Home Network - ICS destroyed

[smoddelm]

I had a very nice home phoneline network (http://computing.net/networking/wwwboard/forum/23220.html#) w/5 computers (http://computing.net/networking/wwwboard/forum/23220.html#), cable (http://computing.net/networking/wwwboard/forum/23220.html#) internet shared. Worked fine for years. 2 days ago I decided to try a wireless network. Didn't really have enough signal strength, even w/booster, so I decided to go back to my HPN. I now have the following problems:



1. The computer that originally was the internet (http://computing.net/networking/wwwboard/forum/23220.html#) sharing computer can no longer share the internet. Attempting either to manually enable sharing in network properties or to run the home network (http://computing.net/networking/wwwboard/forum/23220.html#) wizard just hangs. Occasionally trying to enable manually I get a message that ICS is currently enabled for Network Connection 3 and will be switched to Network Connection 5, but it hangs or gives and error message about RRAS??? Don't know if this is relevant, but in the process of trying to go back to the original network setup, ethernet adapter (USB) broke and I had to install a new one. Is ICS still somehow looking for the old one to connect and share? How could I make it go away permanently?

2. If I move my cable modem (http://computing.net/networking/wwwboard/forum/23220.html#) to another computer and set it up as the sharing computer, I reset TCP/IP on the original sharing computer (now receiving the internet from the new ICS computer) from manually setting IP at 192.168.0.1 to automatically configuring. The address that is automatically created is not a 192.168.x.x address, and subnet mask is not 255.255.255.0. It cannot get internet from new sharing computer and cannot browse the network. Also, the "details" of the connection show "Private Network Address instead of DHCP Configured.

3. After some switching back and forth between the 2 computers trying to resolve the problem, ALL of the computers on the network are unable to automatically get an IP address (http://computing.net/networking/wwwboard/forum/23220.html#) that is a 192.168.x.x address and IP must be manually set in order for them to reach the network or the Internet.

4. I read somewhere that the home networking wizard can't work if any clients on the network are manually configured. Since I have now had to do this to connect to the new sharing computer, is this why I can't set sharing on the original one?

I can share on the "new" sharing computer with all others having IP addresses set manually, but for physical space reasons I really need to go back to using the original sharing computer.

PLEASE -- any suggestions??? If there's no easier fix, is there a way to wipe out all traces of the current network and rerun the home networking wizard on all computers?

[bAdWaYz]

Shew! These things can be so hard at times ehh. First of all it looks like you are at a good point to just stop and take a break hehe. Now if it were me what I would do is start over and go small at first. What I mean by that is stop everything, get the original sharing computer up and running on the internet then try to network it with one other computer. Get that going then add another and another untill they are all back on and working as you like. This will cut down on some headache as well as let you work faster believe it or not. Now with the original sharing computer, what OS does it have? Sometimes XP can give you fits with a USB adaptor if its uninstalled or just unplugged before you "eject" it. What you can do is go into device manager "if its XP" and look at the top of the window. You will see "show hidden devices" you can tick that box then device manager will show you all the things that you don't normally see. Sometimes a "ghost" USB device will show up. If so delete that and just use one. From there you would want to set up that computer just as you had it before. Using ICS can be tricky so post back with A. What OS the original sharing computer has and B. If somehow the USB adaptor was "ghosted" or showing more than one entry in device manager.