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Dual wireless/wired networks

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maitakeboy

Technical User
Oct 22, 2002
20
US
I saw a similar thread to mine, which received nothing but sarcastic response, therefore, I'm posting a similar issue hoping for some constructive responses.
I am helping a friend who setup his new office this way:
Two Compaq Presario 2500's (integrated wireless) with XP connected to a Linksys WRT54G AP/Router out to a DSL connection. He has also created a wired network from these laptops to a switch to which he has connected a Hawking Technology Print Server and two printers attached. Don't ask me why, but that's the way he wants it.
This setup has caused me to rack my brain trying to understand it's behavior, which is as follows:
When first setup, it wasn't possible to browse the internet and print at the same time. Put another way, if the wireless adapter was enabled (to get out to the internet), it was not possible to print. If the wireless adapter was disabled, then printing was possible. A week later, user 1 noticed he could both print AND browsed the internet, while user 2 still had to toggle the wireless adapter on & off. Then a week or so later, things reversed, and user 2 could both print and browse, while user 1 was left toggling the wireless adapter. The laptops were configured with static IP's(I believe on both adapters) in the same address space as the wireless AP. So what's going on here? It seems as if, some of the time, the wireless adapter takes precedence over the wired adapter, or blocks network traffic from going out there. Which brings up the question of exactly how does network communication work if there are two adapters in the same address space? Why would this setup work sometimes, but not other times? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
 
Why not just connect the print server to the AP/router (which should have a ethernet port on it) and use only the wireles from the work stations.
 
Because we're actually sharing DSL connection with the office upstairs, which is where the AP is.
 
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