Can't get ICS to work

[Stuart Grant]

I have a very simple network. A Dell laptop and a Dell Dimension desktop
linked with a NetGear Realtek hub. Both the computers use Windows XP with
Service Pack 2. The Laptop, which is the faster is linked to an ADSL modem.
The set-up has worked with little or no difficulty for months. Then a few
days ago it stopped working.

The laptop connects to the Internet OK and surfs without problems but the
desktop no longer connected to the network. I tried rebooting, ran the
Networking Wizard again on both computers, went through the Help procedure
to no avail. After assigning manually an IP address of 192.168.0.2 to the
desktop (the laptop has 192.168.0.1) I got it working. I can Ping each
computer from the other. I can view files from the other computer, even run
programs, but I still cannot connect to the Internet from the Desktop,even
though it is set up as "This computer connects to the Internet through
another computer on the network" and the laptop is set up as "Other
computers on the network connect to the internet through this computer".

The only other peculiarity. Previously there was a small icon on the
taskbar on each computer for the network (MSHome). Now there isn't,
although both computers show the network in My Network Connections as
connected.

I'm baffled- What is wrong ?

Stuart Grant

 

[Chuck]

I have a very simple network. A Dell laptop and a Dell Dimension desktop
linked with a NetGear Realtek hub. Both the computers use Windows XP with
Service Pack 2. The Laptop, which is the faster is linked to an ADSL modem.
The set-up has worked with little or no difficulty for months. Then a few
days ago it stopped working.

The laptop connects to the Internet OK and surfs without problems but the
desktop no longer connected to the network. I tried rebooting, ran the
Networking Wizard again on both computers, went through the Help procedure
to no avail. After assigning manually an IP address of 192.168.0.2 to the
desktop (the laptop has 192.168.0.1) I got it working. I can Ping each
computer from the other. I can view files from the other computer, even run
programs, but I still cannot connect to the Internet from the Desktop,even
though it is set up as "This computer connects to the Internet through
another computer on the network" and the laptop is set up as "Other
computers on the network connect to the internet through this computer".

The only other peculiarity. Previously there was a small icon on the
taskbar on each computer for the network (MSHome). Now there isn't,
although both computers show the network in My Network Connections as
connected.

I'm baffled- What is wrong ?

Stuart Grant

Stuart,

The small icon that's missing can be turned on or off from the Properties wizard
for the network connection in question (for instance Local Area Connection
Properties).

Let's look at ipconfig information for each computer, as a start.
1) Start - Run - "cmd".
2) Type "ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfig.txt" into the command window.
3) Open Notepad, make sure that Format - Word Wrap is NOT checked!.
4) Open file c:\ipconfig.txt from Notepad.
5) Copy and paste entire contents of the file into your next post.
6) Identify operating system (by name, version, and Service Pack level) with
each ipconfig listing.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.

 

[Stuart Grant]

Chuck
Many thanks for your reply.

Ipconfig on the desktop is as follows -
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : dollyxp
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter MSHOME:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast
Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-40-F4-7A-2F-36
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Operating system XP with Service Pack 2

Ipconfig on the laptop, connected to Internet is as follows -

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DELIA
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter MSHome:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated
Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0B-DB-98-5F-B1
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

PPP adapter BluewinADSL:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 62.203.53.136
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 62.203.53.136
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 195.186.1.108
195.186.4.109

Operating system also XP with Service Pack 2

I had runipconfig before but uunfortunately much of the information is Greek
to me, Hope you can help.

Stuart

 

[Chuck]

Chuck
Many thanks for your reply.

I had runipconfig before but uunfortunately much of the information is Greek
to me, Hope you can help.

Stuart

Stuart,

DollyXP can't access the internet because it isn't setup as a DHCP client. If
that doesn't work, you have to fix the problem, not the symptom.

Is ICS running on Delia? Start by ensuring that the Windows Firewall / Internet
Connection Sharing service is running. Then make DollyXP a DHCP client, with
"Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server addresses
automatically".

Then configure Windows Firewall on Delia, enabling the File and Printer Sharing
exception, and setting the Scope to Subnet.

If either computer is having any problems, check Event Viewer for details, and
post any errors here.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.

 

[Stuart Grant]

Chuck
Appreciate your patience.

I did everything you suggested, made Dolly a DHCP client, etc but still got
MSHome not connected and an IPaddress of 169.254.132.228 assigned to Dolly
(Delia has 192.168.0.1). Attempted a repair. Reported assigning an IP
address but then said it couldn't do so. See the network administrator.
That's me !
Ran ipconfig again and it confrmed the DHCP client status as Yes.
Started to write a message telling you this. Looked at Dolly after the
first paragraph and found the yellow triangle had disappeared. Everything
works !
Still don't understand what happened. Everything is OK. Dolly has an IP
address of 192.168.0.39.

Only instruction I did not follow was setting Scope to Subnet. Could not
see how to do that.
Thank you very much for your time and patience.
Stuart

 

[Chuck]

Chuck
Appreciate your patience.

I did everything you suggested, made Dolly a DHCP client, etc but still got
MSHome not connected and an IPaddress of 169.254.132.228 assigned to Dolly
(Delia has 192.168.0.1). Attempted a repair. Reported assigning an IP
address but then said it couldn't do so. See the network administrator.
That's me !
Ran ipconfig again and it confrmed the DHCP client status as Yes.
Started to write a message telling you this. Looked at Dolly after the
first paragraph and found the yellow triangle had disappeared. Everything
works !
Still don't understand what happened. Everything is OK. Dolly has an IP
address of 192.168.0.39.

Only instruction I did not follow was setting Scope to Subnet. Could not
see how to do that.
Thank you very much for your time and patience.
Stuart

Stuart,

Thanks for the update. It sounds like Dolly didn't get DHCP immediately. The
network repair was unsuccessful, because it didn't get an ip address from Delia
immediately. What did you change on Delia?

How long after you set Dolly to DHCP did it actually get an address (with the
yellow triangle gone)?

You check / set the FPS Scope by the Edit button when you select the FPS
exception.

BTW, Stuart, munging your identity like you are is not truly polite - there may
be (or in the future may be) a looneybin domain. Learn to munge your email
address properly, to keep yourself a bit safer when posting to open forums.
Protect yourself and the rest of the internet - read this article.
http://www.mailmsg.com/SPAM_munging.htm

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.

 

[Stuart Grant]

Chuck
It must have been about five minutes after I changed Dolly to accept DHCP
(What does that stand for anyway ?), that I noticed that Dolly was showing
the network as OK. I don't think that I had changed anything on Delia
EXCEPT maybe, in Delia's Firewall settings I unchecked the firewall applies
to MSHome. Dolly does not use the Windows Firewall since not connected
directly. Maybe that did it.
Thanks for the tip about Scope. I checked and it was set to Subnet.
Thanks for the tip about munging. I'd forgotten all about the looneybin
address. Someone must have told me to do this a long time ago.
Thanks again. You have taught me a lot. I must make a point of reading
your future postings and I should learn more !
Cheers
Stuart
My email is AT DOT
actual address sagrant bluewin ch

 

[Chuck]

Chuck
It must have been about five minutes after I changed Dolly to accept DHCP
(What does that stand for anyway ?), that I noticed that Dolly was showing
the network as OK. I don't think that I had changed anything on Delia
EXCEPT maybe, in Delia's Firewall settings I unchecked the firewall applies
to MSHome. Dolly does not use the Windows Firewall since not connected
directly. Maybe that did it.
Thanks for the tip about Scope. I checked and it was set to Subnet.
Thanks for the tip about munging. I'd forgotten all about the looneybin
address. Someone must have told me to do this a long time ago.
Thanks again. You have taught me a lot. I must make a point of reading
your future postings and I should learn more !
Cheers
Stuart
My email is AT DOT
actual address sagrant bluewin ch

Stuart,

Thanks for the update, and the feedback.

DHCP is Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. It's been around since before the
internet, and way before Windows XP.
http://www.dhcp-handbook.com/dhcp_faq.html#widxx

Using your computer is a constant learning process, or should be. These forums
are a great place for learning.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.