wireless + wired network routing

[Dave]

hello folks,

i have a desktop pc running XP-pro, whose ethernet pci card shares a router
(and a printer hooked up to the router) with 3 other computers. It's nice,
because the older router - with it's parallel printer port - gives me an
easy way to share my (also old!) laserjet printer with my other pc's.

i moved my pc upstairs, can't reach the modem with "wire", so got a wireless
USB adapter, which is fine for the internet, but for some reason, now that
i'm not getting my internet thru the "old, wired" router, I have to actually
disable it in the control panel network setup, in order for my wireless USB
to function as an internet connection.

so, every time I have to print, i have to disable the wireless network
adapter, enable the ethernet card, ya-da, ya-da.

Is there any way I could tweak the OS to "recognize" the wireless as
internet host, and the wired as printer host so I can leave them both turned
on?

the "wired" printer is shared, on 192.168.2.1, "select device port" is LPT1
the ethernet is labeled "Local Area Connection" and has all the usual items
(Client for MS networks, TCP/IP etc) installed.

thanks for any advice or suggestions.

Dave

 

[smlunatick]

hello folks,

i have a desktop pc running XP-pro, whose ethernet pci card shares a router
(and a printer hooked up to the router) with 3 other computers.  It's nice,
because the older router - with it's parallel printer port - gives me an
easy way to share my (also old!) laserjet printer with my other pc's.

i moved my pc upstairs, can't reach the modem with "wire", so got a wireless
USB adapter, which is fine for the internet, but for some reason, now that
i'm not getting my internet thru the "old, wired" router, I have to actually
disable it in the control panel network setup, in order for my wireless USB
to function as an internet connection.

so, every time I have to print, i have to disable the wireless network
adapter, enable the ethernet card, ya-da, ya-da.

Is there any way I could tweak the OS to "recognize" the wireless as
internet host, and the wired as printer host so I can leave them both turned
on?

the "wired" printer is shared, on 192.168.2.1, "select device port" is LPT1
the ethernet is labeled "Local Area Connection" and has all the usual items
(Client for MS networks, TCP/IP etc) installed.

thanks for any advice or suggestions.

Dave

Do you mean your router is also a wireless router? If yes, you will
need to access the router and double check the settings. Some routers
will have a setting that will limit the wireless "connection" from
seeing the other connected devices on the router.

Or, does this mean you have two "routers?" You can not normally have
two routers as Windows will one use one network, usually the first one
XP finds.

 

[Dave]

THANKS for the reply ...

no, my router is a "wired" router. No internet connected to it, just 2 or 3
PC's and 1 printer via the router's onboard parallel port.
i get my internet thru the USB wireless adapter. just seems that both
can't be enabled or I lose my internet. Windows seems to 'prefer' the
ethernet as an internet source, and disqualitifes the USB source if the
ethernet is enabled.

Dave

hello folks,

i have a desktop pc running XP-pro, whose ethernet pci card shares a
router
(and a printer hooked up to the router) with 3 other computers. It's nice,
because the older router - with it's parallel printer port - gives me an
easy way to share my (also old!) laserjet printer with my other pc's.

i moved my pc upstairs, can't reach the modem with "wire", so got a
wireless
USB adapter, which is fine for the internet, but for some reason, now that
i'm not getting my internet thru the "old, wired" router, I have to
actually
disable it in the control panel network setup, in order for my wireless
USB
to function as an internet connection.

so, every time I have to print, i have to disable the wireless network
adapter, enable the ethernet card, ya-da, ya-da.

Is there any way I could tweak the OS to "recognize" the wireless as
internet host, and the wired as printer host so I can leave them both
turned
on?

the "wired" printer is shared, on 192.168.2.1, "select device port" is
LPT1
the ethernet is labeled "Local Area Connection" and has all the usual
items
(Client for MS networks, TCP/IP etc) installed.

thanks for any advice or suggestions.

Dave

Do you mean your router is also a wireless router? If yes, you will
need to access the router and double check the settings. Some routers
will have a setting that will limit the wireless "connection" from
seeing the other connected devices on the router.

Or, does this mean you have two "routers?" You can not normally have
two routers as Windows will one use one network, usually the first one
XP finds.

 

[smlunatick]

THANKS for the reply ...

no, my router is a "wired" router.  No internet connected to it, just 2or 3
PC's and 1 printer via the router's onboard parallel port.
i get my internet thru the USB wireless adapter.   just seems that both
can't be enabled or I lose my internet.   Windows seems to 'prefer' the
ethernet as an internet source, and disqualitifes the USB source if the
ethernet is enabled.

Dave











Do you mean your router is also a wireless router?   If yes, you will
need to access the router and double check the settings.  Some routers
will have a setting that will limit the wireless "connection" from
seeing the other connected devices on the router.

Or, does this mean you have two "routers?"  You can not normally have
two routers as Windows will one use one network, usually the first one
XP finds.

Ok! You would then know that XP was never truly designed to have two
"different" networks active at the same time. You will need to learn
out to set up different "network metrics" for the two different
network adapters. Here is a web site that gives a "good" starting of
the info:

http://www.ezlan.net/metrics.html

 

[Yousuf Khan]

hello folks,

i have a desktop pc running XP-pro, whose ethernet pci card shares a router
(and a printer hooked up to the router) with 3 other computers. It's nice,
because the older router - with it's parallel printer port - gives me an
easy way to share my (also old!) laserjet printer with my other pc's.

i moved my pc upstairs, can't reach the modem with "wire", so got a wireless
USB adapter, which is fine for the internet, but for some reason, now that
i'm not getting my internet thru the "old, wired" router, I have to actually
disable it in the control panel network setup, in order for my wireless USB
to function as an internet connection.

so, every time I have to print, i have to disable the wireless network
adapter, enable the ethernet card, ya-da, ya-da.

Is there any way I could tweak the OS to "recognize" the wireless as
internet host, and the wired as printer host so I can leave them both turned
on?

the "wired" printer is shared, on 192.168.2.1, "select device port" is LPT1
the ethernet is labeled "Local Area Connection" and has all the usual items
(Client for MS networks, TCP/IP etc) installed.

thanks for any advice or suggestions.

What you have to do is disable the routing functions on your old wired
router and let the new wireless one handle all of that. So that means
you'll have to go into the old router's setup screens once, and disable
its DHCP client functions, disable its WAN port (i.e. the port that
connects to the Internet), and reset its internal IP address to
192.168.x.2 rather than 192.168.x.1. That's because routers usually
default to 192.168.x.1, and you can't have both your old router and new
router have the same IP address inside your LAN.

Physically, you will no longer use the old router's WAN port anymore,
and you'll have to take a wire from the old router's LAN port to one of
the LAN ports of the new router. Do *not* connect the old router to the
new router's LAN via the old router's WAN, it *has* to be LAN-to-LAN only.

Yousuf Khan