Major problem since sharing a network - help

[jayyyb]

Hi,

I recently wanted to move some files from my desktop to a friends laptop. As the files were about 8gb, I thought it would be a good idea to setup a network and via ICS and file sharing transfer the files across.

I have a Netgear DG834GT wireless router (which I am connected to via ether - the laptop was connected wirelessly)

After successfully transferring the files, my friend took his laptop, but now I find that my internet connection has become terrible.

Not neccessarily the speed, as I have been downloading quite fast off Azureus, but the time it takes to connect. For example, I load Outlook Express, and it just sits there for about a minute before any activity such as sending / receiving files.

I have had my Sky Broadband (UK) 16meg connection for about 2 months now, and have had no problem until now (although I have been having a few disconnections recently)

When I rang Sky, they suggested that they cap my line at 12 meg as that was all my line could handle. However, I don't understand why this would only affect me now, after 2 months of good service.

Basically I'm uncertain whether its Sky or me who is at fault. I have unshared the files that I transferred, but aside from that I don't really know what to do at my end.

What do you guys think? I know that you probably need more info, so if you could give me some pointers then I can post back with whatever you need.

Although I'm pretty inexperienced with networking, I'm not some idiot that has racked up a load of adware causing slowdown.

So, like I said, I'm convinced it either because of the shared network I did, or because of the line capping issue.

What do you think? Do people suffer slowdown after using ICS / networking through XP / my networking places?

Many thanks

 

[Iceblue]

First, you didn't need to do ICS just to share files with your friend's laptop. You only needed to set both machines up on the same workgroup and enable sharing on the folders you wanted to share.

Try re-running the network setup wizard and turn off ICS. If you mapped any network drives, disconnect them, too.

 

[blue68f100]

I would turn off your BT as IceBlue suggested.

Kill ICS not needed. Also kill your file and printer sharing if not needed any more. Any network drives that you had previous setup to mount will continue to do so. The reason it is take so long it is looking for those shares and timing out.

I would also try a direct connect removing the router from play. If you opened any ports up while you were tring to share files, close them back down. Rescan you pc for virus, it's posiable you friend could have left you a un-welcomed package.

If you dropped your defense in your firewall make sure your reset them.

 

[jayyyb]

Cheers for the replies guys..

I've turned off the ICS and file / printer sharing

When you say turn off the BT what did you mean.

I'm still getting big delays and system slowdown when using a connection in programs such as outlook, and alot of "waiting for http://" whilst browsing.

I'll run a virus check now

I'm getting a hell of a lot of "a network cable is unplugged" losing connection messages, which I'm guessing points to the capping I mentioned.

However, considering the slowdown occurred after the sharing, I'm still convinced this is a cause.

I'm guessing it was a mistake to delete the shared folders off the network rather than unsharing. I've since unshared the folders on the HD.

How do I achieve 'a direct connect removing the router from play"?

I am directly wired into my Netgear DG834GT modem/router.

Many thanks for your help so far

 

[blue68f100]

I'm getting a hell of a lot of "a network cable is unplugged" losing connection messages

This is what's cause your problem. Make sure you have your cat5 cable plugged in all the way, Router and PC. With this error message, you are removing your network connections and it has to get the DHCP info every time. If it presist, move to a different lan port on the router. And or different cable.

A direct connect would be modem to pc, no router. Just move which ever cable is easiest. But make sure you have a FW turned on. And only go to a few sites you know are clean and safe.

BT Bit-tolerent, P2P

 

[Iceblue]

Concur with Blue. Obviously, you are going through repeated time-outs on your network connections. The error message you are seeing usually points to a physical disconnect; it can also point to a problem in the router's ethernet switch... somehow, your NIC is losing the signal on its ethernet port.

If everything Blue suggests checks out (including his suggestion to connect directly to your modem - bypassing the router), other things to try would be to power-down and restart your router and reset your router to factor defaults.

But, a physical issue is still the most likely cause. It could even be the connector in your NIC.

 

[jayyyb]

many thanks for dealing with my newbness guys, I'll try your suggestions.

BT.. gotcha

Cheers

 

[jayyyb]

nope.. sorry guys, (collective groan)

the connection is still shockingly slow, I get "waiting for".. pretty much every time I browse, and I get system slowdown.

I'm convinced that I've got myself into a tangled mess when I was messing around with the networking.

Thus, here are a bunch of screenshots that may point toward the problem. I have tried pretty much everything that you suggested (that I am capable of), plus resetting the modem to factory defaults.

Bear in mind that there is no laptop anymore using the connection, its just my PC, via ethernet into the modem.

Also, clicking on "view workgroup computers" in Network Places causes it to crash and I get a "program not responding" message

Finally, on my connection, I have disabled the "file and printer sharing" option on my connection, but it makes no difference.

If you have the time, please take a look, maybe it will be obvious if I have screwed up.

If not, then like you say it could be my NIC. However, why would this happen after 2 months of trouble free use?

If there is anything else you need captured that can help you diagnose, just let me know.

Many thanks for your continued patience

Here is a link to the photo album so as not to take up space here..

http://community.webshots.com/album/556826041JdOpfQ

Let me know if there is any problem

Cheers

 

[Iceblue]

When you drill down into the properties of the Nvidia nForce controller what do you find?

 

[blue68f100]

Did you ever get your connection so it is not going up and down?

The last nvidia chipset I setup had a problem with the nic port drivers. Reload the drives for your chipset. If that does not clear it reload the nic drivers. What is what I recall, I only found 1 BIOS version that did not cause a problem. This was a new build, Asus M2N-e.

Delete your unused port connections, all you need is local connections and 1394.

Does the slow speed presist with a direct connection, pc to modem?

Try running this cmd from the cmd window "netsh winsock reset"

 

[jayyyb]

Thanks guys... Sorry about the delay in responding, as I said, I've got a snails pace browsing capability.

I have uploaded captures of my Nforce connection properties (images 10 and 11)

At the moment I'm trying to find out how to connect directly to the modem (rather than via the router).

As my connection is through the Netgear DG824GT (router combined with modem), I just gotta find out how to do this.. I'll have a browse, but it may take a while, so bear with me

This is the product page for my router/modem: http://www.netgear.co.uk/extra/h_wirelessrouter_dg834gt.php?type=

As for my connection not going up / down, sometimes I had a explorer "cannot display page" message, but the disconnecting seems to have stopped. the traffic always eventually moves (albeit after a delay).

More than anything, it is just the "waiting for http://" and general slow response time that happens.

This also occurs when going into the router/modem page (http://192.168.0.1), it is slow to load the page.

I have also uploaded a couple of shots of the router/modem setup page, let me know if you see anything that you would like me take a shot of..

Finally, why am I getting that error message (networkconnections2) when I try to look at the internet settings - could this be a cause of the problem.

I will try the "netsh.winsock.reset"... now.

Cheers fellas

 

[blue68f100]

I'm not sure you can do a direct connect with a combo unit. And most ISP record the modem's MAC address with the account.

You should only have 1 local area connection, unless your motherboard has 2.

 

[Iceblue]

Does your computer think it is sharing the internet connection on the OTHER computer?

Since you did not need to set up ICS in the first place, and since BOTH computers could connect to the internet through your router at the time you had them both connected, and since your computer is obviously continually trying to connect to SOMETHING and timing out, I'm wondering if your initial setup caused your computer to believe it must connect THROUGH the now disconnected computer???

I would suggest you re-run your home network setup wizard defining a very simple "network" of your computer connected through a gateway.

 

[jayyyb]

My motherboard (Asus A8N-SLI premium) has 2 ethernet ports available.

I'm thinking I may have inadvertedly done what iceblue suggested..

(I told you I was new to this)

Thinking back, I shared the files I wanted to move, at the time I could have dragged the router across aswell, logic being that both computers need it as a resource. (ugh, I had a horrible feeling that this was all self inflicted)

I can't really remember - could this be why on this picture: it shows "internet connection" under the heading "internet gateway"?

Also, could this be why I'm getting the error message shown here: as I can't access the settings because it thinks the I'm not the admin computer for the connection (if that makes sense)

ugh, if so, what a mess, how the hell do I sort it out?

Whilst writing this ...I've just run Network Setup Wizard, and this is what comes up:

If you flick through the next few images, you'll see I get some more options, but I'm not sure what to do on the final menu - I no longer have a network, and if I deselect the other connections, "next" is greyed out.

What options should it take?

thanks for your continued help (especially as this mess is due to my own stupidity)

 

[Iceblue]

In the beginning of the wizard, select the middle option (connection through a residential gateway). Then proceed from there.

 

[jayyyb]

Hi Iceblue,

I've tried what you suggested, but I am left with the same result (speedwise)..

And after having played around, I have been given this:

Thus, as you suspected, I had somehow setup my connection so that it connects through the laptop.

I had never connected through a gateway, straight to the modem.

I really don't see how I am going to fix this... Its almost as if I don't have the admin permissions to change things, but the laptop does, as XP thinks its the host ICS computer... and now the laptop has gone... aaghh

What an almighty screw up

Is there anyway to totally reset the network), so I can start again? .....I think not.

Is this is now a registry problem thing?

 

[blue68f100]

it is not a simple step in doing a total reset.

For some detail of what is involved read http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326155

Hopefully it want come to this

 

[jayyyb]

Hey dude, do you think this is what I ought to be looking at?: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=263276

By the way, I'd like to thank you all again for the help, I feel pretty stupid about what I did...

Cheers

oh yeah, I got that knowledge base article from http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:6j937IiV31oJ:www.helpwithwindows.com/techfiles/ics-mskb.html+remove+ICS+from+host+computer&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=3

Finally, will system restore do me any good? I only screwed up my computer about 3 days ago, so I won't lose too much data if I go to a system restore point before the mess occurred..

 

[jayyyb]

nope, won't be doing that - the article refers to removing ICS in win98se..

and on I go..

 

[Iceblue]

I had never connected through a gateway, straight to the modem

Your Netgear DG834GT router is considered a gateway device. It should be providing the IP address to your computer.

 

[blue68f100]

System restore may, if you have a valid point to restore too. It was design for mainly drivers that wrecked havic. At this point I would try it. I have had good luck with it.

System restore does not affect your data in most cases. If you are using OE, do a backup to a different locations.

Your router is a combo unit modem/router. I was un-aware the Netgear was a combo unit, so you can not do a direct like a seperate unit.

 

[jayyyb]

aahhhhh... (relief)

:lol: thank f*ck for system restore.

Thanks also for your help guys!

*I am a bit to scared to go back into my network settings to check that things are back to normal, but I'm pretty sure they are, things are considerably faster.

Next time I want to do something like share files, I'll give you guys a heads up ok?

Cheers.

 

[Iceblue]

Glad the restore point worked!

For future reference, to establish a share relationship with another computer on your LAN,

1) Go to "My Computer" on your computer, open "properties" (or "system information") click the "Computer Name" tab, and make note of the Workgroup name.

2) Go to the new computer, and verify that it can connect to the network (e.g. open IE and see if you can get to google.com). This is just a test to see how much of the networking functions on the new computer already work. If you can't get to the internet, run the network setup wizard, telling it that it is connecting through a residential gateway, etc. Set the Workgroup Name to match your computer's. DO NOT enable ICS - you have no need of ICS just to share files.

2a) If it can get to the internet already, open My computer on this computer and do the same thing as for yours, only once you get to the "Computer Name" tab, change the Workgroup Name to match yours. If it already did match yours, just exit. If you had to change it, reboot the computer.

3) Browse to the drive / folder you want to share on each computer and enable sharing.

4) Share away.

 

[jayyyb]

cheers dude, will do..

I'm now awaiting a phonecall from my friend...

"what the hell have you done to my laptop?"

thanks again