sharing internet w/o router?

[dboy]

I've been having problems with my cable internet access dropping out. I've got 2 pcs sharing access through a netgear MR814 (both wired - the wireless is just for future use 🙂) If I switch to connecting one directly to the modem, it seems to work fine (at least it did for 24 hours, haven't tried for longer yet). When they're sharing, the connection is good for anywhere from 5 minutes to 48 hours, then just quits. The only thing that restores access is rebooting the modem, even though it's indicating no problem and my ISP says everything is good. So, is there a way I can:

A. Share access by connecting the modem to one of the LAN ports on the router instead of the WAN (ie just use it as a switch, not a router). I get 3 IP addresses, so that shouldn't be an issue.

B. Share access by connecting my main computer directly to the modem, then connecting it to the switch as well (obviously need 2 network cards in it then)

Any other ideas?

 

[Rmilton]

Both options should be possible

option A might depend upon your ISP, you could probably ask them how to set it up, you have the general idea though.

for option B you just need 2 network cards in that comp. as you say. I'm going to assume you're using windows. Windows XP ( and i think 2k too) have "Internet Connection Sharing" built in. Honestly, I don't remember exactly how to set it up. A quick gander at the help should tell you though, just search for internet connection sharing.