networking issues!!

blind.sight · #1 July 12th, 2006, 01:52 AM

first...im pretty savy with pc's so i thought i would set up a network when i got my laptop (of course didnt take my time and problems occured)...when i got rr, I connected everything like i know to do and set my laptop and pc up for the network...well it never worked and then i figured out that my desktops network adapter wasnt even showing up on my computer...i dont have clue what kind adapter it is or i would download the driver for it and get it running (my PC is a Gateway), so im using my USB for my cable connection but the network was messed up enough that it confused me on how to fix the issue...so now i need to find the driver for my network card and set up my network right...hope that is clear enough

thx
blind.sight

bAdWaYz · #2 July 12th, 2006, 02:36 AM

That is pretty clear but let us get some info from you frist then see if we can get you up and running. First of all the problem pc "the gateway" is it the only pc that won't connect to the internet? I'm guessing you use a router or some form of internet connection sharing between the pc's? What ver of windows does the problem pc have running?

blind.sight · #3 July 12th, 2006, 02:46 AM

gateway PC: windows XP SP2 (laptop has also)

the PC is connected to a motorola modem but by USB not through the network adapter

they will both connect just not at the same time cause i figured I would get help and start from scratch this time around

how i would like it set up is my PC as the main and the laptop hooked up through my wireless router

bAdWaYz · #4 July 12th, 2006, 03:00 AM

Does your modem only have the usb connection or does it by chance have an ethernet connection as well? If it does have ethernet thats good news because then all you need to is connect the modem to the wireless router via the routers WAN or "internet" port. Then with a cat5 patch cable go from your desktops network adapter to a LAN port on back of the router. The laptop of course would connect wirelessly. This would mean getting the network adapter on the desktop to work. If your modem does't have ethernet then we will need to look at another way to share the connection.

blind.sight · #5 July 12th, 2006, 03:29 AM

thats all it has i have the modem plugged into another USB port...so yes it does have an ethernet connection (sorry, thats what i could ahve said instead). thats the way i had it hooked up originally...so yeah we just have to get the adpater on the destop running or getting the computer to read it and then setting the network up

bAdWaYz · #6 July 12th, 2006, 06:14 PM

On a computer that does connect to the internet go HERE download Everest Home Edotion save it to a cd, usb key, floppy or the like then install it on the computer with the network adapter that isn't working. Run Everest and it should tell you the make,modle, and more of the network adapter. Once you have that info you can post it back here or get on the net again and download the right drivers for the adapter and the ver of windows that computer is using.

blind.sight · #7 July 13th, 2006, 02:06 AM

ok...it worked and its up and running...downloaded the required driver and WAHLAH! lol now settin up my network... where do i start? (i actually no most of what u might say i just want to make sure its done correctly) i did not see a tutorial or i would i used that first

bAdWaYz · #8 July 13th, 2006, 03:05 AM

Well the first question we would ask is what exactly do you want to do with your network? If you just want the computers to share the connection then you are done. If you want the computers to share files/folders between each other then you have a bit more work to do. There are a few things to keep in mind before undertaking the task of setting up a home network. One thing would be what ver of windows do all the computers you would like to share files/folders on use? While all ver of Windows will talk to each other the setup for some differ. For example if you have one computer running Windows 98 and the other running XP then the setup for that will differ a bit from having all XP computers. Even sharing between XP Home and Pro can sometimes be just a bit different depending on what you want to do. So for starters and just as an example lets say both computers are XP Pro. What you would do is to run the Network Setup Wizard on both computers. This should take care of doing what you would otherwise need to do by hand. Those things include making both computers part of the same workgroup. The setup wizard would also tune the built in windows firewall to work with your network. On that note make sure that any other firewalls installed "norton internet security, zone alarm, tiny, ect" are tuned for the network or at first for testing turned off. Also you actually have to share out a file or folder in order for anything to show up on the other computers. An example is lets say you have a folder with music in it. You would need to right click that folder look for the "sharing and security" line and click it. That will bring up the "network shared properties" box. In that box you will see check boxes for "do not share this folder" and "share this folder" you will want to put a check in the box "share this folder". There are other options such as "share name" you can give it any name you want normally it will default to the foldername. So for example if the folder is named music it would default to "music" but you can make it whatever you like. There is also a comment box where you can put in a comment about the folder/file. For example if the music folder you are sharing is on your laptop then you could make the comment "shared music on the laptop" or something like that. What that will do is when you view the share over the network you would be able to see the folder "music" along with the comment "shared music on the laptop" so you would know where or on what computer that share was. This comes in handy when you have mutli folders with the same type things in them but located on different computers. There are also other options in the network shared properties box such as "allow max users" and permissions but the basic settings should work for you. That would be a very basic overview on how to get started. Feel free to post back with what ver of windows you have on both computers and if you need more step by step help or visual aids I'm sure we can help you out.