for the tech support that built this system to get in this afternoon. I have spent too much time in the last year reinstalling OS and then scrambling to find drivers. To make matters worse when I said I wanted the AMD Athlon the sales staff grabbed an Intel Celeron box that was the same price and I did not discover until I got home. So my sales info record doesn't even reflect what system I got. I don't want to install a maybe correct driver for that VIA Rhine II so until I get a response from the VIA forum or more concise info from the tech that builds these systems I am not going to deal with the driver/Lan issue.
I found the following negative comment about this brand of built-in ethernet
*
* The VIA Rhine controllers are similar in some respects to the
* the DEC tulip chips, except less complicated. The controller
* uses an MII bus and an external physical layer interface. The
* receiver has a one entry perfect filter and a 64-bit hash table
* multicast filter. Transmit and receive descriptors are similar
* to the tulip.
*
* The Rhine has a serious flaw in its transmit DMA mechanism:
* transmit buffers must be longword aligned. Unfortunately,
* the kernel doesn't guarantee that mbufs will be filled in starting
* at longword boundaries, so we have to do a buffer copy before
* transmission.
*
* Apparently, the receive DMA mechanism also has the same flaw. This
* means that on systems with struct alignment requirements, incoming
* frames must be copied to a new buffer which shifts the data forward
* 2 bytes so that the payload is aligned on a 4-byte boundary.
I am so sorry, but I just have to laugh...
I know of quite a few local computer 'shops' around my town that I have found do the same thing. Many times selling refurbed as new... No documentation. And the user normally has no idea on how to check to see if he is getting what he paid for.
I always recommend that you build your own. And if you do not know how and want to learn, I will usually come over and show you.... I even do this for some of my client's children who are interested...
One thing you might want to do is run a hardware inventory ck on your system to see exactly what is in it..
This is a free utility that I use when I first sit down at a client's system. Small and non-intrusive...
http://www.belarc.com/free
I have found it to be pretty much right on with its results. Does not pick up everything, but it gets most of it.
Do hope you get this straightened out. And feel for you.
FE
Success!!!!
I spoke too harshly regarding the lack of documentation and discs. I found my motherboard manual (and the disc) I'm not used to thinking of MBs as having so many onboard components.
Anyways something in Setup caught my eye. Ethernet adapter was disabled. I reconfigured the router, recycled the power and resatred both PCs.
Had I not reinstalled OS, it did need it, I would have never even been thinking about setup.
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by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2003-12-27 at 12:59:14ID: 10005833
Since you now are using a cable router, there is no 'host'. Both PCs are equal now. The router will provide internal IP's for both machines. Actually, you should not have to install any additional software to get it working, just make sure that the router is acting as a dhcp server and configure both the clients (your computers) to get their IPs and network configuration from the router. You will have to access the router through the IE interface using 192.168.0.1 as an address. It will ask you to authenticate, usually this is Admin/Admin... Once in the Router interface, I suggest you change the password from admin to something more secure.
If you need further explanation, let me know.
FE