Problem adding new XP PC to my home network

Question

Hi, new member here...   I just bought my wife a new PC for Christmas that replaces her 7 year old Compaq running Win95.  (I know... no jokes please :smileywink: )    My PC runs WinME.  I have a cable modem.  The PCs and modem are connected by a switch.  Everything was running fine with our old setup, but not with the new XP box.  I simply removed the old PC and put this one in it's place.  Plugged in the same Cat5 cable into the new PC's NIC and I get the message 'limited or no connectivity.'   Any help with troubleshooting this would be greatly appreciated.  I could've sworn there used to be a chatroom type feature available at Dell that let you IM back and forth with a tech.    Thanks in advance,   Scott

volcano11 · Answer

Your IP address is exposed everytime you use the internet - otherwise the internet will not work. But, if you wish, just replace the last 6 digits with x, since it is the first few digits that are needed for troubleshooting.  i.e 192.168.xxx.xxx   Using a switch and a high speed internet connection, if you are using file and printer sharing over tcp/ip, you are completely open to hackers.  Furthemore, unless your ISP is very generous, you are probably having to pay extra for more than one IP address.  I would strongly recommend replacing the switch with a router.   Steve

Parkertown · Answer

Hi Steve,   Yes, it's a switch, not a router.   I've rebooted several times.   I can list the ipconfig info but am concerned about having that on the internet.  Is that something to worry about?  Would it be something better handled by PM?    Thanks.

Parkertown · Answer

Perhaps I should hire someone to come out and 'correctly' set up a network for me.  I tried a router a first but it kept on resetting all the time and dropping my internet connection.  When I tried a switch, it worked no problem.   Thanks for trying to help me.   Scott

volcano11 · Answer

Are you really connecting by a switch and not a router? Have you shut down the computer and rebooted after connectin the comptuer to the "swithc"? Open a command prompt window by going to Start Run and typing cmd then clicking on OK. In the command prompt window, type ipconfig /all followed by hitting the Enter key. Copy the text from the output of this command into a reply to this message. Note that you will either have to write it down and then type into a reply using a computer that connects, or copy the text into a txt file, copy this txt file onto a floppy disk or CD-R, then open it on the working computer and copy and paste the text into a reply message.

Steve

jmwills · Answer

http://service.dell.com/dell/topic/1,,33732+30+26124,00.html

My guess is you just got a bad device in the beginning. Try some of the router from either Linksys or Netgear. Like Steve said, without that router acting as a firewall, you are exposed to the internet, if you have File & Print Sharing enabled.

No need to hire someone, just do some reading and understand the basics. There is more than enough documentaion online to do this yourself.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

Problem adding new XP PC to my home network

Was this post helpful?