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Networking Problem

post #1 of 17
6/1/04 at 3:08pm
Thread Starter 
Ok My two computers are being a bitch to put on the same network.

Here is what I want to do, no fancy internet connection or anything.

I have my RJ-45 crossover cable plugged into both my desktop and my 8890(Well not right now since I'm posting this). I have on each computer shared files that I want to swap on each computer. Now i've done this before at the beginning of last school year and my latop and desktop agreed fine. I would have both computers connected through the crossover cable. Get the IP of each or simply just type in \\desktop or \\laptop to see my shared files, and drag and drop as I please.

Now the two computers refuse to see each other. "Cannot find \\laptop blah blah contact your administrator" and BS like that. So I'm asking the greater minds here how they would remedy this problem.

I don't have any firewalls setup between the computers either, not even the stupid Windows one by mistake. I even tried using Microsoft's set-up-the-network-for-you to no avail. I want to reformat both of my computers but erm I need to back everything up first.

Ideas anyone?
(I'm on XP and tell me if there's some more information i need to include)
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post #2 of 17
6/2/04 at 12:46am
Can you ping one computer by using the other one or not? Are the ips in the same subnet mask?
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post #3 of 17
6/2/04 at 1:04am
Try giving them IP addresses manually. Try for 192.168.2.10 and 192.168.2.11 to avoid anything odd. Networking like that won't work without an IP. The subnet mask would be 255.255.255.0.
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post #4 of 17
6/2/04 at 1:29am
get a cheap 5 port Linksys switch for about $30 or so. This device is designed to allow communtications between 2 or more computers. I know you have used a cross-over cable before, but this device works better in for data transfers. I've been hosting small lan parties at my house now and I had nothing but problems when I used a 4 port hub or a cross over cable (between 2 computers).
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post #5 of 17
6/2/04 at 1:50pm
Thread Starter 
Ok let's start with what both computers can do.

Both running on XP Pro, they can
1) Ping each other
2) Both under the same Subnet mask
3) both in the same workgroup
4) Both worked with each other BEFORE I went to school.

However
I can't map network drives with my Sager.
Under My Network Places, the sager won't see both computers under the workgroup while the desktop will.

Also about the Linksys switch, that allows both computers toa ccess the internet right? My friend has one of those we use at lan parties, probably the same thing only more switches. And even with that people sitll couldn't get to my shared files.
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post #6 of 17
6/2/04 at 5:14pm
You *do* have both NetBIOS protocols bound to your NIC, don't you?
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post #7 of 17
6/2/04 at 6:55pm
Thread Starter 
Hmm I decided I'll create another partition and back my stuff up there then reformat. Then it all should work after that!
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post #8 of 17
6/3/04 at 1:35am
It won't work unless you have the NetBIOS protocol on both computers. I've tried it without it and cannot get it to work as easily as using NetBIOS. I'd recommend that before formatting and such; it's a lot easier...
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post #9 of 17
6/3/04 at 1:44am
I was thinking - LM announce on?

-Joe
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post #10 of 17
6/3/04 at 2:58am
no, no, no. You need a router to allow mutiple computers to share one Internet broadband connection. A switch is only OSI layer 2 transmission, while the router is layer 3 using IP addressing.
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post #11 of 17
6/3/04 at 3:03pm
SEMC, I think he wants to use a crossover cable to do this. I think as long as he specifies similar IP addresses for each computer and uses both NetBIOS protocols on his NICs, he should be able to access his shared files.

I actually have a router (Linksys 10/100) and do a huge amount of data transfer between my computers. All of my server drives, including CD drives, are mapped to my laptop. It's very conveient.
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post #12 of 17
6/3/04 at 3:31pm
crossover connection via WinXP is VERY buggy. I'd suggest a real cheap router, and run network connection wizard. Works everytime for me
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post #13 of 17
6/9/04 at 7:22pm
Try this:

Open My Computer

-Tools
-Folder Options
-View
-Advanced Settings, scroll to very bottom entry
-Change status of "Use simple file sharing"

You need NO extra hardware to do what you want. I use a crossover cable often to link my Sager to friends PCs.

Ping each computer by IP address (Start- Run - cmd - ipconfig) to get the IP address

Then ping by computer name (netbios) Right click "My Computer - Properties - Computer name tab to learn the name

Start low (ping 127.0.0.1, ping local ip, ping netbios name...) and work you're way up to see where the problem is occuring.

TomD.
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post #14 of 17
6/11/04 at 3:48am
NetBIOS is your problem... Bill & his underling at MS decided that it was no longer needed so they didn't set XP to install it as default... but it's there as a option... Win9X had it load as default.
But a simple $20-$30 HUB is your best bet, (you don't really need router or switch, over kill unless you've got future plans of shearing DSL or Cable then it will save the wasted hub and I'd go for the router nowdays there the 'smarter' box).
The HUB, it will work 99.9% of the time and will also let you internet share modem connection (and dsl/cable with extra network card)
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post #15 of 17
6/11/04 at 1:36pm
I asked about NetBIOS in post #6, but no one seemed to listen. I have all my server's drives mapped on both my laptops and have experimented with file sharing settings before. Yes, you need NetBIOS. Whether not anyone will listen to the people saying this is not known. I've done networking stuff before at my job and was quite good at it; why doubt?


If you don't know how to set it up, go into the "Network Connections" part of Control Panel, select your Ethernet adapter, "Properties" if you have it hooked to something at the moment, "Install", "Protocol", and select both "NWLink NetBIOS" and "NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol". Do this for both computers and you won't have trouble accessing your shares. For my server's main HDD, my share is "\\MAGE\Preece", which maps to drive "P".

Everyone else is saying you don't need an IP to do this. I've never tried that, but if you still can't do it, go back to your LAN Properties box, select TCP/IP, "properties", and specify similar IP addresses and subnet masks, such as "192.168.100.10/255.255.255.0" and 192.168.100.11/255.255.255.0"--one for each computer. After that, your computers should connect, unless you are using a firewall or something similar.

Try this with your crossover cable and PLEASE tell everyone the results...
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post #16 of 17
6/13/04 at 4:07am
I haven't a clue why you would want to install anything IPX/SPX? Are you running on an older Novell network? Binding unecessary protocols is very inneficient.

Netbios should be enabled by default on XP installs. To check...

Control Panel - Network Connections - Rt click your LAN card - Properties - select TCP/IP - Properties Button - Advanced button - WINS tab - Check box checked for LMHosts lookup and radio button selected for "Default" for Netbios (the one that just says "enable NETBIOS over TCP/IP" wiill work too).

You will also need "Client for Microsoft networks" installed.

TomD.
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post #17 of 17
6/15/04 at 5:38pm
It may be inefficient, but I was trying to get it to work. After it works, we can shave off unnecessary items.
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