H-e-l-p !!

[ngoodl]

I have sucessfully networked to home systems before,and usually dont have any problems,but a network I'm trying to set up for a friend has me stumped!The main pc is a winXP home and the 2nd is a winMe,setup with a belkin router.The XP machine has a 3-com nic card,the winMe has a intel nic card.The xp machine see's the router no problem ,and can get online through dsl.ran the networking wizard on the XP machine,created the floppy,ran it in the Me machine,nothing!!no network,can't get on line,just not working.The cable is a homemade straight-through cable,the port lite on the router is lit,so I think it is ok.Anything I missed??is there something special about networking two machines that arent XP?I give up?!

 

[AFB]

Originally posted by: ngoodl
I have sucessfully networked to home systems before,and usually dont have any problems,but a network I'm trying to set up for a friend has me stumped!The main pc is a winXP home and the 2nd is a winMe,setup with a belkin router.The XP machine has a 3-com nic card,the winMe has a intel nic card.The xp machine see's the router no problem ,and can get online through dsl.ran the networking wizard on the XP machine,created the floppy,ran it in the Me machine,nothing!!no network,can't get on line,just not working.The cable is a homemade straight-through cable,the port lite on the router is lit,so I think it is ok.Anything I missed??is there something special about networking two machines that arent XP?I give up?!

So the ME computer can't even get on the internet or see the router ?

 

[sharq]

If the lite is on then it means the NIC is probably working, that is still a maybe.
Do you have DHCP setup on the router? If its a wired only router then it might be best/easiest to enable dhcp (on router and computers) so that any computer your friend connects can log on.

 

[ngoodl]

Ok,no the Me cant get online or see the XP's network,And you'll have to school me on the dhcp setup ????.right now the router is set up for pppoe (per the ISP needing to be setup that way)Do I need to manually configure the Me machine??and if so where do I get the settings that I am going to need to input into the Me machine from??still trying!!!

 

[sharq]

What model router is it?

 

[ngoodl]

and just to add a little to this thread,why didn't the network just PnP??or was I spoiled by setting up pc's with XP only and linksys routers??not familar with the belkin and not impressed!!!

 

[JackMDS]

This is unfortunately not a good idea. "ran the networking wizard on the XP machine,created the floppy".

Configure WinME manually.

Log to this page it has a lot of links to instructions to Windows Network Settings, and Sharing.

Link to: Windows Netowrk - Installing & Sharing

 

[sharq]

Howto DHCP settings in winME/98

I am guessing the router is setup to do DHCP by default, so just following that simple tutorial, keep in mind, you may not need to write anything down as it says. Plus, I have not used win98 in atleast 3 years, so I did a search on google and that was one of the first few links, hope its accurate.

 

[ngoodl]

It is a Belkin F5D5231-4 4port router,also had the belkin network card (pci),but it would not install on the Me machine,so after several tries,put the older but working Intel Nic card in

 

[ngoodl]

for the links Guy's!!! thats the route I'm going to take,hope it works!!

 

[ngoodl]

oops....Thanks.............(missed that somehow!!)

 

[sharq]

Have the same router, I agree on the fact that it is not impressive (to say the least).
I have given instructions here how to make sure DHCP is enabled on that router.
1. Open up a browser window and direct it to: http://192.168.2.1/ ...(That should be the default ip on that router)
2. Click on the "Login" button on the right.
3. You will need to type in the password for the router, that is if you changed it when you set it up. I don't remember the default passwd, might have been "admin"
4. After hitting "Submit" you will be shown the homepage, it'll look just like the first window you saw, only instead of saying "Login" it'll say "Log-out" on the right.
5. Now click on "LAN Settings" on the left, it should be the first option to click on, under "LAN"
6. On the page that loads, the third option you will see on the configuration page is "DHCP server" in bold, just check to make sure that the bubble next to "On" is selected.
7. Right below "DHCP server" you will see "IP Pool" starting and ending settings. The default should be large enough. What you are looking here to do is allow a certain number of computers on the lan. So, you should only be able to change the last number, thus make sure it can allow ATLEAST 2 computers on. I have mine setup to allow atleast 4 computers on, example: Starting at 10, Ending at 14.

Hope that helped, lemme know.

 

[ngoodl]

Thanks,will give it a shot!!

 

[Harvey]

I ran into similar problems getting a different Belkin router to work properly on my sister's Win 98 machine. I found their tech support was very good. Try their toll free phone, (800) 223-5546 ex 2263.

Also, the best fix for any Win ME problem is to go back to Win 98 SE or forward to XP, depending on whether your machine is new enough, and strong enough, to deal with the added overhead of XP.

 

[JackMDS]

Quote from you 1st post: ?"The xp machine see's the router no problem ,and can get online through dsl.ran the networking wizard on the XP machine".

Makes it hard to consider the problem as the Belkin Router. (BTW their QA is terrible, but when they work they are good Routers)

However Harvey's notion about WinME is right. WinME has sc** up Network stacks. If I can not convince someone to upgrade to WinXP, I usually down grade them to Win98SE.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
However Harvey's notion about WinME is right. WinME has sc** up Network stacks. If I can not convince someone to upgrade to WinXP, I usually down grade them to Win98SE.

That's an UPgrade, not a downgrade. Older machines, especially lame sub 1 GHz boxes from HP, Compaq, Dell, etc. that can't even take more than 256 MB of RAM, including onboard graphics, won't handle XP, but they'll function, at least to their feeble limits, with Win 98 SE, and trying to upgrade those machines costs more than buying a new one that really works.

Win ME is the DOS 4 of Windows versions.

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: HarveyThat's an UPgrade, not a downgrade. Older machines, especially lame sub 1 GHz boxes from HP, Compaq, Dell, etc. that can't even take more than 256 MB of RAM, including onboard graphics, won't handle XP, but they'll function, at least to their feeble limits, with Win 98 SE, and trying to upgrade those machines costs more than buying a new one that really works.

Win ME is the DOS 4 of Windows versions.

WinME and SE need the same hardware resources.

While Philosophically you are right. Meaning, one can consider ?DownGrading to Win98SE? from WinME as an Upgrade.

Chronologically WinME came as an Upgrade to Win98SE.:Q

AS funny as it may sound, one of the major points of the WinME upgrade was concerning Interent. WinME is actually Win98SE that was fitted with the TCP/IP stack of Win2000. My Guess is at the time they were looking to improve Internet connection and not Networking (home owner did not care about Networks when WinME made it to the market).

It seems that such an implementation of TCP/IP does not work well for Networking.

You want a real Windows Network that Rocks. Get a 6 month Trial version of Windows Server 2003, and use it as your Desktop OS.

Link to: How to convert your Windows Server 2003... to a Workstation!

Link to: Windows Server 2003 Evaluation Kit.

Link to: Windows Server 2003 Support Center.

I know people that this Trial convinced them to buy and go with Win2003.

:light: