networking with just a hub

[olrac]

Well I finally networked my 2 pc's with a hub on my cable connection. I have a cable modem connected to the hub's uplink port with a regular cat 5 cable and the 2 pc's connected to the hub. Both computers now have an internet connection that work independantly but only one pc sees the other. Is it possible to have file sharing with this setup? I ran the network wizard in xp on both machines and chose the network connection with just a hub and named the computers under the same workgroup nema but I only one sees the other and It won't let me access it? I only have one IP address. Both computers function quite well on the internet and they don't depend on the other for connecting. What did I do wrong here?

 

[jihiggs]

you must have two ip to get them both on the internet. the wizard doesnt share your files, you have to right click the drives or folders and share them first.

i went to the tomshardware forums and all i got was this lousy signature.

 

[jlanka]

Both computers function quite well on the internet and they don't depend on the other for connecting

Question: Can you surf the web with both PC's at the same time? Or do you only have one on at a time? If you can use them both I would say you have more than one IP address.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[olrac]

Well, here's the scoop. I have had high speed for quite some time. I just moved into my new home earlier this week so I had to get the ISP's service technician here to install the service at the new location. I asked him about installing a network with just a hub. He told me no problem. The ISP does sell additional IP address' but kind of told me in confidence that to have both computers on the net at the same time, I don't need the second ip address because of some "static ip adressing" or somehting like that. He told me that the company that he works for will be correcting the situation sometime in the future so I will have to get the second address but for at least a year he said I'm OK. Anyways, I downloaded two large files at the same time and was getting over 300KB/s on both pc's simutaneously. I'm pretty happy with that. The only downfall about this particular situation is that because I don't have the second address, I cant file share. The computers see each other but thats as far as it goes, but thats OK, I have high speed internet access on both mine and my wife's machine for the price of one. I'm definately not complaining.

 

[jlanka]

On the one that supposedly has no IP address, what do you get when you type "ipconfig /all" at a DOS prompt?

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[olrac]

Ok, you're right, I do have 2 different ip address' but how the heck did I get them, I did not ask for them and I'm definitely not paying for them, and like I said before, the tech told me I did not need 2 ip address' to get them both on the net.

 

[olrac]

The Subnet mask and the default gateway are the same but the ip address' are different. Can I file share with these two PC's in this situation?

 

[jlanka]

The tech was alluding to the fact that you can get 2 IP addresses even though you're not paying for them. He didn't mean you don't "need" them, he mean you don't have to "pay" for them.

Same subnet mask and same gateway is as they should be. You should certainly be able to see each other that way. You just have to make sure both of them have "Client for Microsoft Networks" client and "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" service installed. Check those first, then report back if it's still not working.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[olrac]

Well, I did that and I don't see the other computer. All I see in network neighborhood is my pc and "entire network" which there is nothing in there. File and printer sharing are enabled and client for microsoft networks is installed on both pc's.

 

[jlanka]

can you ping each PC from the other? To do that, write down the IP address of each PC and then from a DOS prompt type "ping XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX" (XXX being the address of the OTHER PC).

If you can ping each other, then you can map drives without having to go through network neighborhood.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[olrac]

No, I cannot ping each other(timout, no data received" I put win98se back in because WinXP was just causing to many problems for me but when I had XP running on both machines through the hub they did see each other but that was all, could not communicate on the network. If there is a program that will configure this for me I'll try it but if not, I won't lose any sleep over it because I would rather not share any files anyways just because I don't want the entire neighbourhood trying to break into my computer. Its funny, you hear all this stuff about how you are succeptable to hackers on a cable network and here I can't even get into my other computer in the same house. lol!

 

[olrac]

I have some awesome download speed rates on both machines, thats all I wanted anyways. (And for the price of one ip address too!)

 

[jlanka]

Neither machine could ping each other?

Thats your most basic problem statement. Ping is the lowest level software test you can do. OK now we're getting somewhere. So you're saying you re-installed 98SE on both machines? Or do they dual-boot?

Anyway, could you possibly post the result of an "ipconfig /all" command here on both machines? Just change the numbers slightly (i.e. if your IP address is something like 192.168.1.23 make it 194.168.1.23 or whatever) but keep the changes consistent. Or you could send it to me via private message if you don't want to post it publicly. I'd like to see what it looks like to see if there's anything strange in there. All you have to do is redirect the output to a file, then notepad the file and cut and paste it into the browser. So the command would be like this:

C:\>ipconfig /all > pc1.txt

The fact that you can surf the web on both machines at the same time, yet can't ping each other is very bizarre. But it should be fixable. I'm thinking it could be a cabling issue, but I'm not sure just how.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Rob423]

SCREW THE HUB, get a linkSys 4 port Router, you only need one IP address, you can hook ton's of PC"s up useing one IP, it works great.. i have 4 Pc's on my Network using the Router with my cable Service, never had a problem yet....

later, ROB

Once you go AMD, You never Go back!!

 

[jlanka]

Oh yeah - thats always the easiest way to go. Some people like to "save money" and use ICS, etc. But I think it's more hassle than spending the $50.00 on a Cable/DSL router.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Guest]

Should be common sence but..

you do have both computers on the same workgroup with same network settings and both NOT behind a firewall correct?