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Having trouble networking my two computers, please help

D

DeepBlue

Member
I just bought a 5 port Linksys switch tonight and I am having a hard time networking my two computers with it. Both computers have NICs and they are both hooked up to the switch. My ADSL is hooked up to the uplink and I can access the Internet through it fine. I can't get my computers to show up in each other's network neighborhoods though. Please help, thanks.
 


<< Have you enabled file sharing? >>


Yes, on both computers. The computers can see their own drives in the Network Neighborhood.
 
Have you shared the drives? You have to go into My Computer, right click, choose sharing and share the drives you want the network to be able to see.

Be sure to password protect if you are connected to the internet. And you might unbind tcp/ip also.
 


<< Have you shared the drives? You have to go into My Computer, right click, choose sharing and share the drives you want the network to be able to see.

Be sure to password protect if you are connected to the internet. And you might unbind tcp/ip also. >>


Yep, both computers drives are shared. What do you mean by unbind tcp/ip?
 
And both systems are members of the same workgroup and they both have either client for microsoft networks or microsoft family login installed?
 
Another thing you might think about doing is enabling netbuei on both machines. As an @Home subscriber, the computers are assigned their IP's through @Home. I'm going to guess that this is the same with your DSL connection. You will probably never be able to see the other computer in the network neighborhood, but how I got my computers to connect to each other is by typing in the other computer's name in a Run box and voila! I am now able to share files from one comp to another.

I think the way around this is to have a router and hook your computers and the DSL modem to the router, then your IP's are internal and you should be able to see each other in the network neighborhood.
 
OH, if you have client for microsoft network installed you can't press cancel, you have to press ok, or you won't join the network.
 


<< Another thing you might think about doing is enabling netbuei on both machines. As an @Home subscriber, the computers are assigned their IP's through @Home. I'm going to guess that this is the same with your DSL connection. You will probably never be able to see the other computer in the network neighborhood, but how I got my computers to connect to each other is by typing in the other computer's name in a Run box and voila! I am now able to share files from one comp to another.

I think the way around this is to have a router and hook your computers and the DSL modem to the router, then your IP's are internal and you should be able to see each other in the network neighborhood. >>


What is netbuei? I haven't even tried to get the DSL connection to work on both computers. Right now I am just trying to get them to be able to share files. As for the router I can't afford one so I am stuck with this switch.
 


<< And both systems are members of the same workgroup and they both have either client for microsoft networks or microsoft family login installed? >>


I don't know about the workgroup but they both have microsoft networks installed.
 
I have been able to connect to the Internet through my ADSL when my ADSL modem is plugged into the Uplink of my 5 port switch on both computers. Not at once though, only one can connect at a time right now because I can't even get them to come up in the network neighborhood. It was weird though because with my secondary computer I had to put the transfer rate of it's NIC down to 10 MBPS before it connected to the Internet through the switch. Before it was at 100 MBPS. This information might help you help me but for now I have quit messing with the ADSL and am trying to just get the computers to both show up in the Network Neighborhood.
 
A little light bulb just turned on. Have you tried using the switch as a switching hub instead of an uplink switch? I think your systems aren't seeing each other because of the uplink connection. The reason you had to slow one system down to 10 Mbit, I think is because the DSL modem uplink is limited to 10 Mbit. If you use the switch as a switching hub you should be able to up the system back to 100 Mbit. That way when you talk system to system it will work at 100 Mbit, but when you go to the net it should slow down to 10 Mbit.
 


<< A little light bulb just turned on. Have you tried using the switch as a switching hub instead of an uplink switch? I think your systems aren't seeing each other because of the uplink connection. The reason you had to slow one system down to 10 Mbit, I think is because the DSL modem uplink is limited to 10 Mbit. If you use the switch as a switching hub you should be able to up the system back to 100 Mbit. That way when you talk system to system it will work at 100 Mbit, but when you go to the net it should slow down to 10 Mbit. >>


I will try that.
 


<< A little light bulb just turned on. Have you tried using the switch as a switching hub instead of an uplink switch? I think your systems aren't seeing each other because of the uplink connection. The reason you had to slow one system down to 10 Mbit, I think is because the DSL modem uplink is limited to 10 Mbit. If you use the switch as a switching hub you should be able to up the system back to 100 Mbit. That way when you talk system to system it will work at 100 Mbit, but when you go to the net it should slow down to 10 Mbit. >>


Nope, didn't work. I took the ADSL out of the uplink and put it into a regular port but the modem wouldn't connect to the switch. Both computer's NICs are in 10BaseT full duplex mode and I can still access the ADSL modem just fine on both computers one at a time through the switch.
 
When you go from uplink to normal you may have to change from the crossover cable to a standard cable. That might be why your modem didn't connect to the switch.
 


<< When you go from uplink to normal you may have to change from the crossover cable to a standard cable. That might be why your modem didn't connect to the switch. >>


It's not a crossover cable. None of them are. Do I need a crossover cable?
 
If it wasn't a crossover cable then you may need one. Didn't one come with the modem? Usually they are red, but they do come in other colors. Does the switch have an uplink/normal switch? If it does, disconnect the DSL and switch it to normal and see if the computers see each other. If it doesn't have an uplink/normal switch try disconnecting the DSL anyway and see if the systems see each other.

EDIT: you may have to restart the systems for them to connect with each other.
 


<< If it wasn't a crossover cable then you may need one. Didn't one come with the modem? Usually they are red, but they do come in other colors. Does the switch have an uplink/normal switch? If it does, disconnect the DSL and switch it to normal and see if the computers see each other. If it doesn't have an uplink/normal switch try disconnecting the DSL anyway and see if the systems see each other.

EDIT: you may have to restart the systems for them to connect with each other. >>


The cable that they gave me for the DSL is to my knowledge not a crossover cable. It is grey. The switch has an uplink switch but nothing that says normal. It is a five port switch with one uplink port for a total of six. Now let me tell you what happened. I installed the netBEUI protocol and the computers showed up in each other's network neighborhoods. The only problem is that when I installed netBEUI it totally messed up the software that lets me log on to the Internet which is Enternet 300. So I uninstalled netBEUI and am basically back to square 1.
 
You may have to go to a hub, instead of a switch. I got home a tried a little experiment and tried connecting 2 of my systems thru a switch, and even though both would connect, they couldn't see each other. You might want to try a hub, with an uplink port. Since a hub broadcasts all of the data goinging thru it to all the ports, the systems shouldn't have a problem seeing each other. Another alternative is to get a router, some routers have the ability to log on to ISP's that use common methods. Wish I could be of more help.
 
I have set this up many times with a Cisco 675 DSL router, so YMMV...

You should have the DSL Router connected to the Uplink port on the Switch, and the other machines connected wherever on the switch. The machines should have unique names and be in the same workgroup. The only protocols you should have installed is TCP/IP bound to your NIC and MAYBE NetBEUI bound for the NIC. For Services install Client for Microsoft Networks, but unless you are running an NT Domain with a Server in your computer room just use Windows Logon. You might have to use NAT (Network Address Translation) on the router and set the machines that you plan to give net access to on a private subnet (192.168.0.XXX is what I have used). See the ADSL Modem/Router manual for NAT info.
 
Sounds like you are kinda newbie for networking, no offense. Go here for good step by step info on networking for broadband sharing: Sharing help

Then go here for help in protecting yourself (the unbinding tcp/ip etc. I mentioned above):broadband security

hope it helps
 
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