[gui-talk] home network problem

[Steve Jacobson]

It sounds to me as though somehow the old computer is configured to have the IP address set manually.  The IP address which identifies all your computers to the 
network is unique for each computer on your network and it is generally different than the IP address expected by your cable modem.  In effect, all of your network 
has one IP address known to your cable company, and your router keeps track of all of the different IP addresses on your network and routes everything to the right 
place.  It sounds to me as though your old computer is set to use the IP address expected by your cable modem.  That address will not be recognized when going 
through the router.  He needs to be sure that his old computer is configured to have the address automatically assigned, which means it uses DHCP, or he needs to 
assign a manual address within the range of addresses recognized by his router.  It is pretty hard to give more specific advice from long distance, though, and it 
almost sounds to me as though a piece of the puzzle may be missing as well.  Where he should look for such settings varies some depending upon the version of 
the operating system he is using, so it is hard to be more specific.  However, the fact that his old computer does work on the cable modem and the new computer 
works on any of the router ports says that the problem is likely a setting on the old computer and that his hardware is working all right.

This is grasping at straws a little, but he might also temporarily turn off any firewalls on his old computer.  Clearly he should not do this permanently, but it is remotely 
possible that the firewall is interfering with the changes. 

On Tue, 10 Apr 2007 07:45:08 -0500, Arliedog wrote:

>Yes the new computer works fine on all ports.  The old computer doesn't work 
>on any ports but works fine plugged directly into the cable modem.
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
>To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 9:58 PM
>Subject: Re: [gui-talk] home network problem


>> Does his new computer work on all of the router ports?  Knowing this would 
>> tell us that the router is likely functioning all
>> right.
>>
>> Sometimes the network cable between the router and the modem is different 
>> than the other cables.  The ends will feel
>> the same but the cable conductors are connected differently.  They are 
>> usually a different color.  Since some devices
>> will automatically sense the correct connection and some won't, he should 
>> check his cables.  If one is a different color,
>> he should use that one to connect between the modem and the router.
>>
>> Sometimes, one port on a router is a DMZ port which means that it is 
>> pretty much a direct connection to the modem.
>> These ports are often there for people who do heavy gaming on the 
>> internet.  Normally you don't use this port or you turn
>> it off.  However, doing this may require changes to the firewall.
>>
>> Finally how does he assign the IP addresses for the computers?  They can 
>> be assigned manually or dynamically, which
>> means that the router will assign them.  If they are assigned manually, he 
>> might need to make sure that the assignments
>> are correct.  If one is assigned manually and the other automatically, 
>> there is the possibility of a conflict, although it can
>> be avoided.
>>
>> Good luck.
>>
>> On Mon, 9 Apr 2007 20:58:47 -0500, Arliedog wrote:
>>
>>>My son is at a loss as to what the problem is with a home network he is 
>>>trying to
>>>expand.
>>>To start with he has a Belkin wireless router which also has four ports 
>>>connected
>>>to a cable modem.  He had one computer cabled to the router that worked 
>>>fine and
>>>was able to use his notebook through the wireless.  Everything worked 
>>>great.  Well
>>>this weekend he received his new Dell computer so he decided to move one 
>>>computer
>>>to another room and hook both desktops to the router through two of the 
>>>ports.  His
>>>new computer had no problem connecting to the net but now his old computer 
>>>can not
>>>establish a connection.
>>>He has tried the following with no success.
>>>He unplugged the new computer and lleft the old one plugged into the 
>>>router and still
>>>no connection.
>>>He plugged his old computer directly into the cable modem and it worked 
>>>great.
>>>He tried to re install the software on the old computer and the setup 
>>>failed saying
>>>failed connection.
>>>He called Belkin and they blamed his computer although it was working fine 
>>>before
>>>adding the new computer to the router.
>>>He has moved the cables around to all available ports on the router as 
>>>well as switching cables.
>>>Anyone got any ideas?
>>>Thanks
>>
>>
>>
>>
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