Office network issue

[Funkertosh]

Here?s the setup. It is a small office with around 11 pc?s running Windows XP Home except for one on Win98SE. Internet (static IP DSL) is coming in through a Linksys WRT54G. DHCP enabled, WEP is on, SSID is changed, and MAC address filtering Is enabled. When I looked at the settings on the router I found that only two of the computers in the office are connecting wirelessly. I enabled the MAC address filtering for both of these. All other comps are connected via the built in nic and then run through the walls. XP home has a limit of 5 for concurrent workgroup file sharing connections. There is only one workgroup being used in the office for the 11 computers.

Internal router IP: 192.168.1.1
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Starting comp IP: 192.168.1.100 and then moving upwards by one.

Six of the comps (5 xp and the win98) all connect perfectly. 5 people show up on the workgroup. There aren't usually more than five people in the office at one time so it should not be that big of a problem but if it is it will be addressed then. 2 need to have the os reinstalled so they are never on, and one isnt plugged in at all.

The problem: Two of the computers that are all set up do not get an IP assigned from the DHCP on the router. It continually uses the APIPA (automatic Private IP Addressing) to get a 169.254.x.x IP on a 255.255.0.0 subnet. Naturally they cant see the network, nor the internet though the router. Ipconfig /renew is no help.

I then attempted to configure the comp manually using 192.168.1.115 with the corresponding dns/gateway info from the router status screen to ensure it was correct. No dice.

Then I disabled the internal nic, enabled the wireless nic. Added the MAC address to the allow filter. The card saw the network, the WEP key was entered, still no connection.

Any ideas?

They used to work, so unless the person was running around in the settings or playing with cables everything is the same and they should be connected with network cables.
Would the Workgroup limit affect the number of connections to the router and thus the internet?
Thanks in advance.

(also, I didn?t put this together, I?m just trying to get what is there to work for a friend)

 

[Fencer128]

Hi,

Just a quick thought - usually there is an allowed range of IP addresses from which the DHCP server can assign to clients. Is this pool large enough? i.e. from 192.168.100.1 to 192.168.100.254? A range of 5 addresses would then explain this.

Good luck,

Andy

 

[Goosemaster]

1. The 5 connection rule applies to five simulatneous connections, such as 4 FTP users logging in. I would rather say that five workgroup clients couldn;t simulatneously download something from a windows XP Home share for example.


2. Explain which PC's are connecting, and via what type of connection (somehow I didn't get that out of your current explanation)

Which PC's are connecting, and what type of interface are they uising? It seems as if you are trying both wireless and ethernet on some.

3. Check your cables to make sure they are fine (try using other cables)

4. If a computer is not connecting, unplug/disconnect them all and try to get that one on by itself.

5.. That router should support up to 254 simultaneous IP's, and I believe, 64 wireless users IIRC.

6. For wireless, make sure you are using the same WEP key, the same bit strength, the same channel, and that all wireless clients are entered into the MAC address accss list table correctly.

7. momentarily turn off WEP, and using a static IP address, try one PC at a time. In addittion, try to stagger your static IP addresses is you have DHCP enabled and are also using static IP's. Sometimes the first address might jump a few values due to an unempty DHCP table ( unplug the router fora few minutes to reset it). Basically, try 120, 126, etc to make sure you do not have conflicting IP addresses. From my experiences, Windows will pop-up a little "baloon" error in the system tray if there are conflicting IP's on the network, but if not, jsut check your event logs in "administrative tools"

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Fencer128
Hi,

Just a quick thought - usually there is an allowed range of IP addresses from which the DHCP server can assign to clients. Is this pool large enough? i.e. from 192.168.100.1 to 192.168.100.254? A range of 5 addresses would then explain this.

Good luck,

Andy

Good call. I have the WRT54GS and by default, it is set to allow 5 DHCP addresses but doesn't actually allow someone to specify the rang.e


That is probably the fix to the whole problem right there


...so much for my shpeal

 

[Fencer128]

Good call. I have the WRT54GS and by default, it is set to allow 5 DHCP addresses but doesn't actually allow someone to specify the rang.e


That is probably the fix to the whole problem right there


...so much for my shpeal

If you answer 2500 posts odds are you'll get it right once

Now for number two...

Andy

 

[Funkertosh]

Thanks for the quick replies! This will be from memory as I am at work. But.

Fencer128: The allowed range for the DHCP is set to allow 50. Starting from 192.168.1.100. When all the comps were turned on they were going sequentially from 100 ? 105. Would I need to set the static IP to a number above the limit that the DHCP is using. ie. 192.168.1.155 ?

Goosemaster: The two farthest computers are connecting using the wireless nics. All the other computers have the wireless nic disabled. Someone ran cable through the false ceiling and into walls so there are numbered wall outlets with rj45 connectors. I double checked and made sure that the numbers were matching (hoping that the labeling was correct). Everything was going well. I did not have my cable tester with me.

I will try disabling WEP and the MAC filtering and seeing if it can get an IP.

I did not see a place anywhere in the properties of the wireless nic to set the encryption bit strength.

 

[Sideswipe001]

What OS are the computers using that refuse to pick up an IP? Are the NICs using the latest drivers?

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Funkertosh
Thanks for the quick replies! This will be from memory as I am at work. But.

Fencer128: The allowed range for the DHCP is set to allow 50. Starting from 192.168.1.100. When all the comps were turned on they were going sequentially from 100 ? 105. Would I need to set the static IP to a number above the limit that the DHCP is using. ie. 192.168.1.155 ?

Goosemaster: The two farthest computers are connecting using the wireless nics. All the other computers have the wireless nic disabled. Someone ran cable through the false ceiling and into walls so there are numbered wall outlets with rj45 connectors. I double checked and made sure that the numbers were matching (hoping that the labeling was correct). Everything was going well. I did not have my cable tester with me.

I will try disabling WEP and the MAC filtering and seeing if it can get an IP.

I did not see a place anywhere in the properties of the wireless nic to set the encryption bit strength.

Depending on how you install the wNIC, windows might take over as the default Wireless connection manager.

Go to your network connection, and properties, an dthere should be a 'wireless networks' tab where you can connect to available networks and configure appropriate encryption settings.