Routers-- What Network Properties need to be changed?

[eyor]

I have been trying for the past month to be able to use a router I bought to connect to the internet. Here is what is happening: I am on the computer, able to surf the net fine through my cable modem, and so I unplug cable modem-to-pc cable and plug it into the WAN port on the router, then plug a cord from the PC to one of the 4 ports on the router. Now I am unable to surf the net. WTF? All settings seem to be correct, it is a dynamic ip so I don't even need any numbers, but it just wont work!

Also, I tried plugging it into a new computer which I had just built and install win98 on, and the net connection worked! It was just fine without changing the network settings. But then I did change them to try to enable file sharing, and the net connection does not work!!! Is there any way to get the original settings back? I tried uninstalling and installing the network stuff off the win98 cd, but it did not work.

Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Wizkid]

You can try this:

Find out what address your router uses, probably 192.168.1.1, set your ip to 192.168.1.2, and change your gateway to 192.168.1.1 and your DNS to 192.168.1.1. Reboot and see if it works...

 

[erub]

also, after configuring all the stuff, type winipcfg and press release all, then renew all. Keep your DNS the same. The tech support for these routers is pretty good (well at least with Linksys) after you get through waiting on hold for a while - they know what their talking about I've found.

 

[erub]

also do you have client for microsoft networks installed? you will need to have NetBEUI and IPX/SPX protocols as well as TCP/IP installed as well. Do you ahve PPPoE? And you need to configure the router by connecting to it.

 

[eyor]

But like I said, it is dynamic IP, so I am not allowed to specify it, or the DNS or subnet mask and all that, am I?
Thanks for helping, I am ready to kill myself if this doesn't work! lol,

 

[nuttervm]

you should be able to set the addresses if your router is the only machine with a non-local address.

check winipcfg, if it says 192.168.xxx.xxx then you are considered to be on a local network and the only ip address you are recieving from your isp is used by the router. i'm inexpereinced with hardware routers, i use win2k for ics, but it think this might help a bit.

 

[eyor]

Really? So I can set the IP even on DHCP?

Well, I finally got this other computer onto the internet, I found out that in my fiddling I removed the NIC and added it back somehow without the drivers, but I still do need to figure out how to get the other computer connected, too. Thanks for the help!
BTW, I found this out when I tried winipcfg and it didn't list my nic correctly, so thanks for posting that!

 

[nuttervm]

best way to learn is to try it and give it a shot. you wont hurt anything by trying to use a static ip when dhcp is on... worst case is it just wont work you can always set it back

 

[erub]

ok, well since you got one computer online, you know that the router is working. now go into winipcfg, click release all, then click renew all. this may start it to work

 

[erub]

ok, well since you got one computer online, you know that the router is working. now go into winipcfg, click release all, then click renew all. this may start it to work

 

[eyor]

Wow, it's working! YAY! Thanks everyone! If you have your rating feature enabled it has just been upped. That is pretty much just erub. But thanks for the help, wizkid and muttervm, I tried the static IP thing and it worked! Now I just have to get file sharing between the two. Also, now one computer has a dynamic IP and one has a static IP, or that's what I gather at least. Should I change the other to static also?

 

[erub]

It is a "static" address - i put that in quotes because the address is an internal network address, between the range of 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.255. The router will most likely do DHCP, and will assign each computer on your network an IP address on bootup, or you can assign the second computer one yourself (make sure its not the same as the other computer or the router!) With regard to file and print sharing, you need to have three protocols installed, plus enable file and print sharing. Protocols are tcp/ip, netbui, and ipx/spx. Add these protocols within control panel-network-add. To give access to your drives, right click in windows explorer and click sharing. Make sure the computers are in the same Workgroup under the Identification tab. That should do it.

 

[nuttervm]

you dont 'have' to have netbui and ipx/spx protocols installed. the network will work without it. netbui is slightly faster on small networks(doesnt work well, if at all on large networks). you have the option of installing it, but you dont have to install any new protocols if you would like to keep it simple.

 

[erub]

well, ive only worked with small networks and I learned that from a Netgear tech - do you need to have IPX/SPX installed either? Or will windows work with just a straight TCP/IP network?

 

[nuttervm]

ipx/spx is used in things like games usually. starcraft comes to mind. i have my home network using tcp/ip only over a 10/100 switch. more protocols won't make much of a difference, but at times they can be the source of slowdowns and occasional incompatibilities. i like to keep my network as simple as possible to avoid such problems

 

[Wizkid]

TCP/IP is the only thing that you need, and when you are behind a firewall (router) there is no real reason to use NetBEUI or IPX/SPX. You can safely share your files over TCP/IP...

Anyways, glad you got it working