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Hello John,
First let me say thanks for looking at my post but
I think you read it so fast that you missed some of the details which you say
are missing!
Ok here are some answers to the questions that you
pose!
I have Netgear FA311 NI cards in each of the two
PCs, each connected to the FS105 Fast Ethernet Switch (Sorry I called it a
hub)
The two PCs were never directly linked, they have
always been connected to ports 1 & 2 of the FS105, PC2 to port 1 and PC1 to
port 2 (Don't ask, it just happened that way!)
I have a 56K modem in PC2 and a 28.8K modem in PC1.
Despite installing a cable modem I still require the use of a dial-up connection
for the upload of websites hosted by ISPs other than my Cable Modem
ISP. Obviously I prefer to use the faster modem from either PC and this did work
originally.
The Cable Modem is connected to port 3 of the
FS105. PC 2 happily connects to the internet immediately on power up via the
Cable Modem.
I cannot connect the Cable Modem directly to either
PC as there are no available card slots!
Originally PC2 (Pentium 3 450MHz running Windows
98) was the gateway for the dial-up connection to the internet with the
configuration as described ie PC2 FA311 connected to FS105 port 1 and PC1 FA311
connected to FS105 port 2. This worked perfectly well and enabled both PCs to be
simultaneously online sharing the single telephone line.
I should not require any more hardware than I
currently have!
I did state that I was running Windows 98 on PC2
and Windows 95 on PC1 !!!
The Netgear software (bundled with the FS105 and NI
cards and cables) enables the sharing of the Internet connection, whether by
dial-up or cable modem (one or the other but not both), but the software must
rely on correctly loaded network adapters and appropriate signalling protocols.
Unfortunately when the dial-up modem internet connection sharing was working I
did not specifically check what adapters were loaded and which protocols were in
use otherwise I believe I would have the system running again. All attempts to
use the Netgear software to set up sharing have failed so far but the last time
I attempted to use it the Cable Modem was not yet online although connected to
the cable. Currently the Cable Modem is in commission and working fine via the
FS105.
I also stated that I had removed the file sharing
facility. Originally the file sharing when online was disabled! I am well aware
of home PC intrusion issues but will visit www.grc.com as that is a new site to me. Currently
I am not running any firewall, once I get my internet connection sharing sorted
I will turn my attention in that direction but at the moment it is of no
consequence as my PC2 is virtually as it was when it left the factory some 2
years ago and PC1 is not in use. Anything of real importance was lost when my
8Gb and 60Gb HDDs were inadvertently reformatted by a 'OEM Smart Restore'
utility !!!!
Thanks for the advice so far,
Brian
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2001 5:41
AM
Subject: From The Screwdriver List: Re:
Home Networking problems!
Grab your Phillips, it's...
The Latest from The
Screwdriver List!
Unfortunately, your description lacks some very
important details--ones
that might give us the information we'd need to
help you do what you want.
My first question is about how you have your
machines hooked up. If I read
your message correctly, you used to have the
two PCs directly linked, but
now have them both hooked to a Netgear hub.
Each PC has a modem, but you
only use the one in PC #2, as it is a faster
one, and nowadays you (at
least want to) rely on a cable modem instead of
either of the POTS dial-up
modems. Is all that correct?
Where does
the cable modem hook into your setup? It appears that your
Netgear box is
only a switch (not a hub), and thus can merely allow the
sharing of
Ethernet packets among different machines. Normally you'd attach
a cable
modem either to a PC that would serve as a gateway (and perhaps a
firewall), and then share that connection with the other PC(s) on your LAN
through a separate network interface card (NIC) than the one connected to
the cable modem. Alternatively, you can get an "Internet appliance" that
takes the place of the gateway PC. In that scheme you hook the cable modem
to the Internet appliance, and then hook that appliance to your switch (or
hub) and hook each of your PCs also to that hub.
What you have to
do at each PC to set up the proper networking among them
is quite
different in the two scenarios I have described. And complex
enough that I
don't want to attempt to describe them both at this time.
You also
didn't tell us what operating system you are running on each PC.
Nor how
you had managed to share the phone line connection (other than to
refer to
some unspecified software provided by Netgear). Those details
matter, and
without them good advice is hard to give.
If you hook the cable modem
directly to one of your PCs, then it is vital
that you run some very good
firewall software. And if you also share your
files and printers via a
Windows network, you may find out that you have,
in effect, invited all
your neighbors--and perhaps everyone in the
world--to come browse around
your PCs and do whatever they like with all of
your files.
Once you
get your Internet connection back up and running, I strongly urge
you to
go to www.grc.com and check out the
ShieldsUp! service offered
there. If it tells you that you are safe, then
at least the worst of the
possible problems I referred to in my previous
paragraph won't come to
pass--but otherwise...!
Good luck. And if
you give us more details, perhaps I or some other list
member here can
provide you with more explicit directions to accomplish
your
goals.
John
At 07:19 PM 5/15/01
+0100, you wrote:
>Hi chaps,
>I recently installed a Netgear FS105
hub to network my two PCs and
>subsequently added a cable
modem.
>
>PC 1 is a Pentium 1 120 MHz running windows 95 and PC 2
is a Pentium 3 450
>Mhz running windows 98. Each PC is fitted with a
Netgear FA311 NI card.
>
>Initially PC 2 was acting as a dial-up
gateway as it had a 56K modem (PC 1
>has a 28.8K modem), both PCs able
to access the internet simultaneously
>over the single telephone line,
and each PC was able to share all the
>files of the other. This was
achieved using the Netgear software which
>came with the FS105
hub.
>
>Prior to the installation of the cable modem PC 2 suffered
a fatal crash
>and subsequently failed to act as a dial-up gateway. I
am currently unable
>to access the internet from PC 1 as I believe it
requires PC 2 to act as a
>gateway for the cable modem as well as the
dial-up modem. I have spent
>many hours re-installing dial-up and
network adapters and attempting to
>set-up internet sharing but to no
avail. The Netgear software also fails.
>I am certain that the problem
lies with the adapters and the protocols and
>I really am not sure what
is the correct combination.
>
>I have been able to set up
networking and file sharing between the PCs but
>currently have removed
the facility as it appears to cause PC 2 to lock up
>when accessing the
internet.
>
>Can anybody please point me in the right direction?
According to the
>information I have, I should only need to set up
TCP/IP protocols for the
>adapters but there appears to be a distinct
lack of communication despite
>the synchronised flashing of 100M LEDs
at the hub!
>
>Brian
>
=======
John M. Goodman,
Ph.D., author of "Peter Norton's Inside the PC," Seventh
Edition (Sams
1997, ISBN 0-672-31041-4), and Eighth Edition (Sams 1999,
ISBN
0-672-31532-7).
=======
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That's
all for now from The Screwdriver List
"Red Stripe to Pin
1"
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