Strange Networking Problem...

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Hi guys

Bit embarssed to ask this question as I have my network+ exam tomorrow! But I have a strange problem with my home network. Setup is this:

Typical Wireless Broadband setup - Cable modem into wireless router - one wired client, two wireless clients. All configured statically with the DG pointing to the router and the DNS pointing to NTL's DNS servers. I have typical security on the router, WPA, Mac filtering etc.

This works fine!

However on my main machine (one of the wireless clients) I have two other connections i sometime link into my machine.

One is a networked DVD player and one is a spare machine. Both I have connected directly into my machine via an RJ45 socket. Now exactly the same problem has resulted with both (only difference with the machine is I have setup ICS on my wireless connection) - every time the link is made - I lose my connection to the internet on my main machine!.... I can still connect to the router and ping other machines on the network but cannot ping or connect to any external sites by IP or host name.

I am a bit baffled with this as I havent made any changes to my normal wireless connection - one moment the internet works - then I have to disable the new lan connection to access it again!

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

As far as I know ( i will check this later!) its just my machine's internet connection which drops (when I plug into my machine) - and I havent tried it on the other wireless machine yet (but I will do!).

 

have you tried disabling all of your security and seeing if the problem happens then...

 

While this can be made to work it isn't optimal. I have to ask 1) why static? and 2) what is the network address you have configured?

Again - why do it this way? ICS isn't needed here. I *suspect*, but until you provide network info I can't be sure, that there is a conflict between the static network and the ICS network.

Why don't you attach the DVD player and other machine to the switch on the router, and set them up to fetch info via DHCP?

Harry.

 

I turned off DHCP on the router as it was playing up - the router used to freeze up at least 2-3 times a day and needed rebooting - all the IP's would then switch around which ruined my port forwarding (I had the lease time set to full). So i decided to statically address it to fix this issue (which it appeared to!)

You asked the network address - I am using 192.168.2.x for my network, obviously subnet mask 255.255.255.0 and DG being the router on my main machine and DNS as NTl's DNS IP's.

The NIC card in use on the main machine's details are:

192.168.0.1/DG = Router and DNS = NTL's DNS.

The details on the spare machine are:

192.168.0.2/255.255.255.0 and the DG being the connection to my machine 192.168.0.1. DNS servers i thought I would point at the machine also so 192.168.0.1 and the IP for my main machine.


Also - I have tried it using two different connections to my machine - One using a normal RJ45 NIC connection - one using a USB=>RJ45 converter and both exhibited the same symptoms.

I havent touched the router security as I figured it was working before hand - and I dont need to get the internet on the spare machine (although ICS worked) only on my main machine.

Unfortunalty the DVD player and spare machine arn't located in a place able to connect to the router (apart from getting another wireless card - but this is only a spare machine so not really needed).

I have disabled both software firewalls on the main machine and the spare machine - but the fact it happens with the DVD player also leads me to believe that this cant be the issue? Same with the ICS.

 

IMHO a duff router should be replaced! These days you can pick up a WiFi cable router for about £30.

I suspect that although you have set things up in the way you describe, something changes when you enable the ICS.

I suggest you capture the output from 'netstat -rn' both when it is working and after you connect the machines and it isn't working.

I think that will reveal a routing problem.

I still think that using ICS here is a mistake. There are so many things that don't work properly with ICS, including the cheap/free firewalls.

Harry.

 

What router is it? If you're on cable, then pick up a Linksys WRT54G - they're about 30 quid on ebay and, with open-source firmware, you can get a reliable router that gives you features only available on much more expensive makes/models.

For info, the WRT54G I use for my personal Internet line at home has been up and running since about early 2003 without any problems. The longest its been without a reboot is just over 17 months...

Agree that ICS will only cause issues - its a dirty little botch job that shouldn't be anywhere near a 'real' network.

 

Sounds like a problem I had when tried getting my Xbox360 online through my wireless laptop..

Windows 'automatically' thinks your fastest connection is the way to the internet, and the chances are your LAN connection is 100Mb versus 54Mb for your wireless? Easiest solution is to set your LAN NIC for 10Mb.. and just make sure you have web connectivity before connecting the RJ45.

Oh, and ICS is a waste of time, just right-click both connections and select 'Bridge connections'.. this will create a virtual NIC for the bridge. Then all you need to do is re-enable DHCP, or assign an address to everything (inc. bridge) manually..

 

Thanks for the info guys - Its a Belkin Router (Belkin F5D7231UK4 125G).

HMS President - Your theory makes sense! I did try to look for an option like "User internet on this connection" but couldnt see anything like that (nor did i hope to, doesnt sound like anythign that should be there, but i was desperate!). How do I go about decreasing the NIC speed to 10mb/s? Apart from changing the CAT cablign i guess?

I have also done an NSlookup and am just trying to interprite the results :S !!!

 

Fantastic - 100% fixed the problem!

Thanks very much everyone for fixing a strange problem!!!

Now should I feel guilty not fixing it with my new N+ lol

 

I'm sure there is a way to set the priority of connections, but Windows being Windows, it is really well hidden... I found it once..