2 NICs in 1 comp help me!!

[quake]

Here is the deal. Ive got 2 network cards in my comp, 1 for cable modem and 1 for lan. When I first boot up comp it takes an abnormally long period of time for my AIM to connect and for me to be able to surf the net. It takes about 30 seconds to do so. When I am playing Diablo 2 on lan my comp freezes for about 30 seconds every 5 minutes or so and my connections to the internet does the same thing.
I have a linksys pci card connected on lan and I am not sharing internet connection. I connect straight to other comp on lan with crossover cable. I connect to cable modem with 3com isa card. There dont appear to be any irq conflicts in device manager. Is there anything that I need to do in network properties to fix this problem?

 

[smileybry]

quake,
This is going to sound wierd, and be a bit hard to explain in text, but whenever you are sharing internet this way, there are a few "quirks". I am assuming everything is win95/98.
On the machine with the 2 network cards, go to START, then RUN and type in WINIPCFG and press enter. This will bring up your tcp/ip information.
In the box that comes up, there will be a box that is a drop down menu, and probably says PPPADAPTER (if you have dialup networking installed) it may say something else, but thats not important. What you are looking for here is which network card is FIRST on that list. This one NEEDS to be the one setup for the cable modem.

The reason for this is that windows goes to the first active tcp/ip connection to browse the internet, and if its the card going to your other computer, your other computer does not have an internet connection. So, check that out first.

 

[quake]

Thanks for the reply smiley,
But I am not sharing internet connection on other computer I only use it for file sharing and playing lan games. I am running win me on both comps.

 

[smileybry]

reguardless, they need to be setup this way, so that your computer you want to use the internet on knows were to go, and the cable modem needs to be on the first nic listed in winipcfg. I would also suggest that you dont even have tcp/ip installed for your adapter hooked to the other computer, and use simply ipx/spx or netbeui. That way there will be no tcp/ip confusion

 

[Rodal]

Hi, TCP will sometimes bind to either NIC or Dialup adapter (which is only required for your modem). You must create hardware profiles from control panel>system>hardware profiles. Rename the configuration (usually original configuration)to Network,copy it and call it modem or dial in(whatever u want) ok it and close.Both profiles are identical at this time. we need to change this as both dialup adapter and NIC cannot comfortably co exist without probs.Reboot, u will get a menu,select the dialup, u will still need to log on to the lan as nothing has effectively been done yet.Go to system and hardware Profiles u notice the dialup is blued out (your present profile)back to devices tab and disable NIC in this Profile,reboot.Select Network from menu and remove the dial up adapter from this profile.Done!! good luck

 

[quake]

Thanks guys, Ill give it a try.

 

[DaveGoTech]

I have found that if you have a minimal amount of PC's (in this case 2) it is better to use 1 NIC in each PC. Connect each NIC to a router, then to your cable modem. It simplifies setup and works efficiently. You also have the added benefit of a firewall which is recommended.

 

[z6]

I found in more than one LAN-parties I hosted that 2 NIC's in one PC ( regardless the OS, but W2K seems to behave better ) when running Quake2 is causing all sorts of erratic behaviour. anyway, since U are not sharing the internet connection, either U play on the LAN / OR play on the WAN..... eaysiest thing to ( indeed, smilybry ) either temp. disable the 2nd LAn card when playin on the internet ( should be easy in ME ) or use a diff. protocoll on the Local LAN.....

good luck. )