LAN-Wan / Router-Switch ????

scott

Hi Guys

I need some help. I have been trying to setup a small network for a friend.
The purpose of the network is Lan Gaming.There is no internet connection.
Before Crysis came out and he built a new machine with Vista, We had the network working fine with 2 XP machines through a D-Link switch.
Now with the 1 Vista machine replacing 1 of the XP's Each machine will only see itself.
Again this is a LAN only ( No WAN )
All Windows Security and Firewalls have been turned off, No AV and no UAC on Vista.
Follwed wizards on both to setup the network. No Joy.
All network discovery and file sharing settings are turned on.
Both Devices are "Working Properly" in device manager
ipconfig shows different default gateways with an odd number ( Not the 192.168...I would expect )

I even tried putting a Lynksys router in place of the switch...same deal. Also I could not get to the setup screen for the router from either machine. Typed in the 192.168.1.1 in the browser and get the "Can not connect in offline mode" blurb.

And on the Vista machine It is reporting the network name as "Unidentified Network " I tried changing it to MSHOME like the XP machine...But Vista would not let me. On the change settings page it would select, but I could not type anything or delete "Unidentified Network".

I built the Vista machine here. It sees my network just fine. But no Joy at his house.

Running out of ideas.

Do I really need a switch or Router ?
Can I just plug one machine into the other ?
Does a router need a WAN connection to work ?

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.


Thanks

Scott

BuddyJ

All the computers need to share the same network name. That's your first step. I don't know how you change it in Vista.

scott

Thanks Buddy
I do know that , but it won't let me change it. I even tried naming the network on the xp machine "Unidentified network" ( Too long , wouldn't work )
Not sure if it makes any difference
The XP is Home edition and the the Vista is also Home premium.

On my machines here ( Where it worked ) all my machines are pro and ultimate.



Scott

Missileman

You change it in the same place in Vista. Just looks different.

Comtrol Panel => System => Advanced System Settings => Computer Name => Network ID or Change to do it directly.

You do have to get into the same Workgroup or it will never work

scott

Thanks missleman , that worked. Kind of...

Workgroups are now the same but still no joy.

I now think we have a hardware problem.

We hooked up a win 98 machine to the switch with the XP machine ( The network setup disc was run on the 98 machine ) and they cannot see each other either.
They have had some electrical problems latley including several "Brown outs ".

I think my problem lies with the XP machine or the switch. I do have a spare switch and a few network cards. It is just a matter of getting down to his place to do it. Or better yet make him bring it all up here.

Thanks for your help guys.
I will report back when we have it resolved.


Scott

Missileman

Don't forget that with Vista you have to run the new network wizard and answer that it is a private home network or it won't enable the sharing or configure the firewall meaning an invisible machine otherwise since that is the default for Vista.

Soundy

Hmm, okay, I see a couple problems with the original post...

Now, you're not normally using a router, only a switch... but you see "odd" IP addresses and different gateways?

This may be the key, as for the machines to see each other on the network, they MUST both have IPs in the same subnet, and if you're not using a router or something else with a DHCP server, you'll have to provide those IPs manually to both machines.

If one of the machines is 192.168.1.something, with a netmask of 255.255.255.0, then the other MUST also be 192.168.1.somethingelse. The gateway actually shouldn't matter and can even be blank in this case. Again, if you're only using a switch to connect the two, you'll have to configure this all yourself.

If the router didn't help, it's possible one or neither machine is set for DHCP, but already has a hard-coded IP. I would expect this to be the case with the XP box if you've already been using it for LAN gaming using only a switch. You naturally wouldn't be able to access it from the XP box in that case, if the machine has an IP other than 192.168.1.something.

Problem is, between mis-matching IPs and any other possible issues, it's easy to bang away at one problem and not get anywhere because something else isn't right. If the two aren't networked properly at the lowest level, you could hack around for days changing network names and workgroups and get absolutely nowhere.

Quickest and easiest way to eliminate one part of the issue would be to ensure both machines are set for DHCP ("Obtain an IP address automatically"), plug them into the LAN ports on the router, and allow them to pull IPs that will ensure they're on the same subnet, then make sure the two can ping each other and the router. Once you can confirm that the two have a working "communication channel" you can tackle any other problems (assuming that doesn't solve it right there). At that point, it may simply start working...

Edit: Whoa, ancient thread bump... that's what I get for getting online before my morning coffee!