ad-hoc network OK; ping failing

[elliott]

i'm afraid I've run into a blackhole in my network knowledge; I know enough to set up a router with some computers, but not enough to get an ad-hoc wireless network going....

I have a WinXP desktop connecting directly to a cable modem, which is in
turn connected to a broadband service. This setup is working fine.

I'd like to create an ad-hoc network mainly so that my laptop, which I very
infrequently bring home, can exchange files with the home computer; I would ideally also like to connect to the internet using the ICS features of XP (running on the desktop).

To this end I installed a wireless NIC in the desktop, and configured it in ad-hoc mode. (I already had the card, so figured spending money on a new router was unnecessary...) I have created a the ad-hoc network, and both the laptop and the desktop state that they are connected at 54Mbps, no problem there.

However, even though the subnet for both wireless adapters is 255.255.255.0 and they are set to manually use IP addresses of 192.168.0.1 and 92.168.0.2
respectively, and I can happily ping localhost or the 'local' wireless adapter, I cannot ping the other computer across the ad-hoc network.

Any suggestions? Any way of troubleshooting this setup?
Thank you,
Elliott.

[Greenstead]

The IP addresses are best set to automatic. After enabling ICS on the modem connection, handing out of the correct IPs then proves all is well (or not).

[elliott]

Greenstead,

What I did was return to the (actually surprisingly clear!) Microsoft article below (which I went over painstakingly many times previously) and notice that I was trying to duplicate her directions using the manufacturer's wireless software / connection manager.

When I reverted both PC's back to Wireless Zero Configuration I could step through things and get them to work magically. I am amazed at how easy Windows makes this considering how difficult it was for me to try and tinker out a solution 'manually'.

Of course, one of those steps was reverting the TCP connection on the client card back to automatic, so I appreciate your help.

Thank you for your reply,
Elliott.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/bowman_02april08.mspx