TCP/IP issue installing a printer through a switch..Its complicated. 1

[wannaBgeeksquad]

Ok this should not be a big deal but its not working for some reason. i have a user in the office on a different network, the printer is on my subnet, a different subnet than her network.

My solution was install a second NIC card, and join that NIC to MY subnet, allowing her tcp/ip access to this printer.

Now i keep getting this message:

Windows socket error: No such host is known (11001), on API 'ASync Lookup'

What the hell??is this due to the new NIC card?? The printer software???

Also, with this client it asked me a seperate step, about my NIC cardand what type it is... what does this mean?? i chose Generic network card.


Thanks for any help..

 

[chieftan]

When you look at the routing table does it show the correct gateway for that network?

 

[wannaBgeeksquad]

Routing table?? I set up the printer to use the same gateway as the server is using. and like i said i need to connect a second network to it.

 

[LawnBoy]

OK, you've got two NICs in the printer, one setup on your subnet, the other setup on her subnet, correct? Or did you put 2 NICs in your PC intending to share the printer across subnets?

Not clear on what you've done...

 

[wannaBgeeksquad]

i wish the printer had 2 NICS...that would be easy. No, i put the extra NIC card in the clients computer. But then she started getting error pop-ups. i think the second NIC messed with her pc when i tried bridging the connections out of curiosity..

Thanks.

 

[LawnBoy]

Sounds like the second NIC is botched. Can she 'see' the print server on your subnet?

I would uninstall the printer drivers from her PC, just to eliminate that question, and make sure she has connectivity to your subnet.

 

[wannaBgeeksquad]

Heres the thing, her pc acts really weird sometimes. i first tried pinging the printer from her pc and it said something like 'unrecognizable command' so then all i did was disable her NIC and see if she was able to get on the net through my second card, and it was able to connect.

 

[LawnBoy]

With NIC1 disabled, can you ping the printer through NIC2?

i tried bridging the connections

You don't want to enable packet or port forwarding. I've done what you describe 100 times and it should work without any configuration other than the usual (IP, subnet, GW, etc).

 

[wannaBgeeksquad]

No, its her computer, it wont ping for some reason, it tells me bad command.

 

[pansophic]

Did the system work OK prior to the second NIC? If so, remove the second NIC and add a secondary IP address to the original NIC that is on the same subnet as your printer. You get the same functionality as the second NIC, just not the additional throughput.

You shouldn't have to make any other changes to any devices.


pansophic

 

[LawnBoy]

Bad command means the ping.exe file doesn't exist on her PC or the PATH is messed up. On XP it's located at c:\windows\system32\

Try using TRACERT instead of PING.

 

[wannaBgeeksquad]

hey Pansophic,
Ya when she is seperate on her network theres no probs. but activating the second NIC starts the probs. And if i put a secondary IP on 1 NIC how do i plug into both networks which are on 2 seperate physical switches??

**Lightbulb** could i put an ethernet cable from a port on 1 switch to a port on the other switch??? would i be able to find the printer that way??

Thanks lawnboy, how would i go about replacing the ping executable?? where would i get it on the net?? can i copy from another machines .exe?? and trace route doesnt work either 'bad command''


thanks for your guys help..

 

[pansophic]

You should be able to find the printer if you interconnect the two networks, but that may pose some significant security problems. When you said two "subnets" that is typically referring to two subnet masks on a single network, which is where I took it to mean immediately. There may be legitimate reasons to separate the two networks, you'd have to find that out from your network people.

If there is a reason to be on two separate physical networks, I'd rather see a firewall or at least a packet filtering router between them. Either of which is easy to set up with a single PC and two NIC cards.


pansophic

 

[LawnBoy]

Someone has been "fiddling" with that PC. Ping and tracert have been standard utilities that install with windows since the days of 3.1. I would reinstall windows and start over.

Do not "put an ethernet cable from a port on 1 switch to a port on the other switch". You could create a topology loop, which could cause an ARP storm, which would bring you network to it's knees.



"We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[wannaBgeeksquad]

so i put in a second nic, configured it, and restarted the machine, now it wont load the OS for some reason. this is getting better and better..

 

[wannaBgeeksquad]

figured it out. thanks guys.

 

[LawnBoy]

So what was the problem?

 

[wannaBgeeksquad]

i ended up, getting a second pc for those users. See theres something weird about their 192 network that it creates socket errors and connection errors when i tried the dual NIC.

The thing is EVERYBODY in the office who uses the 192 network has a secondary pc for my network. since we didnt have any extra pc's i figured i'd try and battle it out and make it work, but i couldnt do it, so i went the easy route 2 pc's on a KVm switch. all is good.

Thanks for the help though.

Oh, and that one PC i had do a repair on the OS because it was acting really weird (ie no ping or tracert, and it would take 20 minutes to load up.) it was fine after that though.