unaccountable wireless problem

[Kim Aku]

I'm posting on behalf of a colleague with 2 desktop and 3
laptop computers on one P2P network. Desktop 1 was used
for ICS, connected to Desktop 2 by 10/100 Ethernet and to
the laptops by a USB 802.11b device bridged with the NIC.
Everything worked perfectly until he needed to make
Desktop 2 the ICS server instead of Desktop 1.

The Wizard set up the ICS on Desktop 2 in the same way as
it had been on Desktop 1, and the Ethernet connection
works fine.

However, although the wi-fi now installed in Desktop 2 is
able to set the laptops' DHCP, and Desktop 2 knows the
network names of the laptops, it can neither ping them,
nor can they ping Desktop 2. Win XP firewall is only on
the WAN. WEP is not used, the wireless devices are all
happy with the signal and the laptops can still
communicate with one another via wi-fi.

I have never seen a situation before where DHCP works and
the auto-configued clients can be named, and yet cannot
ping or be pinged.

When the USB wi-fi device is moved back to Desktop 1
(still bridged with its NIC) everything works fine, but
the guy doesn't want to leave Desktop 1 switched on all
the time just to provide a bridge to the laptops.

This must be something stupidly simple but I'm baffled....

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

I'm posting on behalf of a colleague with 2 desktop and 3
laptop computers on one P2P network. Desktop 1 was used
for ICS, connected to Desktop 2 by 10/100 Ethernet and to
the laptops by a USB 802.11b device bridged with the NIC.
Everything worked perfectly until he needed to make
Desktop 2 the ICS server instead of Desktop 1.

The Wizard set up the ICS on Desktop 2 in the same way as
it had been on Desktop 1, and the Ethernet connection
works fine.

However, although the wi-fi now installed in Desktop 2 is
able to set the laptops' DHCP, and Desktop 2 knows the
network names of the laptops, it can neither ping them,
nor can they ping Desktop 2. Win XP firewall is only on
the WAN. WEP is not used, the wireless devices are all
happy with the signal and the laptops can still
communicate with one another via wi-fi.

I have never seen a situation before where DHCP works and
the auto-configued clients can be named, and yet cannot
ping or be pinged.

When the USB wi-fi device is moved back to Desktop 1
(still bridged with its NIC) everything works fine, but
the guy doesn't want to leave Desktop 1 switched on all
the time just to provide a bridge to the laptops.

This must be something stupidly simple but I'm baffled....

This Microsoft Knowledge Base article has a possible solution:

Bridge May Not Work With a Non-Promiscuous Mode Network Adapter
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=302348
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Kim Aku]

Very many thanks Steve - as soon as I read your link to
the solution, I remembered that a MVP (it might even have
been you) had sent me the very same link only about a
month ago - old age is not only making me as non-
promiscuous as the offending USB wi-fi, it's disabling the
RAM inside my head...