Wireless Help

[Ned_Flanders]

Hey guys...wow it's dark down here!

Right, I have 3 PC's all with Belkin 802.11g Wireless Network cards. My PC is connected to an ADSL 2mbit connection - which, is transferred wirelessly to the other 2 PC's.

Currently I have a ad-hoc network in place and I am having the following problems:

1 -: If my PC is not on, the other PC's will pause for 1 or 2 minutes on boot into windows - Im guessing they are trying to get an IP but as the network is not on at my end they can't?

2 -: The ADSL connection is slower on the other 2 PC's - generally they will only get 1Mbit/second speed. Transferring files over the network seems ok though (230MB file in 2 minutes I think)

I really need these problems to be fixed. What am I doing wrong?

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[Ned_Flanders]

Oh, and I tryed assigning a static IP to both PC's and it seemed to work for one PC, but the other wouldn't see any of the other PC's! Don't know why either.

I really need to beable to have a WPA encrypted network with static IP's for each PC - I think this will sort out the problem with booting when the network is not on?

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[kwebb]

"My PC is connected to an ADSL 2mbit connection"

Yep, if your using a computer as a host machine, using ICS or other NAT/Proxy software, then it HAS to be one for the others to have connectivity. It is a DHCP server and the other machines are in fact looking for it and an IP. If it isn't available then yes, it will take some time to login after the DHCP timeout.

As for the speed issue. What OS? Stack might need to be optimized. Also could make sure you have the most up to date firmware on the Access Point though I doubt that is it at all.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

All using windows XP SP2.

Yeah, I guessed it was timing out looking for an IP and thus resumed booting after the timeout.

Can I assign a static IP to each of my PC's so they it doesn't go looking for one - thus if the network is off there isn't a long delay waiting for the timeout.

I can't find any reference to a firmware update for my cards - just for reference they are all <A HREF="http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=201522&pcount=&Product_Id=136479" target="_new">Belkin 802.11g</A>

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[riser]

If your have ICS and your computer is connected to the modem, setting static IPs won't help. You should go out and just pick up a wireless router. It's money, but you won't have to deal with ICS and having your computer on so everyone else can get on.

If you did set the static IP, the time out problem would go away.. I guess that answers your question instead of thinking all computers needed internet.

Riser

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Yeah - I can't afford a router atm unfortunatly. Athough, if anyone could recomend one I may be able to twist my bro and dad into coughing if :lol: .

I'm having problems setting a static IP, at first the a PC connecting to mine is automatically given an IP and everything (apart from the speed issues) is fine. When I set a static IP nothing works.

At the moment my PC has defaulted to 192.168.0.1

So, if my bro had an IP set to 192.168.0.2 and my dad's 192.168.0.3 shouldn't everything work fine?

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[riser]

I don't mess with ICS too much.. I find it bothersome.

But you should be able to make a diskette that will do all the work for you. You run the ICS on the main computer. It'll create a diskette that you take to the other computers and follow some steps.

All it's doing is setting the other computers IP address and I think it sets the gateway to the main PC, 192.168.0.xxx which is the first PC ICS was run on to make the diskette.

So you should have something like:

IP: 192.168.0.1 (your computer
Sub 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.0.1

Other PCs I think should look like:

192.168.0.2 & 3
255.255.255.0
192.168.0.1

I haven't used ICS in a while though.. it just needs to make the PC on the same network (IP and subnet) and then use your PC as the gateway, which when it sees it's trying to hit certain ports, it'll forward it out via your modem.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

So you should have something like:

IP: 192.168.0.1 (your computer
Sub 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.0.1

Other PCs I think should look like:

192.168.0.2 & 3
255.255.255.0
192.168.0.1

That's exactly what I tried! :frown: It'sa not playing nice at all!

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[riser]

Hm.. maybe try setting a proxy in Internet explorer and forego the gateway stuff?

In IE - Tools - Internet Options - Connections - LAN Settings.

Proxy will be 192.168.0.1 and port is 80.

I'm reinventing it here.. I haven't used ICS since.. well. I can't remember it's been that long.. but it's a simple process.. hopefully the IE proxy makes it work..

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Is there the same feature in firefox? Or will changing the settings in IE alter all browsers?

I'll give it a go when I get back anyhoo.

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[Ned_Flanders]

Oh, when I assign a static IP and connect to the network I can't ping my PC, just times out :frown:

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[riser]

If you're using Windows XP SP2 pings might be blocked..

Yeah you're not having any luck with this thing.. Have you made the diskette on a Win XP computer? You should be able to use that diskette on all computers and it'll configure them all use to the one computer. I'll look into it some more to see what settings are all adjusted when using ICS.

 

[riser]

Cut and paste this into a browser.. it's step by step instructions on installing, troubleshooting, and configuring.. it's probably the best source you're going to find..

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;EN-US;Q308006

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Ok guys, Ive bought a router:<A HREF="http://kbserver.netgear.com/products/DG834G.asp" target="_new">http://kbserver.netgear.com/products/DG834G.asp</A>

But I'm still having the speed problems! Any ideas?

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[riser]

You can try setting your NICs to 100mbps/Full Duplex.. that will make your network operate at the fastest speeds over Wire.
You might want to use Cnet.com or toast.net to check the performance of your internet connection to make sure it's not the problem.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

My entire network is wireless - and if I connect direct via a USB modem I get 200-225kbps - which is what I'm supposed to get. ATM, I get 40-90 :frown:

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