New to home networking.

[JBrainard]

Ok here's the deal. I want to connect my Desktop with my laptop via a wired (for gaming speed) home network. I got the connections enabled on both computers and set up a home network with the "wizard" in windws XP, but the two computers can't "see" each other. Does anyone have any advice and/or know of a good web site that is basically "Windows home networking for dummies?"
Thanx in advance,
JB

 

[Andrew Green]

Are you using a router, or connecting one to the other directly?

btw - as far as gaming speed goes, wireless technology goes a lot faster then most people's internet connections

802.11n cards have a mas speed of 600mbs, most peoples wired cards are 100mbs (although 1000mbs cards are becoming more common now)

 

[tellner]

First thing, can they see the outside world?
If they can see the outside world can they ping each other?
Do you have a firewall installed on either of the computers?

 

[JBrainard]

Thanx for the responses...

Are you using a router, or connecting one to the other directly?

btw - as far as gaming speed goes, wireless technology goes a lot faster then most people's internet connections

802.11n cards have a mas speed of 600mbs, most peoples wired cards are 100mbs (although 1000mbs cards are becoming more common now)

First thing, can they see the outside world?
If they can see the outside world can they ping each other?
Do you have a firewall installed on either of the computers?

I don't have internet right now and I've got both computers plugged into a network switch. I've also made sure to disable the software firewalls on both computers. When I try to access the home LAN using the laptop it gives me a dialog box saying that it doesn't have the administrative privilages to connect to the LAN and something about not finding a server... Sorry if this is all very vague, I'm not the computer nerd I used to be

 

[Sukerkin]

This can be quite complicated to troubleshoot 'remotely, JB (ironic isn't it ?).

Basic things to check are that all the various pieces of hardware are working correctly and that things like on-board LAN cards are enabled in the BIOS (assuming they're not using plug-in cards).

Have you got each machine set up to use fixed or dynamic IP addressing and are the LAN cards configured to utilise the same speed (some cards are very bad at negotiating with others)?

It could even be as simple as the laptop's networking not being configured correctly. Check through and make sure that it isn't something daft like a wrongly selected setting.

 

[Andrew Green]

I don't have internet right now and I've got both computers plugged into a network switch. I've also made sure to disable the software firewalls on both computers. When I try to access the home LAN using the laptop it gives me a dialog box saying that it doesn't have the administrative privilages to connect to the LAN and something about not finding a server... Sorry if this is all very vague, I'm not the computer nerd I used to be

If you are trying to set up a LAN a switch won't do it. You can do a peer-to-peer (connect one directly to the other) but I don't think that is what you're goal is.

A switch is just a switch. Like a phone switch board, it points "calls" to the appropriate "extension", right now you don't have anything giving your computers "extensions".

A router does everything a switch does, plus it assigns internal IP addresses, which is needed for a LAN. Switches are generally used to expand on that, so if you had a central router and a cable running from it to another room, but then needed more computers in that room you could use a switch, connected to the router and the other computers.

But somewhere in there you need something assigning ip addresses. Generally for home networking this means a router. You 'could' configure one of your systems to function as a DHCP server... but the easiest thing to do is use a router

 

[Sukerkin]

Ah, I didn't notice that significant bit (yeah, computing pun attack! ).

A switch does make it a tougher prospect - mind you, I've built networks using them before now because I didn't have a router. That was aeons ago tho' and I can't recall how I did it. I know it wasn't long before I borrowed a router from a friend ... maybe that means that I didn't get it working properly .

 

[Andrew Green]

Ah, I didn't notice that significant bit (yeah, computing pun attack! ).

A switch does make it a tougher prospect - mind you, I've built networks using them before now because I didn't have a router. That was aeons ago tho' and I can't recall how I did it. I know it wasn't long before I borrowed a router from a friend ... maybe that means that I didn't get it working properly .

It is certainly possible, but it is not plug-and-play.

 

[JBrainard]

You 'could' configure one of your systems to function as a DHCP server... but the easiest thing to do is use a router

I'm guessing from your tone that setting up my desktop as a server isn't a snap. I'll try and find someone with a router laying around and do some research on DHCP servers and in the mean time.
Thanx guys.

 

[Andrew Green]

I'm guessing from your tone that setting up my desktop as a server isn't a snap. I'll try and find someone with a router laying around and do some research on DHCP servers and in the mean time.
Thanx guys.

It's likely not ideal for what you want, and you will need a second networking card in that system if you ever want to connect the network to the internet, so regardless of what you do you will need hardware.

You also have to have that system on for the network to function. So if you got a network computer, turned the one working as a dhcp server off, the other wouldn't be able to connect to the internet.

Your best bet is just to get a router, they are fairly cheap unless you want a top of the line one

 

[Shicomm]

Are both the pc's and the laptop within the same workgroup ?
If they are , that's a big step forward

If all machines are within the same workgroup you can easy setup a simple sharing network or maybe even share a printer or so

 

[Sukerkin]

Aye, I think that's the route (hmmm, close to a pun but not quite ) I took all those years ago.

Of course, what is simple to someone used to IT might not be so straightforward if the person is more used to the present day 'ease' of home computing.