Home Network Nightmare

[sirius]

How hard does this have to be? for feks sake!.

Simple Idea: Join two computers together, share files/printers and dial up to internet connection. Piss, Right? - WRONG.

Actual Solution: 6 months of non stop aggro of stuff not working, connections going down at the drop of a hat for no reason, no internet sharing, fannying around with Wingate and Proxy4 etc which blue screen the machine and/or fail in the middle of something for no reason.............the list goes on and on and on AAARRGGGHH.

To top it all off, you search around the net for info on how to achieve this basic task and its either so simple it doesnt fit your need and doesnt contain all the ins and outs, so fekking big as like setting up a network in Sony or somewhere or you finally find something in the right ballpark of the situation in hand but its SO FEKKING TECHNICAL with 90% of the sentance strings being comprised of acronyms which only a studyist of a Computer Science degree could possibly understand.

Me, I read it about 15 times and it doesnt make sense, get pissed off at my lack of understanding and remembering of technical jargon and proceed to 'sack it off' as a bad job.

What happens if your network is down and you cant even 'ping' each other? They dont tell you that. What would you do if you havent got DOS prompt? 'Internet Connection Sharing' option of the connection has never worked.
I know the cards are OK, the cables OK etc. Why is it such a major obsticle to get two PC's running Win2000 advanced Server to talk to each other and share a connection to the net?.

My brothers a better computer savvy than me, but he gets peeved off with having to try and fix it all the time after often working late.

Im going to get my ass kicked now off my brother for pinching the modem and reinstalling BT broadband on my machine (again) rather than his 'server' cos it apparantly cocks everything up even more!. . But hey, Im getting withdrawl symptoms after half a week 'cold turkey' from the OSA .

Why is it so complicated?. Does anyone know of any software available which can automaticaly link up two pcs for you? Or even two or three wich automate the process in its different stages or something?

Rant over!, I feel better(ish) now.

Some software which did this all for you would be ace.

Anyone any ideas of how to proceed here?. Me and my bruv think its time to "scrap it all off" again and start afresh from a clean hard disk........trouble is since we got broadband theres about 130GB to back up on CD via one PC with a writer and no network somehow!.

Cheerio,

Sirius.

[Tigger]

I sympathise entirely m8! A while back I tried to hook up my laptop and my PC using a crossover cable so that they could share an internet connection / play counterstrike / share files but I never managed to get it working.

I reckon its been made so hard to keep all them spotty network admin's in jobs!

[The Frog Meister]

* Froggies puts Geek hat on*

Right m8

What you need

2 cables cat 5
1 hubb
a little program from linkbyte it's there proxie at www.linkbyte.com

This little program need to be installed onto the server.
then point your browser to the server's IP addy. To do this goto start --> settings --> control panel then double click on internet options.
3rd tab is connections, click on there and then on lan. Tick the littlee white box then enter the IP address of the server and port 80.

In linkbyte go through the wizard and tick the NAT option a little further on, then you should be up and running perfect. I had a network running on that little program for a year and no problems

Good luck m8, Drop a line if your stuck

[fugjostle]

My home network runs like a dream and I've had no issues. I've set it up several times with various configurations.

The magic solution you need is an ADSL router. You can get one from around £70. The router acts as the ASDL modem and you both connect into it. Easy Peasy. For about £100 you can get a DSL router that has a built-in 'ip-chains' type firewall with NAT and DHCP. You can then use Linux, Solaris, Winnt, Win Me, Win XP or whatever you fancy without a worry of configurations. The ports are auto-sensing so one of you can use 100MBits and the other 10Mbits.

I've used Internet Connection Sharing for some time and never had any problems. Perhaps you could detail your setup stating what make of cards etc you are using? What are the two OS'es being used? Do you just use TCP/IP or NetBIOS as well? What addressing scheme are you using? Have you defined the IP addresses in the host files? What options have you set for the connection share? Do you run the MS Firewall or something like BlackICE/Zonealarm? Get a copy of the routing table from both machines using the route command.. ect etc

I run a freeBSD, RedHat and Windows box through my WinXP connection share and it all works fine, I can compare my setup with yours if you let me know the various bits and pieces.

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fug

[fugjostle]

You might find this site useful... it talks about some of the issues like having both PC's in the same workgroup.

http://www.homenethelp.com/ics/ics-install-netxp.asp

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Fug

[sirius]

Cheers guys. I can always rely on you to deliver the goods .

I had to have a rant, otherwise my hair will start going grey and falling out due to stress.....


""Perhaps you could detail your setup stating what make of cards etc you are using? What are the two OS'es being used? Do you just use TCP/IP or NetBIOS as well? What addressing scheme are you using? Have you defined the IP addresses in the host files? What options have you set for the connection share? Do you run the MS Firewall or something like BlackICE/Zonealarm? Get a copy of the routing table from both machines using the route command..""

I wouldnt know where to start anymore m8. Ive fanny'd around and looked at and investigated so much stuff thats out of my depth I honestly couldnt tell you. We have tried so many different solutions/configurations in the last 6 months it beggars belief.
Ill ask me bruv (if he can be arsed telling me) about all the details etc. Win2000 adv Server, two bog standard 10/100 cards and a telephone-esque looking cable, BtBroadband and a stress relief for managers kit comprising of punch bag, ice pack, those silver clicking balls on string and a squishy ball.


Im going to have a look at that 'linkbyte' to see what its all about and possibly splash out on one of those ADSL router box things because its got to the point of beyond the joke now! and 70-100 quid to (hopefully) seamlessly sort out the mess once and for all seems pretty cheap in comparison to the frustration.

I think tigger's right, this is all a conspiricy to keep us (ie me) numbnuts in the dark and make loads of money for techy types.

Will be back later this weekend on this subject (assuming I still have an internet connection working........)


Cheers peeps, appreciated,

Sirius.

[The Frog Meister]

sirius, Linkbyte works the same way as the adsl router, but you need to keep the server on. The router has the advantage that pooters can be switched off

[sirius]

Cheers Frogmiester,

Im still not sure what to do, my bruv says for me to 're-do' my machine then do things from scratch as a clean slate regarding networking. Failing that, the router would be the most viable option cos our Pc's are like hoovers and would keep the whole house awake if left on all the time!


Cheers

Sirius.

[The Frog Meister]

sounds like the router is ya best bet m8. I use the proxy cause I'm a tight fisted bastard and the server was silent

[jonnyp]

I have two pc's linked up at home....

USB ADSL---->My PC------X-Over cable------->Missus' PC

cheapo network card in each...win xp on both using ICS to allow usage of adsl on both. XP is pretty much a PofP to set-up a home network BUT there are a couple of things that might bollox things....fuggy mentioned the workgroup, you must make sure that they are the same. Sounds simple enough but I know people who didnt do this. Also, if you've got a firewall make sure that the IP of each pc is "trusted" by the other pc's firewall otherwise they will just block each other. If you havent got a firewall..ignore that bit.

you could also try

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/qa/qa20021104.shtml
http://sfwinograd.home.attbi.com/faq.htm (and links contained within)
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...ot_network.htm

pretty useful sites IMO

jonny

[sirius]

Thanks for the links jonny, those were the type of things I spent HOURS looking for with no luck. These will come in handy next week .

Cheers

Sirius.

[fugjostle]

When I get into work on Monday I have some good links to some cheap and powerful switches with have 4 ports, adsl link and built-in firewall with nat and dhcp. I'll post em when I find em

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fug