Want to Network my two Dell PC's - help/advice sought

haffy,

If you only have the two PCs and are willing to network using cable (vs. wireless) then all you need is a cat5 crossover cable (a special ethernet cable just for this purpose) and an ethernet network adapter in the XPS T600.  You do not need a switch unless you add a third PC to the mix.

If the XPS T600 does not have a network adapter, any inexpensive one will be fine.  Look at Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, Belkin - any brand name.

This site has excellent tutorials to learn about home networking and how to configure it. 

Paladin,

thanks for this. My XPS600 has a Belkin Network PCI card (10/100BT Ethernet) that I have never used. Presumably this is ethernet network adaptor you refer to?

haff

haffy,

"My XPS600 has a Belkin Network PCI card (10/100BT Ethernet) that I have never used. Presumably this is ethernet network adaptor you refer to?" - Correct.  Looks like you are all set, hardware-wise.  All you need is the crossover cable and configure the software.

Paladin,

thanks for this. Purchased crossover cable and run wizards on both machines. Encountering problems re being able to "see" each other.

I run the 2 computers separately and they both run McAfee firewall/antivirus/spamkiller software. As we only have slow circa 32k dial up available in our village (no prospect of broadband here!) they currently connect to the internet independantly via telephone adaptor on same phone line. Only one on-line at a time.

When running the network wizard I wanted to continue using independant dial up, without setting one of the computers to act as the "host" for all internet connection. Reason behind this is that I did not want to have to have both machines swithed on for the 2nd computer to access internet. Thus clicked the "other" box for internet connection in network wizard and said that each would connect separately.

For me to be able to "see" both computers on the network from each computer it seems that I have to disable the firewalls on both machines! Is there a way around this - ie identifying what to "allow" through the respective firewalls safely so that firewalls can continue running? Should I have set the network link to different protocaol for networking ie non IP protocol?

Any ideas appreciated - getting there slowly!

Haffy

Paladin,

thanks for this - how do you go about assigning the static IP addresses you refer to? Is the subnet mask(??) automatically assigned?

Have to go out now so hope to try later.

thanks again

Haffy

haffy,

Definitely the firewall will prohibit LAN traffic between the two PCs.  Most software firewalls, like Zone Alarm and Norton Personal Firewall can be configured so that certain IP address are allowed through the firewall.  Those programs call it the "Trusted Zone."  I would expect the McAfee firewall to have a similar function, so consult the documentation.

To make that easier, I suggest you configure each PC with a unique static IP address.  So, for example, one PC will be address 192.168.1.100 and the other will be 192.168.1.101.  Each PC would be configured with the subnet mask 255.255.255.0.  And for a gateway address, enter the other PC's IP address.  Once this is done, configure the McAfee firewall to allow those two IP addresses.

Right Click on each of the network adapters and go to properties>Scroll down to TCP/IP and highlight then push the Properties Tab on the right>The next box will by default go to the IP Address Page where you can either assign a Dynamic or Static Address.

I would suggest using 192.168.1.100 & 101 with Subnets of 255.255.255.0 for each.  You will also need the DNS Server addresses for each which can be found by going to Start>Run>type "cmd" and hit enter.  Type ipconfig and you will see the DNS Server IP address listed.

haffy,

The procedure here will show you how to configure a static IP address for each PC.  Use the addresses I mentioned in my previous post.

I downloaded the McAfee personal Firewall User Guide and it does have a "Trusted Zone" which McAfee calls Trusted IPs.  It is documented on page 11 of the user guide.  So be sure to add the two IP addresses to McAfee's Trusted IPs list.

Message Edited by _Paladin on 10-29-2003 06:50 AM

Paladin,

thanks for all the help/hand holding so far! Started to change the 8200 machine running XP to static IP address but have some more queries.

Having typed run "cmd" then ipconfig these respose was:

Ethernet adaptor local area connection

Connection specific DNS suffux :

Auto config IP address : 169. etc

Sub net mask: 255. etc

Default gateway:

Unclear from above what I need to type as default gateway (currently blank) and for Preferred DNS servier when I look to change IP to 192.168.1.100.

Please advise

thanks again

Haffy

haffy,

None of the information from the ipconfig command is useful in this case.  The 169.254.xxx.xxx IP address is a WinXP auto config IP address.  When Windows can't find a DHCP server to get an IP address from it will assign an auto config to the network adapter.  And because there's no DHCP server the gateway and DNS information is blank.

So use the IP addresses and subnet mask I mentioned in the previous post: So on the D8300 - IP address 192.168.1.100, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, gateway 192.168.1.101.  For the T600 - IP address 192.168.1.101, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, gateway 192.168.1.100.  Don't bother with a DNS address since the PCs are not using these network adapters to reach the internet.  To reach the internet they will use the DNS information supplied by the ISP when they dial in.

Paladin,

thanks for this. Have followed info advised and link now up and running.

Have noticed that McAfee somewhat unstable now on Dimension 8200 Windows XP machine, as is Windows XP - has advised me several times that it has to close firewall and did I want to send report etc to help fix. Similar messages re windows instant updater etc. Could the linking/setting of static IP's have caused some sort of problem.

Dimension seems normal at the moment but other machine is currently switched off.

Hopefully only temporarty glitch.

many thanks for all the help.

Haffy

haffy,

"Have followed info advised and link now up and running." - Excellent, well done.

"Could the linking/setting of static IP's have caused some sort of problem." - No, it shouldn't have caused any problem at all.  I have virtually no familiarity with the McAfee firewall so I can only suggest you make sure that any available updates to it have been applied.  That holds true for any outstanding Windows Critical Updates as well - on both systems.  You may want to look in the Event log to see if any errors are being recorded.  And you can check the McAfee support site to see if the errors you are seeing have been reported and if there are available patches.

Paladin,

problem seems to be confined to the newer machine running XP. It suddenly exits me from network places when I start doing things, generating error reports - sent to microsoft.

I have checked for critical updates - none to download

Have also updated virus scan to latest dat file.

Still being "exited".

When screen refreshes, some of the small icon previously shown in  bottom right hand corner seem to have disappeared - spamkiller icon, AOL icon etc..Most strange.

In warnings log messages like McAffee blocked an incoming UDP packet. The remote address was....he remote port was.....The local port on your pc was ...(ephemeral). The network adaptor was WAN Miniport (IP

Any ideas; would seem to somehow be linked with the networking.

thanks

Haffy

haffy,

I suggest you completely uninstall the McAfee firewall on both PCs and see if the system stabilizes without it.  You can enable the WinXP Internet Connection Firewall on the dial-up adapter's properties so you are protected when the D8300 is connected to the internet.  Win98 on the T600 has no similar firewall, but I believe it's not as critical to run a firewall on it.

Give the setup a few days to stabilize and keep an eye on the Event Viewer for errors.  If errors do occur then you can troubleshoot them without McAfee clouding the issue.  If there are no errors, try reinstalling McAfee.  Maybe there was an installation problem that will be resolved by a reinstallation.

Sorry there's no clean answer to this problem.  However, I can say that what you are experiencing simply should not be happening.

Have just got home and tried out links again and no problems so far - most strange!

Maybe I will just keep an eye on things as you suggest but not tinler with McAffee at this stage.

One thing that I have changed since experiencing problems is to remove the mysteriuos sounds that were occurring intermittently - rifle shots and barking dog! McAffee spamkiller was the culprit. Maybe this had something to do with my problems, or maybe not. Time will tell.

thanks again for your support. fingers crossed for some stability.

Haffy