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Why I hate Networking!

M

Matt L

Senior member
I have 5 computers, 2 of which are laptops. I have a 4 port SMC Barricade router. For awhile I had a D-Link router piggy backed to the SMC to allow all the wired connections. The 3 desktops are Win XP, the 2 old laptops are Win 98 Lite. When wired they all work fine, everyone could see everyone. Having wired laptops kind of defeats the purpose so I picked up a couple of Linksys WAB11b cars, the router is b also.

I did all the things you are supposed to do, changed the name of the router, tried to get WiFi working with out luck ( both support it...) ended up doing WEP. Did MAC filtering as well. Problem is half the time the computers can no longer see each other, often the Win 98 machines can't even see the network, but all connect to the Internet. I can try a few minutes later and the network is back, I hate 98! the problem has gotten worse after the last few days, to the point none of the wired XP computer can see each other. Did some research that indicated if one of the networked computers was missing a protocol none of the networked computer would see each other. Installed all 3 protocols on the computers and bang the network was viable. Clicked on one of the computers this afternoon and nothing! No network, not even the computer I'm on!

Other notes; I'm letting the router assign addresses except for my networked TiVo (could that be the problem???) When I restart the notebooks I have to go into the utility and connect ( a pain...), one of the notebooks goes from 100% signal to nothing from time to time (it's roughly 12 feet from the router 2 floors below).

WTF is going on???
 
I'v found that relying on windows to "network" or see other computers on the same network is a hit and miss type of deal. You can type in the actual computer name in "My Computer" or IE and you should be able to get it. Try pinging the IP addy first to see if they are even seeing each other on that layer.
 
Disable WEP and MAC filtering first. Get the basics working before you introduce more advanced features. This is an important strategy in any troubleshooting.
 
Did that first, it all seemed to be working OK. Added WEP, then MAC filtering, still OK. I never let the system run for any length of time as I added stuff in, just checked to see if it was working then added the next item into the mix.


But, if it was WEP or MAC wouldn't the system not work at all? Not just some of the time?
 
if you have a connection to the internet, then it is working. as bluestrobe said, you cannot rely on "network neighborhood" as an indicator of things working. it is flakey at best
 
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