Networking - connecting 2 Computers 7

[ccie2b2004]

I have two PCs, one have Win98SE the other one is a XP PRO. Both have NIC's and attached to a 10/100 HUB straigh CAT 5 (the XP PRO used to be a Win2000 machine and I had it Network with the Win98SE) Since I upgraded the Win2000 to XP I have not be able to network the PCs... They cannot see each other... Any ideas on what I should be looking for? It is driving me crazy!!!!!

 

[Mulga]

Check your network connections, ensure both systems have different IP addresses, usually 192.168.1.* where * is any number. Subnet mask should be 155.155.155.0 for both. Ensure file sharing is enabled for both and that at least one folder on each system is shared. Each sytem should have a unique name, PC1 and PC2 or somesuch and both should be members of the same workgroup. Help us to help you, please post back and tell us if this helped.
All things are possible except skiing through a revolving door.

 

[wolluf]

Mulga - 155.155.155.0 should be 255.255.255.0 (again!)

 

[ccie2b2004]

Sorry.. I already had check those details.... (the computers where networked until I upgraded the Windows2000 PC to XP PRO) Any other ideas?

 

[vop]

Check your default workgroup name.

It is normally 'workgroup' for 98.

I noticed recently, while setting up XP into a network, that the default workgoup name on an XP machine was 'home'

 

[Sebas123]

Before checking workgroup, I would tried to "ping" the other computer ... Just try "PING IP_Addr" in the command line prompt and see if he reply ...

 

[ccie2b2004]

I had change the workgroup name in both PCs to "allied" and did try to ping the other... no deal!

 

[ccie2b2004]

I need this PC to be XP which by the way it is XP PRO, not the home edition. I cannot set it to be Win98SE. It is insane to think that I cannot network 2 PCs because one of them is XP!!! XP PRO supposed to be designed for networking power!!!

 

[Mulga]

wolluf is correct of course re subnet mask, to make matters worse I copied and pasted the same error to another thread...
Have you checked that your NIC is correctly installed in both systems, particularly the one which was upgraded. Check in device manager and ensure there are no problems with it. Help us to help you, please post back and tell us if this helped.
All things are possible except skiing through a revolving door.

 

[ccie2b2004]

The XP PRO PC goes to a hub, the hub has also comming in a cable modem with RJ45.... The XP PC has internet connection so it is easy to assume that the NIC is working correctly. I then take the cable modem and directly connect it to the Win98SE PC and just after I did a winconfig /renew_all I got an internet conection. So I could confirm that the Win98SE PC's nic is also working correctly. Which also let's me determine that TCP/IP should be working correctly (not corrupted), winsock, etc. I am on a lost on this one!!!!

 

[fitfixer]

Have a look here for good tips on home networking;

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/peer.htm

I set up P2P networking on Win98 to WinXP frequently with no problems,
1, Get the NIC's working on both machines, ping the loopback address 127.0.0.1 to ensure that the TCP/IP stack is working,
give them static IP's in the 192.168.0.X range,with a subnet of 255,255,255,0 and the same workgroup name.

2, Try pinging from both PC's, if one PC can ping the other, then you have a connection, if not check the settings on the Hub, it may be switched for a crossover cable, try cycling the power on the hub, try a crossover cable to eliminate the hub
3, Use the Wizard in XP for setting up a small/home network
This usually does the trick,
You can get both PC's to share one modem by giving the second PC a default gateway with the connecting PC's IP address and name, just select "Auto detect settings" in Internet Explorer on the client
Frank Farrell
Network+ MCP

 

[wolluf]

ccie2b2004

You haven't actually posted your network settings. If you are using a hub, the internet connection is not being routed - so:-

1. Is it only being used on XP machine? If so, your ISP is presumably assigning your XP machine's IP address. Also, either you are assigning 98 machine's IP address, or it will have none or a 169.x.x.x address.

2. Is it being used by both machines? If so, your ISP is presumably assigning IP addresses to both machines. There have been a number of posts where people with this situation can't see anything over the LAN (the IP addresses only work externally). One suggestion is to install netbeui for file sharing over LAN.

So, what IP addresses does each machine say it has (winipcfg on 98, ipconfig on XP)? I know it was working before with 98/2k, but a configuration has obviously changed with the upgrade.

 

[fitfixer]

Lets not get carried away by IP addressing issues,Wolluf
It does not matter what addresses you use on your LAN, addresses like 10.0.0.1 for PC1, 10.0.0.2 for PC2, etc, will work fine on a simple peer-to-peer network, The temporary IP address assigned by your ISP while online is only shown to the internet,and only applies to the machine connecting to the internet
It has no impact on the addresses used on a LAN,a networked PC can have 2 IP addresses, one for the LAN, the other for a dial-up modem connected to an ISP

If you want to share a dialup connection over a small LAN, the simplest way is to implement Windows Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
This uses the default range 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255, so your LAN will have to use this range, ICS uses Network Address Translation (NAT)In effect the connecting PC functions as a proxy server, shielding your Private LAN addresses from the internet,cients just need to have the default gateway set, this is the LAN address of the "Proxy" PC, and Internet Explorer on the other client PC's needs to be set to auto-detect this in the LAN connection properties

see;

http://www.homenethelp.com/ics/ics-install-netxp.asp

Frank Farrell
A+,Network+,MCP

 

[wolluf]

fitfixer,

From the posts (cable modem, not dial-up), it appears the internet connection and the LAN are sharing the NIC. So there's a potential IP conflict (when connected to internet, need IP address from ISP, when on LAN, need local private IP address). I was just trying to find out how its actually configured (like best option may be to install a second NIC in the XP machine, connect cable modem to XP machine and share it with ICS).

 

[ccie2b2004]

Sorry for my delay responding.... responding to the questions on the configuration:
Win98SE PC has one NIC, WinXP Pro has one NIC, both machines are connected to a hub. A third device, a cable modem, is attached to the HUB. The XP Pro machine is getting IP from the ISP provider with a subnet mask of 255.255.254.0, and gateway 24.45.90.1 I was expecting that the PC with windows98SE would request an IP from the ISP as well, but so far cannot find the DHCP server, and was not able to "see" the XP Pro PC. Yesterday I loaded Netbuie protocol on the XP Pro PC and now the Windows98SE PC can see the XP Pro sharing folders, CD Rom!!! but the XP Pro Pc still cannot see the Windows98SE PC!!! Even when I searched for it by PC name! Is this crazy or what? both PCs have TCPIP and Netbuie loaded... Since I installed Netbuie in the XP PRO PC I have not run yet the "make a home network wizard" that was my next approach... but that the windows98SE PC cannot reach to the internet is also puzzle me big time... again, I guess that is why I like this kind of work, is like been a detective! or like playing a crazy chess game with one eye close

Any ideas?
luis

 

[smah]

Unless your ISP provides you with multiple IP addresses (which they don't without additional $$), this setup won't work. You'll either need to use Internet Connection Sharing (with an additional network card in 1 machine) or get a hardware router.

 

[ccie2b2004]

OK guys! I have some good news for you! I run the "make a home network wizard" in the XP PC, in there, at the end asked me to make a disk to run in any other PC that would join this network group. I run the executable file from the floppy in the Win98SE PC. Restarted the 98 PC and guess what???? The XP PC can now see the 98 PC!!! I have to tell you that with Win2000 it was a piece of cake to set this workgroup with 98 PC's... no wizards and nonsense. In any case, I like to thank Mulga, wolluf, vop, Sebas123, fitfixer, smah for all your clues. I think we all learn a little bit more in this crazy world of XP!!! Thank you guys! My next step is to follow fitfixer's link and try to let the win98SE PC to share the internet!!! I will let you know how it goes... Otherwise, I guess I will open a new topic
I am glad I was able to make you think a little bit

Till next one,

luis Hernandez
A+,Network+,MCP, MCSE