XP prefers ad-hoc WiFi over Wired net (BAD)

[Steven Whatley]

OK, here is the situation. I am trying to get my Palm TX to access the
Internet through my Windowx XP Pro SP2 system. I do not have a wireless
router. Instead, I bought a D-Link DWL-G122 USB WiFi adapter. The reason
is that I want to do WiFi with my Palm TX at my home and when I visit my
parents. I will configure they WinXP Home SP2 PC with the same setings.
So, when I visit them, I just bring my USB WiFi adapter with me.

OK, this is what I have done:

Main wired LAN to the Internet settings:
All settings obtained via the router's DHCP server.
Let say the IP address of the PC is 192.168.x.3

I've a ad-hoc (peer-to-peer) WiFi net for the Palm TX with a SSID of
let's say txnet. For txnet, I gave it the following fixed settings:

IP Address: 192.168.y.2
Subm Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 129.168.y.1 (virtual gateway)
DNS: 192.168.y.1
Data encryption: WEP
Key length: 128bit (104 + 24) 13 ASCII Characters

Palm TX:
IP Address: 192.168.y.3
Sub Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.y.2
DNS: 192.168.y.2
Data encription: WEP
Key length: 104bit passphrase

OK, it seems that the PC and the Palm TX can connect to each other. But,
when I bring up my WiFi connection, I lose Internet connectivity on my PC
via the wired LAN. When I disconnect the ad-hock WiFi conneciton, my
Internet connction via the wired LAN comes back.

So, it seems that the PC prefers to use the WiFi connection as its primary
Internet connection when it is up. I don't want this. I want to the
wired LAN to always be the prefered Internet conneciton for the PC. But,
I want the Palm TX to be able to share the wired LAN connection through
my PC.

I have noticed that my wired gigabit NIC (D-Link DGE-T530) now has an
"Alternate Connecton" tab when I bring up its TCP/IP properties. It is
also set up to obtain its config from DHCP as well. Is this the problem?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Steven

 

[neil]

I assume you are referring to "internet connection sharing", if your NIC
uses DHCP then that connection will have to be set to allow others to
connect via that connection. It should be an available option if two
networks cards are present.
You should set the WiFi adaptor to 192.168 etc but I don't think you use the
same IP range as the DHCP assigned address. 192.168 etc addresses are local
to the PC and not meant for connection to the internet. (have to admit
though I am not familiar with USB adaptors, but the principles must be the
same)

Neil

 

[Steven Whatley]

I assume you are referring to "internet connection sharing", if your NIC
uses DHCP then that connection will have to be set to allow others to
connect via that connection. It should be an available option if two
networks cards are present.
You should set the WiFi adaptor to 192.168 etc but I don't think you use the
same IP range as the DHCP assigned address. 192.168 etc addresses are local
to the PC and not meant for connection to the internet. (have to admit
though I am not familiar with USB adaptors, but the principles must be the
same)

Since I have a wired router (D-Link DI-707P) the wired LAN uses, let's
say, 192.168.100.x for its subnet. The peer-to-peer ad-hoc net uses
192.168.200.x as its subnet with a submask of 255.255.255.0. While the
wi-fi connection is not established between the PC and my Palm TX, the
Internet connecation on the PC via the wired LAN works great. But as soon
as I bring up the Wi-Fi connection, the Internet connection on the PC
stops working.

Let's hold off trying to get the Palm TX to share the Internet connection.
I just want to stop XP from trying to use the Wi-Fi connection instead of
the wired LAN to reach the Internet. I changed the subnet of the ad-hoc
wireless LAN to 10.0.200.x. The problem still persists. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steven

 

[neil]

I think I see what you mean now. I didn't get that you had a wired router
and thought your NIC was connected to the internet provider directly who was
supplying the IP address.
What happens if you set the USB adaptor to allocate its own IP.

Neil

 

[Kerry Brown]

OK, here is the situation. I am trying to get my Palm TX to access the
Internet through my Windowx XP Pro SP2 system. I do not have a wireless
router. Instead, I bought a D-Link DWL-G122 USB WiFi adapter. The reason
is that I want to do WiFi with my Palm TX at my home and when I visit my
parents. I will configure they WinXP Home SP2 PC with the same setings.
So, when I visit them, I just bring my USB WiFi adapter with me.

OK, this is what I have done:

Main wired LAN to the Internet settings:
All settings obtained via the router's DHCP server.
Let say the IP address of the PC is 192.168.x.3

I've a ad-hoc (peer-to-peer) WiFi net for the Palm TX with a SSID of
let's say txnet. For txnet, I gave it the following fixed settings:

IP Address: 192.168.y.2
Subm Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 129.168.y.1 (virtual gateway)
DNS: 192.168.y.1
Data encryption: WEP
Key length: 128bit (104 + 24) 13 ASCII Characters

Palm TX:
IP Address: 192.168.y.3
Sub Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.y.2
DNS: 192.168.y.2
Data encription: WEP
Key length: 104bit passphrase

OK, it seems that the PC and the Palm TX can connect to each other. But,
when I bring up my WiFi connection, I lose Internet connectivity on my PC
via the wired LAN. When I disconnect the ad-hock WiFi conneciton, my
Internet connction via the wired LAN comes back.

So, it seems that the PC prefers to use the WiFi connection as its primary
Internet connection when it is up. I don't want this. I want to the
wired LAN to always be the prefered Internet conneciton for the PC. But,
I want the Palm TX to be able to share the wired LAN connection through
my PC.

I have noticed that my wired gigabit NIC (D-Link DGE-T530) now has an
"Alternate Connecton" tab when I bring up its TCP/IP properties. It is
also set up to obtain its config from DHCP as well. Is this the problem?

It may be the binding order of the adapters. Open My Computer, right click
on Network Places and pick properties, from the Advanced menu at the top
pick Advanced Settings. In the Connections box make sure the wired NIC is at
the top of the list. It is usually called Local Area Connection.

Kerry

 

[Pavel A.]

It may be the binding order of the adapters. Open My Computer, right click on Network Places and pick properties, from the
Advanced menu at the top pick Advanced Settings. In the Connections box make sure the wired NIC is at the top of the list. It
is usually called Local Area Connection.

No, the order of these icons has nothing common with binding order.
--A

 

[Pavel A.]

I have noticed that my wired gigabit NIC (D-Link DGE-T530) now has an
"Alternate Connecton" tab when I bring up its TCP/IP properties. It is
also set up to obtain its config from DHCP as well. Is this the problem?

Yes this looks like the reason of the problem.
Only one connection can have auto configured address (198.168...) in XP,
or there would be a routing conflict - what you seem to have.

--PA

 

[Kerry Brown]

No, the order of these icons has nothing common with binding order.

The binding order has everything to do with which connection is used first.
Make sure the one you want to be used first is at the top of the list.

Kerry

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]> "Kerry Brown"

The binding order has everything to do with which connection is used first.
Make sure the one you want to be used first is at the top of the list.

Not to be argumentative, but in XP default metrics are set based on
connection speeds -- So whichever connection is fastest will get the
highest priority.

If you have a 54Mb 802.11g connection (Adhoc or not), Windows will
prefer that connection over a 10Mb wired connection.

 

[Steven Whatley]

Yes this looks like the reason of the problem.
Only one connection can have auto configured address (198.168...) in XP,
or there would be a routing conflict - what you seem to have.

OK, I have managed to get rid of the "Alternate Connection" Tab. Since I
used Fixed IPs in my routers's DHCP server, I manually setup the IP info
(address, gateway, DNS, etc.). I used the 192.168.y.3 that I am using for
hte wired LAN. For the wireless peer-to-peer I used 10.0.x.2 for the PC
10.0.x.3 for the TX. I manually entered IP address for hte USB adapter
and the Palm TX. I also disabled File Sharing and Client for Windows
Network on the USB WiFi adapter.

OK, the PC and the Palm TX are talking. On the TX, I was using 104-bit
*Passphrase* instead of 104-bit *ASCII*. Switching the TX to ASCII fixed
the problem. I can now hotsync my TX wirelessly to the PC but I can't
surf the Internet yet using hostnames or IP addresses.

So, here is the current config:

PC wired LAN:
IP Address: 192.168.x.3
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.x.1
DNS: My ISP's DNS IPs

PC Wireles LAN
Ad-hoc
WEB
104-bit ASCII
IP address: 192.168.y.2 (note: y not x)
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.y.1 (Again, y, not x)
DNS: 192.169.y.1

Palm TX:
Ad-hoc
WEB
104-bit ASCII (not Passphrase)
IP address: 192.168.y.3
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.y.2
DNS: 192.168.y.2

I am told that using ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) can mess things up
in this case. And using 192.168.y.1 for the gateway and DNS for the
ad-hoc wireless gets around this. Or should those be 192.168.x.1 (my
wired router)?

I am getting so close! Do I need to run a name server service on my XP
box? Any more help will be appreciated.

Thanks!
Steven

 

[Kerry Brown]

In message <[email protected]> "Kerry Brown"


Not to be argumentative, but in XP default metrics are set based on
connection speeds -- So whichever connection is fastest will get the
highest priority.

If you have a 54Mb 802.11g connection (Adhoc or not), Windows will
prefer that connection over a 10Mb wired connection.

Not always the case. It can be changed. See the following:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/cableguy/cg0903.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/cableguy/cg0405.mspx#ECAA

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;894564

It was a while ago when I had to do this. I had forgotten that you also had
to override the default interface metric.

Kerry

 

[ANONYMOUS]

Why not use the networking wizard provided in Windows XP? That is what
it is for!!.

Don't try to mess with anything in TCP/IP because you will will not
succeed that way!.

To run the Wizard, make sure the NIC is properly connected and cabled to
your router. Also, make sure you select that this computer connects
directly to internet. Other computers connect through this one. It is
vital you do the things systematically. You will also get the option to
copy the settings on a floppy or flash drive which is required for the
next stage.

Hope this gives you a start. When you have connected your PC using
wired connection and getting the IP ports dynamically, come back to here
and I will tell you how to connct Wireless through this machine.

hth

 

[Kerry Brown]

Not always the case. It can be changed. See the following:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/cableguy/cg0903.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/cableguy/cg0405.mspx#ECAA

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;894564

It was a while ago when I had to do this. I had forgotten that you also
had to override the default interface metric.

Steven Whatley

If the above got a little technical don't worry. As you have a router your
wired interface should be running at 100 Mb so it is the faster connection.
The metric shouldn't have to be changed. With wireless and wired at the same
time I have seen changing the binding order in the Advanced Settings make a
difference.

Kerry

 

[Steven Whatley]

OK, a different approache which works! I have the wired LAN talking. And
the ad-hoc WiFi working. So, in the "Network connections" I simply
created a network bridge between the two. It works! My Palm TX can now
surf the net!

One problem though, my XP box now generates a different MAC address
everytime it comes up. This makes it impossible to give the XP box a
fixed IP address using DHCP on the DSL router. How do I give the network
bridge a specific MAC address? I'd like to use the MAC address of my
wired NIC PCI card.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Steven

 

[Steven Whatley]

One problem though, my XP box now generates a different MAC address
everytime it comes up. This makes it impossible to give the XP box a
fixed IP address using DHCP on the DSL router. How do I give the network
bridge a specific MAC address? I'd like to use the MAC address of my
wired NIC PCI card.

I went ahead and manually set the IP address, gateway, and DNS for the
bridge. Everything works fine now.

Thanks!
Steven