Linksys WRT54G Router OR XP problem?

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Hello,

I purchased a Linksys WRT54G All-in-one Internet-sharing Router, 4-port Switch, and Wireless-G (802.11g) Access Point . I called customer support and asked for help from Linksys to configure my router for a my home network and found they don’t provide help in this area. I have a PC connected with a cat-5 cable & a laptop connected wireless to --> Linksys ROUTER which is connected to a [DSL MODEM] ----|| Internet. I am able to access the internet on both computers. But have no connectivity between computers. I used the windows xp network set up wizard, and selected computers connecting to the internet through a residential gateway, each computer has its own name, work group name is mshome for both, and file and printer sharing was turned on. In MY NETWORK PLACES it shows MSHOME but when I try to open it I get a Microsoft windows network error message stating mshome is not accessible. I tried to ping each computer from the other one and it timed out.

Laptop: ipconfig /all

DHCP is enabled yes
Autoconfiguration enabled yes
IP Address 192.168.1.101
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Default gateway 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers 4.2.2.4
4.2.2.5
4.2.2.6

Desktop: ipconfig /all
DHCP is enabled yes
Autoconfiguration enabled yes
IP Address 192.168.1.102
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Default gateway 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers 4.2.2.4
4.2.2.5
4.2.2.6


What do I need to do to configure my router or computers to form a network?

Thank you,

Karl “NetworkGump”
 
i did what you did with the setup and all, and to the best of my knowledge, the router you have is for internet sharing only. to network the pc's you would have to hardwire them, i.e., no wireless. to share pc's wirelessly you would have to get a wireless network router. this is what was told to me by several people. i eventualy took all my linksys stuff back, as i was told they were not a good company, and their tech support is based in asia and hard to understand, etc.
(nothing against asians, of course. my aunt is Taiwanese, and she rocks. lol)

Hello and Welcome to Techspot :wave:
 
Hey Mr. D thanks for the response, I actually threw away my box for this lil so called router once I had the internet working. I know what u mean about foreign customer service, their comprehension level is sub par, just like mine is with their language. Funny thing is with this router I went back to best buy and asked if they had any idea’s or a book I could purchase to help me set this ‘no’-Linksys router up. They said for $149.00 they could configure my network consisting of my lap top desktop & router and show me so I could do it myself the next time. Kinda pisses me off they couldn’t help me its like a catch 22 Linkless router. I haven’t had any luck finding any resources to help me out. I am not the fastest clown in the circus tent, but with a little help or the right resources things usually work out. Again thanks for you thoughts and welcome greeting 

Karl
 
What you have will work fine for what you want to do.

From the laptop can you ping the desktop's ip, and vice-versa?

What is it that you want each computer share? Usually I'll just share out a folder that i want other machines to be able to get to. Then when i'm done transfering i kill the share.
 
My experience with Microsoft workgroup networking is that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Mostly it doesn't. I don't think it matters that it's wireless.
 
First off, NEVER use XP's network setup wizard. Now, go make sure that the wizard didn't create any bridges in network connections, and remove them if it did. They will be called MAC Bridge mini-ports. Next, ensure both machines have the same Workgroup name(I'd suggest using something short but not the default of HOME or MSHOME) Make sure each comp has a unique name such as comp1 and comp2, and the descriptions are short as well, such as desktop and laptop. Next, check that any firewall software is completely disabled until after you get them talking.

BTW, if one machine has XP home and the other has Pro, make sure you have the Pro machine set for "simple file sharing"

If you still have problems, check out www.homenethelp.com and http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...8d-6b4a-448e-a632-076f98a351a2&displaylang=en

FYI to dopefisher, I have this same router, took me less than five minutes to set it up with three hardwired systems and two wireless ones, all using internet and sharing files and a printer. Linksys products are top notch as long as you never need support
 
problem solved (workgroup not accessible)

Stormbringer: thank you, thank you, thank you! I've spent an absurd number of hours on this issue today and finally figured it out thanks to your suggestion.

I went through all of the steps detailed by you, and it worked! But then when i turned my McAfee firewall back on, it was dead again.

As it ends up, McAffee was causing all of my issues. I just left the mcafee firewall turned off and the i'll let the windows firewall do all the work...i should be perfectly safe, especially since i'm also behind the router.

Anyway, I'm all set now and wanted to say thanks. If anyone else is having this issue (can't get into the workgroup), try turning off the firewalls before you do anything else. Its totally easy and would have saved me a crap load of work.

And to the other person talking about the Linksys router: Stormbringer is correct; you and I have the same hardware set up and i'm working perfectly. There's nothing wrong with Linksys provided you don't need tech support. The products are stable and reliable and you can most certainly share docs computer to computer over a wireless network. (I'm doing it right now, even as i type this).
 
the router you have is for internet sharing only. to network the pc's you would have to hardwire them
HUMBUG!

There are multiple layers of configuration here. Once a router is setup so as to
provide Internet access to all systems on the router (LAN), Print/File Sharing is
a separate step and has nothing to do with ANY router, wired or wireless.

First all systems must have Print/File Sharing enabled (see StormBringer's note re xp/pro vs home).

Second, all systems must have the same Workgroup name
  1. Win/98* defaults to WORKGROUP
  2. XP defaults to MSHOME
  3. Vista is still another default

All systems must have the firewalls set to allow Print/File Sharing.
(the underlying tcp requires ports 137,139,445 to be open) and the windows
default firewall covers this on the Exception tab; click Print/File sharing.
 
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