Problems with Home Network (Mixing Wireless and Ethernet)

[William Wisnieski]

Hello Everyone,

I have four computers in my home network. I'm having a problem with
computers seeing eachother in network neighborhood. Here's my configuration
which is a mixture of wireless and ethernet.

Room 1

PC#1 (WindowsME) connected via ethernet cable to Linksys 4 Port Wireless
Access Point (Verizon DSL Broadband)

Room 2

PC#2 (WindowsME) connected to Wireless Access Point in Room 1 via Linksys
USB Wireless Adapter. Internet sharing is set up using a NIC Card. The NIC
Card is connected to a Netgear 4 port hub via an ethernet cable.

PC#3 (WindowsME) and PC#4 are connected to Netgear hub via ethernet cable.

Good
1. The internet sharing set up on PC#2 works very well. PC#3 & 4 can
access the internet and the speed is great.

Bad
When trying to find other computers in network neighborhood or windows
explorer to share files, PC#1 in Room 1 cannot see PC#3 & 4 in Room 2 and
vice versa. PC#2 in Room 2 can see PC#1, 3 and 4 and vice versa.

I have Netbios enabled over TCP/IP. Not sure what else to try. Any ideas
or suggestions on this?

Thank you for your help.

William

 

[Carey Holzman]

www.careyholzman.com/netfixes.htm

Carey

 

[William Wisnieski]

Thank you for the helpful information. After trying everything (at least I
think I tried everything) listed in your suggestions, I'm still having the
same problem.

Maybe you simply can't mix wireless and ethernet in a home network????

William

 

[Carey Holzman]

I do it all the time...

Carey

Thank you for the helpful information. After trying everything (at least I
think I tried everything) listed in your suggestions, I'm still having the
same problem.

Maybe you simply can't mix wireless and ethernet in a home network????

William

 

[Chuck]

Thank you for the helpful information. After trying everything (at least I
think I tried everything) listed in your suggestions, I'm still having the
same problem.

Maybe you simply can't mix wireless and ethernet in a home network????

William,

Don't give up just yet. You can mix wireless and wired connections in
a home network, and it will work, but you have to have the components
correctly connected and configured.

Let me make sure I have read your network topology description
correctly.

1) The Linksys WAP is your DSL gateway. Computer 1 is connected with
Cat5 to the WAP. Computer 2 is connected wirelessly to the WAP.
2) Computer 2 is connected with Cat5 to the Netgear hub, and is
running ICS.
3) Computers 3 and 4 are connected to the Netgear hub.

All computers can access the internet properly because it is an
upstream connection to all. Computers 1 and 2 directly to the WAP,
and computers 3 and 4 thru computer 2 to the WAP.

Computer 2 can see computers 1, 3, and 4, and computers 1, 3, and 4
can see computer 2. Computer 1 can't see 3 nor 4, and computers 3 and
4 can't see computer 1.

You're running Netbios over TCP/IP on all 4 computers.

Computer 1 can't see computers 3 and 4 because they're downstream from
computer 2. You can setup static route entries for computers 3 and 4
on computer 1, that should allow you to access computers 3 and 4 by ip
address from computer 1, by indicating that computers 3 and 4 are
accessible thru computer 2.

I suspect that a similar static route, indicating computer 2 as a
gateway to computer1, would resolve computers 3 and 4.

I'm curious about your ip setup. It would help if you would post
"ipconfig /all" and "route print" for all 4 computers here.

Cheers,

Chuck
I hate spam - PLEASE get rid of the spam before emailing me!
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[William Wisnieski]

Thanks Chuck. You have my configuration exactly correct as well as my
original problem.

After Carey's last post I went through his instructions from his web site
again word for word,
only this time I removed Internet Sharing first from Computer #2 before I
went through his list.

I have yet to reinstall Internet Sharing on Computer#2. I thought I would
try to get all the computers to see eachother first.

I feel like I've made progress, which I'll explain below:

If I make Computer #2 the browse master and disable it on all others, none
of the computers can browse the network. If I make Computer #2 the browse
master and disable it on all others, none of the computers can browse the
network. However, if I make Computer#2 the browse master, disable it it on
#3 and 4, but leave it as "automatic" on Computer #1, then computers #2, 3,
and 4 can see all Four computers including Computer #1 (that's progress!!).
However Computer #1 still cannot see #3 & 4. Furthermore, although
Computers 3 & 4 can see #1 in Network Neighborhood, they cannot connect. I
get an error message that says computer not found--which is odd because I
can see it in Network Neighborhood. I can't remember if I was able to ping
Computer #1 from 3 & 4 (I'm at work now).

Feel like I'm getting close, but then again, I disabled Internet
Sharing..who knows what will happen after I enable it again on Computer #2!

Thanks for your help.

William

 

[William Wisnieski]

Correction to my last post--sorry.

If I make Computer 1 the browse master and disable it on all others, none of
the computers can browse the network. Also, If I make Computer 2 the browse
master and disable it on all others, none of the computers can browse the
network.

Thanks

 

[Chuck]

Thanks Chuck. You have my configuration exactly correct as well as my
original problem.

After Carey's last post I went through his instructions from his web site
again word for word,
only this time I removed Internet Sharing first from Computer #2 before I
went through his list.

I have yet to reinstall Internet Sharing on Computer#2. I thought I would
try to get all the computers to see eachother first.

I feel like I've made progress, which I'll explain below:

If I make Computer #2 the browse master and disable it on all others, none
of the computers can browse the network. If I make Computer #2 the browse
master and disable it on all others, none of the computers can browse the
network. However, if I make Computer#2 the browse master, disable it it on
#3 and 4, but leave it as "automatic" on Computer #1, then computers #2, 3,
and 4 can see all Four computers including Computer #1 (that's progress!!).
However Computer #1 still cannot see #3 & 4. Furthermore, although
Computers 3 & 4 can see #1 in Network Neighborhood, they cannot connect. I
get an error message that says computer not found--which is odd because I
can see it in Network Neighborhood. I can't remember if I was able to ping
Computer #1 from 3 & 4 (I'm at work now).

Feel like I'm getting close, but then again, I disabled Internet
Sharing..who knows what will happen after I enable it again on Computer #2!

William,

OK, I can get you just a bit closer.

1) Computer 1 can't see computers 3 or 4 because they are on the
other side of computer 2. Computer 2, being the master browser, will
have a comprehensive list of what computers are on your LAN (with ip
address?). However, computer 1, which has a default gateway pointing
it to the Linksys and the internet, will try to get to computers 3 and
4 that way.

2) Depending upon the way your LAN is subnetted, and the way the
network was setup on computer 3 and 4, they may not know that the ip
address for computer 1 is thru computer 2. They may know that
computer 1 exists (from the master browser on computer 2), but they
may think that computer 1 is a peer of theirs below computer 2.

Both issues 1 and 2 may be solved by static route entries, which tell
each computer in turn that the other computer is on the other side of
computer 2. I asked that you post the static route tables so I could
verify that this hasn't already been tried.

I'm still unclear how your LAN is subnetted. It would be simpler if
you replaced computer 2 with an internal router (NOT a NAT router).
Then you could explicitly define two segments (computer 1 / computer
2) and (computer 3 / computer 4). I asked you to post ipconfig lists
so I could see if ICS on computer 2 can perform this function.

The Master Browser function works on computer 2 independently of ICS.
You disabled ICS, but the MB still can catalog computers 1, 3, and 4
as being on your LAN. But that won't necessarily tell computers 1, 3,
and 4 how to access each others Netbios resources (thru ip).

ICS stands for Internet Connection Gateway. Generally, it is used as
a sharing device for connection to the internet (the internet is
normally upstream of all ICS clients). You're trying to use it to
share Netbios connections (while tunneled thru ip) AND you're trying
to use it to share two connections (computer 3 and 4) downstream.
These are two goals which are not in keeping with its design, or at
least its name (keywords Internet and Gateway).

I've never been an advocate of making a computer into a proxy server
(ICS functionality in NAT router). You have the Linksys WAP, which
has that functionality. You want to save the cost of 2 wireless
cards, so you make computer 2 a proxy server, and connect it thru the
Netgear hub to computer 3 and 4.

If I were you, I would remove the Netgear hub, put wireless cards on
computers 3 and 4, and make the Linksys the gateway for all 4
computers. But it might be fun to see if we can get your setup
working as is.

Please keep in touch.

Cheers,

Chuck
I hate spam - PLEASE get rid of the spam before emailing me!
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[William Wisnieski]

Excellent Information Chuck...thank you. I'll have to seriously reconsider
the wireless card option on computers 3 and 4. I have a wireless USB
adapter on Computer 2 which I'm not crazy about (I sometimes have to unplug
then plug back in to reestablish the connection). Are USB PCI Cards any
better?

You're exactly right, I was trying to save some money by going with the hub!
But after the cost of the hub and cable, i'm not so sure it's such a
bargain....even if I could get it working properly!

Thanks Again,

William

 

[William Wisnieski]

One other question. If I do go with the wireless cards on the other
computers, is there any benefit to then keeping the hub? Any possible uses
for it?

 

[Chuck]

One other question. If I do go with the wireless cards on the other
computers, is there any benefit to then keeping the hub? Any possible uses
for it?

How many wired ports on the Linksys? One day you may have more
computers to connect, so having a spare hub laying around isn't a bad
idea. If you have storage for it.

Chuck
I hate spam - PLEASE get rid of the spam before emailing me!
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Chuck]

Excellent Information Chuck...thank you. I'll have to seriously reconsider
the wireless card option on computers 3 and 4. I have a wireless USB
adapter on Computer 2 which I'm not crazy about (I sometimes have to unplug
then plug back in to reestablish the connection). Are USB PCI Cards any
better?

You're exactly right, I was trying to save some money by going with the hub!
But after the cost of the hub and cable, i'm not so sure it's such a
bargain....even if I could get it working properly!

PCI vs USB: there's a subject for discussion.

PCI cards are installed inside the computer case (inconvenient). They
generally have to have special drivers installed (inconvenient), and
require power down and case opened.

USB devices are installed outside the computer case. They use a USB
port (convenient, but may take up a needed USB port), and generally a
power cable (wall wart plugged in to the main) (inconvenient). They
still require a driver install, but can be installed with power on.

IMHO, USB is great for things like mice, keyboards, cameras, printers.
I prefer to keep my networking (wired and wireless) on the PCI bus,
and inside the case (ethernet cable connected outside if required).
If you have broadband, and can suck down 1 - 2 Mbytes / sec of data,
do you want to share your network performance with your camera or
mouse? YMMV!!

Cheers,

Chuck
I hate spam - PLEASE get rid of the spam before emailing me!
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.