At the end of my tether, please help.

[mr_dee]

Hi there,

Having set up a home network on one PC ("server") running WIN XP Home Edition and another one
("client") running WIN Me I find myself constantly faced with the same problem :
whenever one of the computers (or both) is shut down or rebooted (e.g. when we shut them down at
night), whenever they are started up again the network connections are gone.
We always have to fiddle with the settings again then (usually not really changing anything, merely re-entering what is already there) and I usually have to run the Networking Wizard again from XP.
After that everything works good as gold, until the next start up of course, then it is back to scratch.
Both PCs use an internal PCI Ethernet Card (one SMC and one 3COM) and we connect to the Internet via dial-up.
Also, when the client shuts down, I get the message : "A networking cable has been disconnected".
Has anyone got any idea where I might have gone wrong to create this extremely annoying problem ?

Any help will be very much appreciated.

TIA,
Frankie.
BTW A happy and prosperous 2003 to everyone.

[Greenstead]

The reason you get the "A networking cable has been disconnected" message when you turn off the client PC is because the cable is effectively disconnected. It's normal.

You should not have to re-enter network settings or use the network setup wizard each time you boot up. When you boot the PCs you may have to wait up to ~15 minutes for them both to see each other. This is due to the way windows browser service and Netbios works.

If you want you can post your settings here for checking:
On XP go to command prompt and type ipconfig /all > file.txt
Find the file and copy and paste it here.
Ditto on ME using winipcfg.

If you want to avoid the delay of the PCs seeing each other you either leave the PCs switched on or use a different network protocol. NWlink (IPX/SPX) or Netbeui can be used on XP and ME.

[mr_dee]

Hi Greenstead,
Thank you for your help so far.
I did as you said to create the files (file.txt), it worked immediately in WIN XP, but WIN Me won't have it.
So, to start with, here's the information generated by WIN XP :
"Windows IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : SERVER

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:



Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SMC EZ Card 10/100
SMC1255TX) #2

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-04-E2-05-AD-36



PPP adapter Blueyonder:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 213.48.1.60

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 213.48.1.60

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 193.38.113.3

194.117.157.4

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled"
Hope that sheds a bit of light, and thanks again,
Frankie.

[Greenstead]

I think you did that with the ME PC off?

- Please do Ipconfig again on the XP PC with the ME PC running and connected to the XP PC.

- On ME go to command prompt and type winipcfg (whilst the XP PC is on and connected).

- You have ICS enabled on the blueyonder connection ?

[mr_dee]

Hello again,

Here is the summary of the ipconfig on the XP machine, with both machines up and running.
What you asked about ICS in Blueyonder, am I supposed to or not ?
I can't even find that option.
Anyway, Ipconfig :
"

Windows IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : SERVER

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SMC EZ Card 10/100 (SMC1255TX) #2

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-04-E2-05-AD-36

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :



PPP adapter Blueyonder:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 213.48.2.81

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 213.48.2.81

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 193.38.113.3

194.117.157.4

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled
"
The Me settings (once again, this had to go manually, could not get it to create a .txt file) :

"Host Name : Faark
DNS server : 192.168.0.1
Node Type : Broadcast
IP Routing : Enabled (Ticked)
NetBIOS resolution uses DNS (Ticked)
IP address 192.168.0.243
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway 192.168.0.1 "

The connection has been down for the best part of the afternoon again after my daughter crashed the client PC.

Hope this information tells you a bit more.
Thanks a lot for your help,
Frankie.

[Greenstead]

ICS should be enabled on the Blueyonder connection. Open the Blueyonder connection properties->Advanced-->check enable this connection for internet connection sharing.

Your settings look like they should work. I think you are setting your IP addresses and gateway address manually ?

Do you have internet access on both PCs ?

[mr_dee]

Yes, that seems to be enabled, slightly different wording and 3 options rather than one :
"Allow other users to connect to the Internet through the computer's Internet connection (Ticked)
Establish a dial-up connection whenever a computer on my network attempts to access the Internet (Ticked)
Allow other network users to control or disable the shared internet connection (Ticked).

But also, my "built-in firewall" as WIN XP calls that is enabled :
Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to the computer from the internet (icked).

Yes, most of the settings were set manually.

Depending on what your last question means it is either :

No, only one PC (the "server") is connected to a modem,

or,

Yes, when the network is operational, both PCs have full access to e-mail and the Internet.

Thanks,
Frankie.
:rolleyes:

[mr_dee]

Thanks again for all your brilliant advice Greenstead.
Everything worked fine yesterday, even after some reboots, until this morning when it took a good few hours again before the damn thing fired up.
In another discussion group someone suggested it might have something to do with the fact that I'm using crossover cable. (Could there be something in that ?)
Well, I have a 3rd PC which will be integrated into the network (after I've bought a hub), do I have to change from crossover to straight cable or can I keep using my existing cable ?

And then a final question, both PCs have a 10/100 NIC on board, yet, according to what the PC says I am only getting a connection speed of 10 Mbps.
How can I get to my full potential ?


Thanks again, and please forgive my ignorance.

[Greenstead]

Glad to hear things are starting to work.

You have to use a cross over cable to link 2 PCs. The only problem occurs if the cable or connectors are defective. If in doubt buy a new cable with cross-over stamped on it (don't use a made up cable).

When you get a hub (btw get a switch, not a hub, if you plan to move files between the PCs). You need straight through patch cables.

When the NICs start to talk they 'auto-negotiate' the speed to work at (unless you have manually set one to a fixed speed). You might try manually setting them both to 100Mb. It might be one of the NICs is poor and only runs at 10Mb (probably the oldest one). You will find out which is the 'weak link' when you put in the switch.