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-   -   Can't get 2 desktops online at the same time (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=104161)

  • Jun 25, 2007, 08:11 AM
    MartinClueless
    Cant get 2 desktops online at the same time
    Hi

    I am sure this may have been discussed before, but I am desperate, short on running out and killing an innocent passer-by.
    This is the current setup:

    ASDL ---> Linksys ASDL Modem ---> Netgear Wireless Router ---> 2 x hardwired pc's (called pc1 and pc2)

    PC1 has been in the house a while. I moved in recently and tried to get online. I did the above setup, which I have done countless times before. As this setup is, none on the two pc's connects to the internet.

    If you connect either of the two pc's directly into the modem, everything works. As soon as you connect the netgear wireless router, nothing works.

    I had this setup before which worked with no problems what-so-ever, and I feel like crying of frustration at this point in time.

    Now, the netgear wireless router works fine. I have tested it. Any advice at all?
  • Jun 25, 2007, 08:17 AM
    benn11
    So you are trying to connect your two PC's to a wireless router? Do your PC's have wireless NIC's?
  • Jun 25, 2007, 08:44 AM
    MartinClueless
    PC1 does not have any form of wireless cards/connection but PC2 does.

    Regardless of that, both PCs are directly connected to the wireless router using cables. This Netgear wireless router caters for 4 ethernet connections and up to 258 IPs.

    <-----crying like a woman
  • Jun 25, 2007, 08:52 AM
    benn11
    Can please elaborate a little bit more cohentry?
  • Jun 25, 2007, 09:32 AM
    Curlyben
    Are the PC set on dynamic, DNCP enabled, or stsic IP's.
    Maybe something like DNCP not running on router or a static IP conflict.

    Worth a look.
  • Jun 25, 2007, 09:42 AM
    NeedKarma
    Curly, your typing sucks as bad as mine. :)

    Surely you mean DHCP.
  • Jun 25, 2007, 10:23 AM
    Curlyben
    Yep that'll be the one ;)

    Least someone's paying attention.
  • Jun 25, 2007, 10:27 AM
    ScottGem
    Can you PING the router from either PC? What IP address does each PC get (If any?)
  • Jun 25, 2007, 03:32 PM
    cajalat
    You may have done this already but are the devices connected as follows:

    - ADSL connects to your WAN port on your Linksys
    - Your Netgear WAN port connects to your Linksys LAN port
    - Your PC's connect to the LAN port on the Netgear

    - DHCP enabled on BOTH the netgear AND Linksys
  • Jun 26, 2007, 02:37 AM
    MartinClueless
    Thank you for all your responses.

    The modem/router/PCs are all connected properly. The modem/router does not have confusing connections at all. It caters for goofballs like me: easy and simple. This setup worked fine in my previous house, but I lived in London where the broadband lines were different. Now I live in a little town that class their ''broadband'' as ASDL lines.

    I don't know if this makes a difference to the assigning of IPs, but I doubt that very strongly. My opinion of this is that one or both of the PCs have a setting to dominate IP addresses, which conflicts with the router's attempts at assigning IPs.

    I have set the PC's to default, detect this and that automatically - the real newbie type of plug 'n play setup, but it doesn't work.

    Even more frustrating is that although none of the two pc's can open websites, programs like online games (using different proxys/protocals) can access their applicable servers. Last night, PC1 was online, using websites and such. All of a sudden, it dropped connection and for all love or money, we couldn't get it back online.

    I rebooted the PC, unplugged the modem, rebooted the modem, but nothing worked. I will have to get a technician in to look at this, as I have never come across something like this.:confused:
  • Jun 26, 2007, 02:42 AM
    MartinClueless
    I forgot to add:

    - Yes, pinging works. I can ping the modem and even websites.
    - Tripple checked all connections x 1000
    - Put all settings to default
    - Set modem & router to factory default
    - Finished 3 bottles of Famous Gouse to try and forget about my failure
    - Tried everything again
    - Phoned ISP
    - Phoned Netgear
    - Phoned Linksys
    - Phoned my mom to look for comfort :(

    I decided to give up
  • Jun 26, 2007, 03:42 AM
    NeedKarma
    Did you check the computers to see if they are set to static IPs that would be outside the DHCP range?
  • Jun 26, 2007, 04:34 AM
    cajalat
    Ok, so it sounds like you may have a different problem that originally suspected. Lets try some good old troubleshooting techniques. Can you cut/paste for us the output of the following commands from both PC's:

    - ipconfig /all
    - netstat -rn

    You can click START -> RUN -> type CMD and hit the Enter key. You'll get a "dos" window where you can type the above commands.
  • Jun 26, 2007, 06:02 AM
    ScottGem
    I'm curious as to what Netgear said when you called them.
  • Jun 26, 2007, 07:54 AM
    MartinClueless
    Netgear said: Hello... based in India, yes? Press and hold small black button on back to restore factory defaults... connect to the router using ethernet cable ---> 192.168.0.1---->upgrade firmware ----> done

    Didn't help at all, as everything the sweet lady told me to do, I have done already. I'm at the office at the moment and will try to get those code-dumps on here asap.

    Once again, thank you for your help folks.
  • Jun 26, 2007, 10:02 AM
    cajalat
    Also if you could tell us the model numbers of the Netgear and the Linksys. I'd also like to see the output of one additional command and I'll list the above ones all here so you can find them in one place:

    - ipconfig /all
    - netstat -rn
    - tracert -d 4.2.2.1
  • Jun 26, 2007, 10:17 AM
    cajalat
    You know what... it just occurred to me what could be happening. You said that you reset both the Linksys and Netgear to factory default. Then you connected your Linksys to the ADSL connection and your netgear to your linksys (back to back basically). When you reset those things what happens is that the Linksys will offer up a DHCP address to your NetGear and it will offer an address in the range 192.168.1.x. Your Netgear will take that address as its external WAN address. The netgear being reset to factory default will also offer its clients (the PC's in this case) an address in the range 192.168.1.x and there-in I believe is the conflict. The netgear gets confused as to which is its front and which is its backend.

    The easiest way to fix this is to go into your LinkSys and change the range from 192.168.1.x to 192.168.2.x for the DHCP scope. I think and hope that this solves your problem.

    Casey
  • Jun 27, 2007, 06:41 AM
    cajalat
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MartinClueless
    Even more frustrating is that although none of the two pc's can open websites, programs like online games (using different proxys/protocals) can access their applicable servers. Last night, PC1 was online, using websites and such. All of a sudden, it dropped connection and for all love or money, we couldnt get it back online.

    I rebooted the PC, unplugged the modem, rebooted the modem, but nothing worked. I will have to get a technician in to look at this, as I have never come across something like this.:confused:

    Take a look at my previous answer from earlier (below) but I think the behavior that you're describing here makes perfect sense (to me at least).

    So the reason why it worked for a moment and then it stopped has to do with a race condition for ARPing for the MAC address of the default gateways. For the PC it is 192.168.1.1 and has the MAC address of the wireless router's LAN interface. For the wireless router the default gateway is 192.168.1.1 and it has the MAC address of the Linksys LAN interface. So now the wireless router sees two MAC addresses in its arp tables for the same IP. Thus the confusion.

    To verify this turn up the devices in the following sequence:

    - Linksys UP
    - Wireless UP
    - PC UP
    - Disconnect Wireless WAN cable for 5 seconds
    - Reconnect Wireless WAN to Linksys again

    At this point the PC knows the MAC address of the wireless router and the router knows the mac address of the PC. So neither one will have to ARP for the MAC address of the other. When you disconnect the WAN side of the wireless and then reconnect it will force the wireless to try to figure out what the MAC address of its default gw is so it ARPs for it and creates a new Entry for 192.168.1.1 in its MAC table to point to the WAN side. Now the PC knows how to talk to the wireless router, the wireless router knows the MAC of the PC which is what it cares about and the wireless router knows the 192.168.1.1 MAC which points to the Linksys. All is happy. In about 10 minutes the PC will re-ARP for the MAC of the gateway and the wireless will then hand out its own MAC on the LAN side as the ARP for 192.168.1.1 which basically conflicts with what it had before and that's when things stop working and no matter how often you reboot the PC it won't help.
  • Jul 2, 2007, 05:56 PM
    cajalat
    I'm curious... have you had any luck with this yet?

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