Need some help please: Linksys/Neoserver/?

[backfeeder]

Please bear with me, I'm a newbie at this. I'm unable to connect to the internet with "some" of my network. I don't know what I'm doing.

I think this is some kind of configuration problem. I haven't changed any hardware configuration, and it was working before.

I have a Linksys wireless access point router, with 4-port switch. This is connected to a cable modem. The wireless part is working fine, I am online with a wireless card in my laptop.

I have a Compaq Neoserver internet appliance, and a desktop pc running Win98. Both are plugged into the back of the Linksys. I'm not using the uplink or WAN ports (the WAN is going to the cable modem), but just the regular ones.

The pc is able to communicate with the Neoserver, I can browse files and such. Before, with this same configuration, I was able to connect to the internet too. However, this was only recently, as I moved all this stuff from a different house. At that house, I had it hooked up different. I had a hub in between the wireless router and the Neoserver and pc. I wasn't able to duplicate the same setup (didn't remember what went to what or why), until it was suggested to me to just take the hub out of the equation.

The only thing I know how to do is to run that settcp and release and renew. I don't know what that does, but I know it helps sometime. It's not doing the trick.

What confuses my feeble mind is how the desktop can talk to the Neoserver through the Linksys, the laptop is able to be online via the Linksys, yet the desktop and Neoserver can't get online.

I would appreciate any pointers on what to check. If you need more information about my setup, just ask and I'll try to answer.

I would just put it off, but I want to download my emails from my ISP onto my desktop before I delete them and I'm running out of space.

Thanks,

Ken

[backfeeder]

Hi,

If this isn't a good place to post this question, then can someone please suggest a better place for it?

Any comments would be helpful, as I don't know what to do next.

Thanks,

Ken

[Ryanoffski]

do the neoserver and desktop have static ips? if so they can't see the router and the laptop. Make sure their network adapters are set to "Obtain IP Automatically"

[John Prophet]

the desktop is hooked straight to the back of the router? Ok, that is ok there. From the desktop can you "ping" the router?

by going to a dos prompt and doing "ping 192.168.1.1" (without the quotes)

if it pings ok then the pc can "see" the router. If not, then maybe you have the wrong kind of cable....maybe it is a crossover cable...if it doesnt ping the router you could try hooking the cable into the "uplink" port of the router, making sure that the port next to the uplink is empty..cuz it is a shared port..only 1 can be in use at a time.

If it doesnt ping it will say "100% packet loss" or destination unreachable" or something similar.

If it does ping ok.....run "winipcfg" and make sure the NIC is in the little drop down window "not the ppp adapter"...then do 'release and then after a few secs "renew".

See what happens then. If it says something like "dhcp server not available" then its not "seeing" the router or the router isnt configured right maybe.

and defintely set the pc to "obtain an IP address automatically"..by right clicking "network neighborhood" / properties / then click on the tcp/ip for the nic click properties and "obtain an ip address automatically" should be checked as opposed to "specify blah blah"

JP

[Ryanoffski]

probably 90% of all network errors i've dealt with is when someone forgets to change from a static to dynamic ip or vice/versa. Wouldn't it be great if it was all automatic?


(30 posts! i'm a member! )

[John Prophet]

the same as about 90% of xp file sharing problems are when someone leaves the firewall on, lol.

[Ryanoffski]

i hate when the "shared documents" folder, which is supposed to be shared, isn't accesible across the network by default.

[backfeeder]

Hello again,

First of all, thank you all very much for responding to my post.

I tried all the steps suggested by John, below. It did respond to the pinging. So I ran winipcfg. There, the only thing listed was "NDIS 5.0 driver". I released, and after a few seconds renewed.
I made sure the network neighborhood thing was set to obtain ip address automatically. I also verified that none of the cables were twisted. Looking at the individual wires in the connectors, they are the same on both ends.

I am still having the problem. I began to think that I should maybe include the switch in the setup like I originally had it, since it only worked once the more recent way maybe it was a fluke.

I'm thinking I should focus on the cables and how they should be hooked up. I don't recall which one went to what with this darn setup. The way it worked when I had dialup, was that the desktop connected to the Neoserver via the hub. The Neoserver has an ISDN port and presumably a network one that has a sticker showing a bunch of pc's connected together. I also have a cable that came with it that has a tag on it with the same symbol. I just checked that cable and it too has all the wires straight/non-twisted.

Here is something that I thought might be significant. The cable I had going from the wireless switch to the cable modem only has four wires in it. I thought that might be an issue (somehow, even tho' I can get online via the wireless part of it), so I put a different cable there that has wires on all the contacts, non-twisted as well.

One thing that kinda sucks is there is no longer really a rush to get my emails downloaded off the server. Because of a lack of communication on the part of my mother, I lost all the emails because they were associated with the internet account she terminated. It would have been prevented if I was only a little bit closer to solving this problem. At least I have them on my laptop, except for what was really lost before downloading even there.

In addition to anyone else's suggestions, I guess my next step is to dig up some info on how to properly hook up the Neoserver part of the deal.

The other good news is that I know how to ping. Is that the ip address for all routers, or who am I pinging when I ping 192.168.1.1?

Thanks again,

Ken

Originally posted by John Prophet
the desktop is hooked straight to the back of the router? Ok, that is ok there. From the desktop can you "ping" the router?

by going to a dos prompt and doing "ping 192.168.1.1" (without the quotes)

if it pings ok then the pc can "see" the router. If not, then maybe you have the wrong kind of cable....maybe it is a crossover cable...if it doesnt ping the router you could try hooking the cable into the "uplink" port of the router, making sure that the port next to the uplink is empty..cuz it is a shared port..only 1 can be in use at a time.

If it doesnt ping it will say "100% packet loss" or destination unreachable" or something similar.

If it does ping ok.....run "winipcfg" and make sure the NIC is in the little drop down window "not the ppp adapter"...then do 'release and then after a few secs "renew".

See what happens then. If it says something like "dhcp server not available" then its not "seeing" the router or the router isnt configured right maybe.

and defintely set the pc to "obtain an IP address automatically"..by right clicking "network neighborhood" / properties / then click on the tcp/ip for the nic click properties and "obtain an ip address automatically" should be checked as opposed to "specify blah blah"

JP