Connecting two computers with a cat5
 

Alright, I'm trying to hook two of my computers together using a cat5 cable - They're plugged together and I've set the IP address to 162.10.10.1 and 162.10.10.2.

Now that they're hooked together and the IP addresses are set I'm getting the problem of th ecomputers not seeing each other. I've rebooted both systems, but frankly I've got no idea what to do. I ran the "set up a home or small office network" wizard on both systems and it didn't set up anything.

I've never done this kind of thing so I've got no earthly idea what I should be doing at the moment.

Any help is very appreciated. Thanks.

You need a "Crossover" cable. You should be able to pick that up at a local PC shop.

Or you can get a hub/router.

Ah damn, how come nobody said that in the other thread? Ah well, thanks.

Now assuming I do it through a router, how would I manage with that? I've never been able to get my computers set up to see each other on the router I have - Any thoughts?

You may not need a crossover. Longshot, but do you get link status (LED's light up) when the cable is plugged in to both sides? Same would be important when you plug them into a router. Newer routers & hubs are likely to have auto-sensing ports to work with either cable type.

Well, you see...

And in all honesty, unless you're setting up a home network, trying to get the computers to recognize each other through a router is far more trouble than it's worth. Seriously, go buy the crossover cable. It's not expensive, and it's very useful to have around.

Once you have the computers connected, all you do is share the folder you want on one machine, then map a network drive to that folder on the other machine. (If you don't know what this means, feel free to ask)

Gatorade, Do you get link status lights? Start by checking this. If no link, get the crossover. If you have link you don't need a crossover. Many NICs the last few years include MDI/MDIX autosensing.

Yeah, I get the lights on both side.

@Mooseman - In regards to the crossover cable, I thought that meant in respect to the USB cable. As you have to have certain hardware to be able to do that.

But no, I don't know how to map out the network, which is why I'm here. I have a cross over cable hooked up between my two computers, but I'm still at confusion as where to go once the two systems are hooked together.

If the PC's are hooked up with the crossover cable and you have "link-lights" at both ends then a simple ping should tell you whether the two machines can see each other.
i.e. At the command prompt, type ping 162.10.10.2 from the .1 machine.

I don't know what OS you're using but XP will almost always tell you when a new network link becomes active.

When I ping all 4 of them time out.
When I go to the Workgroup Computers it sees both computers, but I'm unable to access the other computer - I get:

Oh, yes, the CAT5 USB cables.... hmmm..... where did I put my CAT5 USB crossover cables.....

Just for kicks, do a DHCP release and then set the static IP.

Out of curiosity, why are you using 162.10.10.1 and 162.10.10.2? The 162.10.0.0 block of addresses is a valid set of internet addresses. What you want to use is a non-routeable IP block such as 192.168.0.0 (or 172.16.0.0 or 10.0.0.0), so you don't cause lots of confusion if you attach your computers to the internet.

If you have a crossover cable running between the two machines and you see each other in network neighborhood, make sure that any firewalls are off (for the moment, at least). From there, check and see if one computer can ping the other. This should be the most basic test - if this fails, chances are everything more complicated will fail as well. If you can get this working, test file sharing (you'll need to authenticate using an admin account on the other computer) and so on.

I was just about to question your choice of addresses myself. Also, if the ping doesn't work, do an ipconfig for both machines and post it here so as to help diagnose the problem.

Still not having anything pulled up.

"Just for kicks, do a DHCP release and then set the static IP."
Hm?

Same with IP Config. I've spent the last 18 years of my life never dealing with IP addresses or anything networking at all, so I'm a complete newb to all of this.

Okay, first go to each machine and open a command prompt and type "ipconfig" and paste the results here in quote blocks so we can see how each computer is set up.

Second, you don't want to use the IP addresses you told the computers to use. The way that IP addresses work, there are three blocks of "non-routable" addresses - addresses reserved for private networks (such as what you're doing), and so anyone in the world can create their own network with those addresses. All other addresses are "routable," which means that there can potentially be a device on the internet with that address, and routers know how to forward packets of data to it.

The two addresses you chose are routable - some guy in California (according to a whois lookup) owns that entire block of addresses, and so if you connect your computers to the internet with those addresses, Computer A won't know if it should send the packet to Computer B or out across the internet. Just pick 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.2 as your two addresses and it'll make life easier.

Anyways, back to your questions. Ignore the DHCP reference - it sounds like you're statically assigning the IP addresses. Are either of these computers connected to the internet as well?

First, set up the IP addresses properly for the two computers, turn off any firewalls that may be on (they might block packets and can only confuse us at this point in time), and see if one computer can ping the other. Let us know when you've gotten this far.

^^

Yeah, do what he said, except disconnect both machines from the internet as well.

By the way, which operating systems are you running on each of the machines?

I'm running Windows XP Professional on both of them.

The computers both show up on the work group computers and even in the shared documents folder on the desk top (but not the laptop that the files are going to)

When I try to access Chrystel's computer off of the desktop it gives me this:
And I get that on both computers when I try to access the other's computer, so it looks like it's a Windows issue at the moment and not necessarily a hardware problem.

Copy and paste the ipconfig output here, please. One thing to check is to make sure that simple file sharing is off. Open My Computer, go to Tools, then Folder Options, Views, and disable Simple File Sharing.

It's possible that's preventing you from connecting.

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Jonathan Gupton>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.tx.comcast.net.
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.163
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1


Then hers is -

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Edit - I've tried pinging with my net on and off and with my firewall on and off on both systems. I've also tried file sharing (like you said) and no dice.

Open a command prompt from your computer and type:

When it prompts you for the password, enter the Administrator account's password from her machine. If this works, it means that Windows isn't being too smart by itself about what user to use when you're trying to connect to her computer, but forcing it to a different account will work.

If it doesn't work, give me some more time to think ;)

I'll give that a go tomorrow morning when she brings her computer back.

Thansk for all the time and effort you guys have put into solving my dilemma.

Not a problem. It's an interesting situation - hopefully we can solve it.

You may also have more success disabling your 2nd interface (The 192.168.. one) when you try and connect or ping to her pc.

Seeing as you have a default gateway on it and not the other, most of your traffic will attempt to go through that interface and not know where her pc is. Particularly that you are triyng her Netbios name (Dellchrystel).

Shout if you want further help setting up an entry in your host file or want to set up a static route so it uses interface 2 for all 10.x.x.x bound traffic.

Easiest solution: Turn off interface one and go read up on TCPIP.

sounds more like a permissions issue. since it's being hooked up by a cable, it seems an account with identical names and passwords should be set on each PC.

I figure the issue got fixed, but for future reference this may help someone

May not be the issue, may not even be true, but I have read posts in another forum a while ago that if two xp pro systems were hypothetically installed with the same serial number, they won't network. No amount of tweaking settings and firewalls would fix the issue.

It turned out for me that my problem was a router side firewall.

Not true. Just don't ask me how I know that :p