10.3.9 & XP SP2 Internet Connection Woes

agnuke1707agnuke1707
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Okay, here's the deal - and this one is a toughie...



My fiancee and her roommate moved into an apartment a couple of weeks ago and the people activated their cable internet the other day ... gave them a modem, but it was going to be $50 bucks to hook her and the roommate up, so they declined.



The modem has an ethernet port and a USB port on it and the cable company said they could computers to both outlets. Guess what - didn't work of course. They called today and the cable company says "No, no, you need a wireless router." Lucky for her, she already has a Netgear wireless router and wireless adapter.



Her computer is running XP SP2 and the roommate is on an eMac running 10.3.9. When I hook the modem to the uplink port on the router and then the eMac to LAN 1 on the router, the eMac gets no connection, even though in Network settings, it says it's connected over 192.168.1.2. My fiancee can see the netgear router as an available wireless network, but can't connect to it.



Is there any way for me to score some brownie points here and get these girls both online with what I've got? I don't know the make of the modem, but I do know the XP box and the Mac are both able to connect to the internet when plugged directly into the modem.



Thanks a bunch...

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    tag me backtag me back Posts: 121member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AgNuke1707


    Okay, here's the deal - and this one is a toughie...



    My fiancee and her roommate moved into an apartment a couple of weeks ago and the people activated their cable internet the other day ... gave them a modem, but it was going to be $50 bucks to hook her and the roommate up, so they declined.



    The modem has an ethernet port and a USB port on it and the cable company said they could computers to both outlets. Guess what - didn't work of course. They called today and the cable company says "No, no, you need a wireless router." Lucky for her, she already has a Netgear wireless router and wireless adapter.



    Her computer is running XP SP2 and the roommate is on an eMac running 10.3.9. When I hook the modem to the uplink port on the router and then the eMac to LAN 1 on the router, the eMac gets no connection, even though in Network settings, it says it's connected over 192.168.1.2. My fiancee can see the netgear router as an available wireless network, but can't connect to it.



    Is there any way for me to score some brownie points here and get these girls both online with what I've got? I don't know the make of the modem, but I do know the XP box and the Mac are both able to connect to the internet when plugged directly into the modem.



    Thanks a bunch...



    Easy solution: Buy an ethernet hub (5-port is ample) and two ethernet cables, and plug the modem + two computers into the hub. Works in less than 30 seconds. Should cost about $25. Most hubs do not require crossover cables, but there is a slight chance you need one between the modem and hub.



    Alternatively:

    Describe this router

    Is it (a) 1 ethernet + wireless?

    If so, it's more or less useless. Although you could run the modem into the router (crossover cable probably required), then connect wirelessly under xp, and using internet sharing, plug the eth on xp into the eth on the emac with a crossover cable, and you're running. (messy)



    is it (b) DSL + ethernet + wireless?

    DHCP and NAT start making your life hell here, because the modem's ethernet will be offering DHCP addresses, as will the routers, (two servers, no clients). Some manual IP address assignments will be necessesary.



    does it have (c) three or more ethernet ports + whatever?

    Then you can use it as a hub, just by turning off DHCP and NAT in its configuration



    Is it (d) something else?



    Whatever the case, just post whatever model / configuration the "router" is, and will be able to tell you how/if it can work.



    -t
  • Reply 2 of 7
    agnuke1707agnuke1707 Posts: 487member
    The Router she is using is a NETGEAR router with 4 LAN ports and 1 INTERNET port. The wireless adaper is a 54 Mbps NETGEAR. The modem itself has only two outlet ports - 1 ethernet and one USB 2.0.



    I tried the hub thing before with a linksys hub, but it didn't work (I even tried using a crossover cable from the modem to the router and the hub...)



    The cable company has only assigned one IP address the apartment, though. Would I have to share this connection or forward the IP or something of that nature do you think?



    Thanks for any help...



    Chris
  • Reply 3 of 7
    tag me backtag me back Posts: 121member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AgNuke1707


    The Router she is using is a NETGEAR router with 4 LAN ports and 1 INTERNET port. The wireless adaper is a 54 Mbps NETGEAR. The modem itself has only two outlet ports - 1 ethernet and one USB 2.0.



    I tried the hub thing before with a linksys hub, but it didn't work (I even tried using a crossover cable from the modem to the router and the hub...)



    The cable company has only assigned one IP address the apartment, though. Would I have to share this connection or forward the IP or something of that nature do you think?



    Your model router will handle this through a technology callet network address translation (NAT). This means your machines will be given an ip address in the 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.254 range (which are reserved for private networks)



    Quote:

    Thanks for any help...



    Chris



    Great, you've got the hardware for the job...



    Basic config.. plug the internet port of the router into the modem etherner, and the emac ethernet into the ethernet on the router. I'm sure you've done this already, as the 192.168.1.2 address infers it's got a connection to the router (but only the router).



    Step 2: Debug the wireless connection. (and set up wireless security)

    XP wireless connections are not as simple to add as they are under OSX, especially when a security protocol is enabled.



    Use the emac and pull up a browser. Go to http://www.routerlogin.net/

    The router intercepts this request and brings up the router's embedded web server

    Username and password for the router will BOTH be the word admin.

    In the menu there will be an option called "wireless"

    Change the name (SSID) to something meaningfull. It IS case sensitive.

    WEP is the easiest security protocol to administer (also the least secure, but adequate).

    Choose it. (with 40 or 64 bit strength)

    Hit Accept.

    You should now be able to select "shared key" on the wireless setup page, then key in 10 digits of hex (characters 0-9 and a-f, which forms the access key, a password of sorts) If you chose 104 or 128 bit strength this would be 26 characters... whatever you chose, write it down.

    Hit accept..



    Once that's accepted, you can jump onto your xp box, and double click the wireless icon on the task bar.



    On the right hand side of the available wireless networks window, hit change advanced settings. Choose the wireless networks tab. Down at preferred networks, hit add.

    Enter in the network name (SSID) you chose earlier (case sensitive, remember).

    Choose WEP, with shared authentication. Turn off "Key is automatically provided for me" and then type in the network key you chose in the boxes provided. Keep ad-hoc off. Hit ok, and assuming you got everything right it should automatically connect.



    Yay, your xp box connects to your router (not the internet yet). What a mission. Of course you could do it without security, but then again, your neighbour could then use your internet...



    check the connection by using a browser and going to http://www.routerlogin.net/ and logging in.



    Now to fix your internet connection:

    Fill out the basic settings tab as required by your isp, as if this config was for a computer.

    Once these are applied, go to the router status page. If the routers IP is 0.0.0.0 then it's not connecting to your router at all. In not, check for internet connectivity on the web. If it works, Yay, if not then check your basic setups, and post the router's IP address along with the cable modem's model number on this forum, and I can guide you through the last bits.



    Good luck

    -t
  • Reply 4 of 7
    kukukuku Posts: 254member
    Mosst of it is explained, but not knowing your debuging process they most common issue with not having internet is:



    You Have to power cycle your modem with each new device



    Modems generally need to bind a MAC (media access control) address before it can send information.



    Such that when you plug in your router to the modem(you did put it in the internet port right?) you have to power cycle(Turn off modem for 30 seconds, turn on) before it can rebind the router's(or computer if you're taking it out) to the modem.



    After that's done, then you can start fiddling with the router controls(which may not need to if it's doing dynamis IP)
  • Reply 5 of 7
    agnuke1707agnuke1707 Posts: 487member
    Thanks for the replies...



    Right now, whenever I connect the eMac to the router, the internet dies, so I'm unable to make any kind of connections to the internet with at least one computer. Do you think binding the MAC address will fix this problem?



    Thanks for anymore help...



    Chris



    EDIT: Nope, never mind ... the little light in network prefs is green and give a 192.161.1.2 IP, but when I open Safari opens it says it can't find the server. I'm way confused now ... the modem BTW is an AMBIT, hooked to a netgear router.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    kukukuku Posts: 254member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AgNuke1707


    Thanks for the replies...



    Right now, whenever I connect the eMac to the router, the internet dies, so I'm unable to make any kind of connections to the internet with at least one computer. Do you think binding the MAC address will fix this problem?



    Thanks for anymore help...



    Chris



    EDIT: Nope, never mind ... the little light in network prefs is green and give a 192.161.1.2 IP, but when I open Safari opens it says it can't find the server. I'm way confused now ... the modem BTW is an AMBIT, hooked to a netgear router.



    It's really sounding like your didn't powercycle your modem. plug it into the router, unlug the modem for 30 seconds. Plug it back in.



    The modem needs to bind itself to the router mac address. If you're taking it from your emac, that means it thinks your router is your emac, which does not work because they have different MAC addresses.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    agnuke1707agnuke1707 Posts: 487member
    So, I'm completely baffled ... we power-cycled the modem, still nothing - but my fiancee and her roommate left it alone for a little bit and then came back later, fired up Safari and *boom*. Pops up likea dream. eMac is hooked to the router via ethernet, which is hooked up to the modem. About 2 hours later, my fiancee goes to her XP box (I talked them through the set-up of the router through the browser earlier...) clicks on the wireless network, changed some setting from automatic to shared and then *boom* she's pulling internet from the wireless router. So, it seems miracles do happen. The were both online talking to me last night, so I know it's real.



    Thanks for the help getting everything going. The AI boards never seem to fail me 8)
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