Network connection - Inspiron to Desktop PC

More information would help. How are you connecting the machines? Crossover cable? Hub/router/switch?

What OS is running on each machine?

Are both machines set to the same workgroup?

How are IP addresses assigned? If you arn't using a router or some such to provide DHCP addresses, should probably set static addresses for each machine in the same subnet (192.168.0.x for example).

Can you ping either machine by name from the other?
Can you ping either machine by IP address from the other?

Is either machine seeing itself in the 'Newtwork Neighborhood'?

Jerry thanks for replying. Here is some more info.

Both machines have Windows XP Professional

Desktop has IP address 192.168.0.1

Inspiron IP address 192.168.0.2

Submask 255.255.255.0 on both machines

Crossed over cable used

Ping does not work from either machine it times out. Interesting thing is if I monitor  'received and sent' packets on both machines the Inspiron sends and receives packets but the Desktop only sends packets and never receives them.

On both machines I can go Network places/Entire Network/Microsoft windows network and I see the network symbol with the workgroup name.

On both machines if I click on the symbol I get the error message stated in my first email.

Look forward to any ideas that you may have.

Best

Rick

Additionally, make sure that each machine has a guest account active or that you have a login on the machine you are trying to connect to.

Since you have both machines set with compatible addresses, and since they have the same workgroup, then I would suspect that the machines have the wrong node type set.

Node type numbers are 1,2,4 and 8.
1 is broadcast only.
2 is WINS only.
4 is broascast then WINS.
8 is WINS then broadcast.

If the node type is 2 and you have no WINS server, you can never find the computers in the Network Neighborhood. However, you should be able to ping them by IP address and be able to connect by IP address from Windows Explorer ( \\ipaddress ).

To check/change this:
Start|run|regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE|SYSTEM|CurrentControlSet|Services|NetBT|Parameters
If nodetype is 2, set it to 1,4 or 8 (I keep mine set at 8).

Of course, there is the possibility that your crossover cable is defective (or one of your NIC's).

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@Rick23 wrote:

Now this is really interesting I followed your instructions to the letter with regedit. On my PC once I got down to parameters there was no 'nodetype' entry. So then I tried it on the Laptop and found 'DhcpNodeType' set to 8.

I activated a Guest logon on both machines.

Hope this gets us closer to the solution and thanks for your continuing help.

Best

Roderick

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Strange. It should be just NodeType, not DhcpNodeType. I searched my registry, there is no 'DhcpNodeType' at all, so it couldn't be that you were just in the wrong place ...

Now this is really interesting I followed your instructions to the letter with regedit. On my PC once I got down to parameters there was no 'nodetype' entry. So then I tried it on the Laptop and found 'DhcpNodeType' set to 8.

I activated a Guest logon on both machines.

 

Hope this gets us closer to the solution and thanks for your continuing help.

Best

Roderick

I looked up some information on Microsoft. NodeType will override the DhcpNodeType. DhcpNodeType, if it exists, is set by the Dhcp server.

Since the NodeType overrides the DhcpNodeType, you might want to just add a NodeType parameter to each computer.

The article explaining this is here: http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/techresources/commnet/wins/winswp98/wins11-12.asp

Hi Jerry,

I spoke to a friend of my wife's this morning and mentioned my network problem and he's ended up fixing part of it! I had no idea he knew anything about networking. What he recommended I do was go into Settings/Network Connections/Local area connection/Properties then click on install and Add the protocol NWLinkNetBios. I did this on both machines and hey presto it works! What I did then was go back and look in the registery to see if it had added the nodetype value but it hasn't. Little bit on the weird side but I'm not complaining.

The only thing I can't get to work now is accessing the internet from my laptop through the desktop. Do I have to set Default Gateway to something?

Once again thankyou very much for taking the time to help me with this.

Best

Roderick

You are out of my area now. I prefer straight TCP/IP. Believe it is more secure.

So far as accessing the Internet through the desktop, don't know your setup. Stated you were using a crossover cable. Then I suppose the desktop has another NIC or modem or some such to connect to the Internet?

You would need to use ICS to allow the desktop to route the laptop. I won't use ICS. Routers are too cheap to mess with such a flaky setup. Besides, any other computer connecting to the Internet is completely dependent on the single computer operating. Unless your setup includes some type of router, you expose your main computer (and incidentally your entire network) to Internet attacks. A router's NAT is a very good protection.

I'm already way out of my depth as regards all of this protocol business. I have the XP firewall enabled on the Internet access machine and I keep my Nortons Internet Security up to date. I found a url called www.pcflank.com which simulates a hacker scanning your system. Thats the best I can do from a security point of view.

My desktop accesses the Internet through a cable Broadband connection.

What is a routers NAT? My ignorance is exposed now in that a router means nothing to me. Is it a device through which several computers can share a resource like a Broadband connection? Do I plug the Cable modem straight into it? If so how will this enable me to easily get both computer accessing the Internet?

Thought everything was going well here but out of the frying pan and into the fire.

 

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@Rick23 wrote:

I'm already way out of my depth as regards all of this protocol business. I have the XP firewall enabled on the Internet access machine and I keep my Nortons Internet Security up to date. I found a url called www.pcflank.com which simulates a hacker scanning your system. Thats the best I can do from a security point of view.

My desktop accesses the Internet through a cable Broadband connection.

What is a routers NAT? My ignorance is exposed now in that a router means nothing to me. Is it a device through which several computers can share a resource like a Broadband connection? Do I plug the Cable modem straight into it? If so how will this enable me to easily get both computer accessing the Internet?

Thought everything was going well here but out of the frying pan and into the fire.

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Routers and how they work covers a lot of area. Some tutorials here might help: http://practicallynetworked.com/networking/

NAT means Network Address Translation. A router receives the IP address from your ISP which is an Internet addressable address. The router then assigns (through DHCP) internal (not Internet addressable addresses) to the computers connected to it. It is more difficult for someone to attack your network in this situation because they can only address your router. The attacker doesn't know the addresses used internally on your network and can't address them even if he did know them. When you use a computer as your gateway, sharing its connection with other computers on your network, an attacker on the Internet is directly addressing that computer. Computers, being more complex and multi-purpose devices, are easier to 'hack' into than routers.

Many routers, in addition to the protection of NAT, also have firewall capabilities. Firewalls, whether software based on a computer or internal to a router are additional protection. I don't generally run firewalls on my computers, though that is fine. I just find it easier to use the firewall on the router rather than maintaining multiple firewalls on multiple computers.

ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) is Microsoft's method of sharing an Internet connection where one computer has the Internet access and it shares that access with other computers. There are other software solutions as well, generally called proxy servers. As noted above, the computer providing Internet sharing is exposed to the Internet. Aside from that, your whole network's access to the Internet depends on that single computer. Computers have a tendency to fail due to their complexity and multi-purpose design. Routers in general are far more reliable.

It is certainly possible to maintain a computer as a router/gateway and to do so securely. It is just much much easier to use a router.

Thanks for your clear explanation of terms and technology.

To summarise, I will have less security problems and more reliability if I get a router. I went to the site you recommended and started reading some of the reviews of different routers. There is a lot to learn about the options and capabilities of routers.

What should I look for:

 - built in firewall

 - wireless and line connection for future proofing (I don't need wireless now but I may in the future, strikes me with wireless though it's another security problem)

 - is there a limit to how many computers can attach to the router

- especially in one of the reviews it talked about having a wizard to set up the router inferring that it could be as complicated a job to configure a router as it is to get ICS to work

Which would you recommend that would be simple to setup?

 

 

Most inexpensive routers can address 253 devices (the router will have one address of the availavble 254). That is, an address like 192.168.0.x where x is 1 to 254 and the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 . Most inexpensive routers will have 4 ports. If you need more, you can attach a hub/switch (a switch is a hub which is more efficient, since it sends packets to individual machines rather than broadcasting).

If you don't need wireless now, you can save the expense and purchase an inexpensive access point later (just plug it in as you would a computer).

A firewall is nice, but not really necessary unless you are hosting servers on your systems (that is, you have ports open to the internet). If you aren't running servers from your system, NAT will probably be sufficient.

Most routers are fairly simple to set up. They generally come with good setup documentation, which will walk you through the screens. Also, most inexpensive routers have a web based interface which makes it easy to change settings. (Some of the more expensive ones require you to telnet to the router -- not difficult, but certainly not as user friendly as a web interface).

One thing to consider is how you are connecting to the internet now. If you are using a cable modem or ADSL modem, are you connecting to it with an ethernet cable or a USB connection? Most routers cannot operate a USB modem, and you will need an ethernet system. I believe that there are some which will operate a USB modem, but can't recall any at the moment.

If you are using dialup, there are several routers which can operate a dial up modem through a serial port.

Just having another look and found this one

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=51436 which is cheaper seems to have everything that the other has except some encryption device which I'n not sure that I really need.

Well I had a look around and saw this router http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=45023#pinfo

It seems to have everything I need (and hope I will ever need!) but am not a 100% sure. It has four ports, supports the two wireless standards, it has a firewall, and is easy to configure.

As I have several web sites I may eventually set up my own server so I am happy to have the firewall option and if we move to a bigger house and kids grow up and want internet I think I will grow into the Wireless options later on.

I have a cable modem with ethernet cable in and out.

So hopefully this should be me sorted for the next 5 years or so until all the standards change again.

Can you see any gotchas that I'm not seeing with the router? It's frustrating being so ignorant, it's a bit like buying a car and forgetting to ask if it was fitted with four wheels.