home network nightmare

[Dutcho]

I had a novell/anthem network card in both my downstairs and upstairs pc's, life was great. Then my modem acted up so I replaced it with an old pace v90 which had been lying around. Problem starts the the pace needed to be in the same slot as the network card was, that black one (sorry tech speak). I decided to go out and buy a pci network card (see getting better). A 'fast ethernet' thinging to be exact. Plugged in card and installed no problems, did not even need driver disk, yahoo I hear you cry, as I did.

Now here's the problem the b****y thing wont connect to the upstairs machine could it be possible that the two cards cannot talk to each other ?

All I get is cannot log to network or something like that. I think, well I know that I have added the IP address and gateway as used by the novel compatible card but still no joy.

HELP !!!!!!!!!

Please. <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

Should I say that I have configered tcp/ip things and reading other threads you talk about netb something whats that crack about then ?

[ 26 January 2002: Message edited by: Dutcho ]</p>

 

[lone.gunman]

Dutcho m8ty....lets start at the basics, I know this may seem daft...but I assume you're old ISA nic was 10base? Is your new one dual speed? 10/100? If it's just 100base then I don't think your old one will talk to it....Did you uninstall the old nic in safe mode, before you fitted the new one? (Go in safe mode to windows and delete all network stuff and let it re-find it.....??)<br />If the nic is Ok, then have you made sure both machines are on the same domain/workgroup? Have you got both m/c's on the same subnet? ie:Gateway IP addy - 10.0.0.1 sub - 255.255.225.0 Client IP addy - 10.0.0.2 sub 255.255.255.0<br />Try going to the DOS/Command prompt and 'ping' the other IP addy, see if you get a report back.<br />Netbui is another protocol, it won't do any harm to install that if your having troubles, right click Network Neighbourhood, properties, add protocol, NetBUi....<br />Let us know how you get on....

Have Fun <img src="graemlins/EVIL.gif" border="0" alt="[EVIIL]" />

 

[Dutcho]

Go back to basics ? I will follow you advise but a mate or ex mate set up the network and all I am doing is copying the settings he input. the gate way thing he put was 255.255.0.0 does this matter also the ip is not in the range you mention i think.

also I have not got a clue about this network thing so how do you ping in dos ect.... Whats a nic ?

[ 27 January 2002: Message edited by: Dutcho ]</p>

 

[Dutcho]

Right I will tell you all I know. I have gone into safe mode and deleted all network connections ect even dial up. Restarted machine and everything reinstalled, still no joy. What I have noticed is that on the bot screen the network controller and my display are on the same irq, i think that what it was, so I swopped the slot of the network card whiched changed its setting which stopped my modem working so I swopped it back. Windows does not detect any conflicts anywhere.

The i.p of the main machine is 129.234.2.1.<br />Sub net of 255.255.0.0<br />gateway 129.234.4.30

the settings on the othere machine are the same apart from the ip which is 129.234.2.2

These are the same settings that used to work with the old network cards. Are these settings completly wrong as they look totally different to the ones which you have posted as examples ?

I await instructions as the pc is close to spending its life outside in the bin soon.

HELP !!!!!

<br /> <img src="graemlins/flame.gif" border="0" alt="[flame]" /> <img src="graemlins/flame.gif" border="0" alt="[flame]" />

 

[Dutcho]

Still no joy. Another thing I have noticed is that the lights on the card upstairs are both on and occasionally flicker on the card downstairs only one is on ? Any clues ?

The new card is a 10/100 and i dont have a clue what the one upstairs in the other machine is just a novel/anthem 2000 compatable.

[ 27 January 2002: Message edited by: Dutcho ]</p>

 

[Dutcho]

It a cat5 cable m8, a long black one with a plug on each end a bit like a big modem plug. (tech speak again)

The settings are the same on both machines but will try to alter the ip ect to the surgested ones.

Any more help ?

Whats this gateway lark about and how do you determine the settings for that.

[ 27 January 2002: Message edited by: Dutcho ]</p>

 

[Mick]

you have the hub, router working ok ???

hmmm not sure, have you just upgraded to cat5 or was it working on cat5 b4 ???

 

[Dutcho]

I am using the cabel that i have always used. The network used to work fine till I changed this card to a pci one. I am guessing its cat5 mind I am sure the dude in the shop said something like that.

Whats this light lark about then ? Two one upstairs but one on downstairs. No hub mind just direct connection as before.

[ 27 January 2002: Message edited by: Dutcho ]</p>

 

[Dutcho]

Right tried setting ip and sub to the ones surgested by mickie but still no joy. Upstair machine when you click on network neighbourhood you get the pick of one machine above two but on the downstairs pc you do not get that.

Tried searching for pcs but each one can only find itself.

 

[greekpig]

If the two machines are connected by just one piece of cable, then they must be connected by a long piece of cable with a cross-over.

If possible, I'd try seating the machines together with just one short cross-over connecting the two of them.

The 10/100 card will auto-sense the speed, but if your other card is 10BaseT, you could go into it's properties and set it to 10mbps half duplex which I think is the option sure to work. If you don't do this, make sure the other PC is switched on first.

Go into "Device Manager" within the "System" control panel applet and make sure the driver has loaded - make sure it does not have a "pling" anlong side it.

Then set the TCP/IP settings as you have aready said.

Then, on the machine with an IP of 129.234.2.1 type "ping 129.234.2.2", and on the machine with an IP of 129.234.2.2, type "ping 129.234.2.1".

See if the responses are okay.

If they ping each other - great. If they don't, then I assume it's your new ethernet card or the cable.

You can do the obvious - change the cable to another one (must be cross-over if you don't have a hub), if you have any on the disk, run diagnostics on your card.

As already suggested, Netbeui and IPX/SPX protocols do not require setting up - the PC's will just see each other, which is fine for sharing printers and filesystems, but I assume you need TCP/IP for internet access. You could try loading these protocols just to see if the PCs see each other in network neighbourhood though.

If you have no luck, you can purchase a PCI 10BaseT network card off me - all proceeds to charity. I sell old PC equipment towards a good cause. Probably best to try to get your new network card swapped by the person you bought it off though.

I've had great fun this weekend with a network card in my PC. In the end realised that the mainboard was set too low in the case, so the card didn't seat in the PCI card slot properly. All tickety boo now.

All the best.

 

[wasnotwasD]

I would consider changing the upstairs Network Interface Card to the same type as the downstairs one. Then that should eliminate the compatibility issue! And when you get it working again it could be ten times faster <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> <br />Also ! go back to the original IP address & Subnet mask settings, which you most probs have already done.

Then donate both old cards to a Charity Worker <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Regards<br />Diamond <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

 

[Dutcho]

I will go out a purchase another card and then lets hope thats the end of it. If this does work then Who ever wants the old cards can have em.

Who knows why there are two lights on upstairs but only one down stairs ? On the network card I mean.

[ 27 January 2002: Message edited by: Dutcho ]</p>

 

[Dutcho]

Now here's a question. Can I remove the TCP/IP jobbie and leave NetBui, will this mean I wont have to worry about ip address ect for the min till I get the thing working ?

I got up at 4.00am this morning could not sleep cos of this bl***y thing. Active mind and all that.

 

[greekpig]

You can install Netbeui on both computers, which will mean that you don't need to install TCP/IP on this PC, but it'll mean you can't access the internet on it (unless you also install the TCP/IP protocol as well) - you'll be able to share files and printers between the computers though.

Netbeui is a non-routed protocol meant for local area networks. It has better performance than TCP/IP because TCP/IP has a greater overhead as it is routable - bigger packets, more encapsulation. With Netbeui, PCs are distinguished by their MAC address (lowest level network address burned into your network card by the manufacturer - not given by you), so you just install the protocol and you're away. As you know, with IP you need the higher level IP address to distinguish the workstations on your network.

I guess someone will post to correct the above!

I can't sell 10BaseT ISA cards, I guess because 100/10 BaseT PCI cards are so cheap, so I probably don't want your old cards, but if you want me to send you a card - no problems.

 

[Dutcho]

What from outer mongolia LOL. Got till wait till Thursday till the shop gets more in stock. Give me an excuse not to worry about it for the time being. I think I will delete the tcp/ip protocols then try to get the network up and running. This IP address thing can you make up an ip or is it preset, if preset how can you find out what it is.

 

[greekpig]

Your IP address presence on the internet allocated dynamically by your ISP will be a legitimate IP address. If you use the Microsoft internet sharing or some such product, then on your local network, you make up your own IP addresses, or you addresses are handed out to the PC by a DHCP server - usually the one with the internet sharing on. DHCP = dynamic host configuration protocol, where your PC broadcasts it's presence on the LAN using the MAC address, and your DHCP server responds allocating the IP address as well as giving various parameters such as netmask, DNS server, etc.

 

[wasnotwasD]

To find your IP. Whilst logged onto Net. Go: Start-Programs-MS Dos Prompt. Then at the prompt , Type “ipconfig” then hit Return Key.<br />Or, Type “ipconfig/all” then hit return key to get more info.<br /> <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

 

[speccy]

I am new to this sort of thing but I just had broadband installed. I watched the guy set it all up and fired about 100 questions per minute at the poor man. The cable modem is a Surf Board sb4100. Using windows 98 he selected Run then tyed in winipcfg. This brings up a box for ip configuration. At the top you will see PPP Adapter, click the arrow at the side of this and your adapter will be shown. Select this and this will give you adapter address and also ip address. He then selected Release All which sends this information to the modems memory. He then went to the self help page at Blueyonder and logged into my account. He selected 'Administer your Network Interface MAC Address' He then entered new Nic Mac address. Job done for that part. He told me if I wanted to netwok both my machines together and share the same cable modem for the internet then I would need not two but three adapters. Two for one machine and one for the other. I dont know if this helps your dilema or not.

 

[allroad]

Dutcho the main problem here seems to be the computer names. They must be assigned to the same networking name ie workgroup is a good one to use When I set this up I could not get it to work either because one computer set itsself up as mshome and the other was laptop make sure they are both the same name ie workgroup this should solve the problem. You will then be able to use both machines on the one printer and both the surf.

 

[Dutcho]

Well this is great all this surport, the work group names are correct mate. My hard drive crashed on Monday just to add to an already big nightmare so I am now using a clean installation but am still awaiting the other network card. (The shop is still out of stock)

I have run that winipconfig put the only adapter which it finds is ppp which I think is a bit odd.