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Crazy Router or Crazy User

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by geodavis3

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I'm a network newbie. I am using a linksys cable router with 8-port switch. I have 4 pc's with XP Pro, 1 with XP Home, and 2 with win98 se. I was using the router as a switch without internet access for about 1 month and everything was fine. I just had a cable modem installed at my business and am now able to connect to the internet with all pc's but they no longer are able to communicate with each other. I used the network wizard with xp to setup (used connecting with hub option) after I connected internet but still nothing. Windows Internet Connection Firewall is disabled on all xp machines. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

4 replies

by cg it

hummm welp, so what is the ip address, subnet mask, gateway & DNS addresses assigned for each computer? What is the IP address and subnet mask for the router? IS the DHCP service on the router enabled? It might be that the router when sent packets from a computer behind it can't determine if the packet is destined for a local host [LAN] or remote host. that's determined by the subnet mask host identifier. OR if the DHCP service is turned on, on the router, and you have manually assigned IP, subnet mask, Gateway and DNS addresses, there's a conflict there and you won't have connectivity. Disable the Router DHCP service or enable the auto discovery of addresses in TCP/IP.

Factory default, Linksys routers [wired] have the DHCP service enabled [ease of setup and use for not techies].

by techkid

Did the cable guy trick you into installing any of their crappy software? If he did, many cable/dsl providers are installing their own version of firewalls/anti-virus packagses. So, make sure you can ping each machine by name. If it works great, if not, there's a connectivity issue.

Second verify the crappy Windows network wizard actually did the job right. All machines should have the same workgroup name. Make sure File and Printer Sharing is installed and ticked. Make sure Client for Microsoft Networks is installed and ticked. For convenience you can setup the same exact user account using the same password on all machines

IP info should be irrelevant since all machines are using the same gateway and the gateway has to be on the same network as the PC's

by lmon

If they can see each other and your getting an error stating that you dont have access, cant see the computers, or getting an privaleges error its another firewall somewhere. Make sure that all pc are set to obtain automatically. Also make sure that the wizard did not bridge anything.

by jimcorkery

I agree completely with the other answers. I would also suggest checking the basics. Are all of the machines within the same workgroup? To test for 3rd party firewalls, you might wish to setup a static IP address on each system (192.168.0.X) and run through a hub/switch. by ruling out the router and Internet, we are simply dealing with the software and settings on all the workstation. If they work fine, I would set all systems to obtain IP address automatically, and ensure the router is configured properly (DHCP is enabled, WAN configuration is right, etc). This should help narrow down the problem for sure.

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