Stupid networks...
 

Having issues here with the wired and wireless setups in the house. All computers can access the internet, and the two wired machines can see each other. The wireless laptop can access the 'net, but can't see the other wired machines, and the wired machines can't see it. Obviously, this creates a problem for file and printer sharing.

Going to the laptop, in the Control Panel, under the System tab, the Network Tabs shows the network adapters, but for each one, there is a second listing for that same network adapter with the words, "Odyssey Network Agent Miniport." What is this?

I'm on an IBM ThinkPad 600X, and the only way that it does get to the internet is via wired. SHould clarify that. Wireless stuff won't link up, either with the built in wireless, or the Linksys PCMCIA card. It's rather annoying. Anybody got ANY ideas?

My Network Places - Set Up a home or small office network on the laptop.

Done that. Everything is set up under the HOME workgroup, even. Subnets are the same, and the IP patterns are the same. It's just annoying.

you didn't say but I'll bet money you've got windows XP home edition on the laptop. Home SUCKS. Had the exact same problem with mine. You have to go onto the XP machine and manually point it to each computer on the network that you want it to talk to.

Odyssey Client is an enterprise-class 802.1X access client that provides to protect your network. It came with my Dell Axim to provide security when accessing a secure network. It's mainly there to authenticate to a RADIUS server should I be so inclined.

Your computer should only use the default connections you made, not the Odyssey miniport connections. The miniport connections will act as a pass-through in case you decide to use the Odyssey client. This is similar to the Cisco VPN adapter I have installed on my laptop, except Windows thinks the VPN adapter is an actual network card, and it only becomes enabled when I use the VPN client.

Can you go into Add/Remove programs and remove the Odyssey client? You might try that and see if it helps. Are you using any sort of encryption security (WEP/WPA) on your wireless router and haven't set it up properly on the laptop?

If you do have any inclination to readup on the Odyssey client, you can find it at www.funk.com.

I hadn't gotten so far as to get to Add/Remove Programs...thanks for that thought. One more thing that I should mention is that in Network Properties, it says that the wireless connections from the laptop have a "status" of "Network cable unplugged." Well, duh! It's a wireless setup. This setup worked one day, not the next.

BTW, the laptop is running W2K SP4, had been on Win98 SE. The wired machines are W2K SP4 and XP Corp.

Got the Odyssey stuff uninstalled. We'll see...

The networking schema and setup does not vary between home and pro versions of XP. They are built off of the same foundation.

The only differences to the networking area of Pro are it allows domain membership (not really in this group, but possibly), the user interface for IPSecurity (IPSec), SNMP, Simple TCP/IP services, SAP Agent, Client Service for NetWare, Network Monitor and the Multiple Roaming feature...........none of which have any bearing in this case.

Simply stating that Home SUCKS implies you don't really know what you're talking about and didn't do your homework, or you just think that because the other version says Pro, it must be better.

If you want to use WPA on that 2K box you'll need Odyssey. In addition to 802.1X authentication, it's also the WPA/2 supplicant. XP (SP1) has one built in but not 2K.

Why would the status of the wireless connection be, "network cable unplugged," though?

Is there an XP Home CORPORATE edition like there is for XP Pro?

I'm on W2K SP4, anyways. Running a normal retail Pro version of that. I should clarify...the only wireless machine in the house is the laptop...running W2K Pro SP4. The PCMCIA card is a Linksys WPC54G.

If a wireless interface isn't up and running with an access point (or another ad hoc system) it's considered "unplugged".

Is it possible your wireless access point is on the WAN side of your desktop router, and the windows sharing is being filtered/firewalled?

Where's the WAP?
Basically, what's the topology? What's connected to what? Which are routers or access points starting from your DSL/cable box? Multiple private network ranges?

I don't want to jump into the middle of things but the posts above leave me with questions. It's always easier if we can "see" the net.

The setup like that is kind of goofy. I bought a WRK54G/WPC54G combo from Wal-Mart (mistake, I know), and it worked fine. It replaced my Linksys 8-port router. Anyways, I kept that 8-port wired unit, thankfully. Here's how it all breaks down.

Cable Modem -->
Linksys BFSR81 8-port wired router -->
Port 1: Wired XP machine
Port 3: Wired W2K machine
Port 8: Uplink to WRK54G router -->

Laptop runs off of the WRK54G. It worked fine for a little bit. Then all of a sudden...I made NO changes, and the it no longer worked.


I've tried other ports on the wireless router, and no dice. I can't even get in to it right now to see settings.

After some putzing, got it to connect to the network, but then it wouldn't see the other computers, nor connect to the internet. I reset the wireless unit, and it got past the "cable unplugged" bit. Starting to think that the wireless AP is on the fritz?

Are they all on the same private address range? (192.168.x, 10.x, etc...)

Are the BFSR81 and WRK54G both trying to be DHCP servers?

Yes, they all have 192.168.1.xxx IP's. Neither one is doing DHCP. Subnets are all 255.255.255.0.

Should I enable DHCP on the wired router? I've got all the computers set up manually, would I be better off letting Windows take care of all that? I've never set 'em up that way, and would rather not, honestly.

Sorry, lunch break.

Regarding your topology: where is the cable modem plugged into the BEFSR81? It should be in the BEFSR81's uplink port. The WR54G should be on a LAN port. If you can, set the WR54G to use simple gateway mode. No RIP.

This is flexible with different products and configs but the multitude of firmware releases sends me back to basics. Sounds like you have a couple things working intermittently depending on who boots first or who catches the lucky packet. I'm just trying to get to a known quantity.

Static addressing is simple. If you ever do use DHCP remember the one server thing.

OK. I disabled the PCMCIA Linksys card. The laptop has an Intel mini-PCI card in it, and that is now enabled. I had been using a wired PCMCIA NIC to get it do do anything, and though it was disabled, it still was retaining an IP adress. That was a conflict. I think I've gotten close. I'm on with the Intel NIC, but I think I'm still not having luck with the Linksys PCMCIA NIC. Gotta test that, and then go from there. If nothing else, I've got something...I am posting wirelessly right now. Thanks for the help thus far.

And, yes, the cable modem IS plugged in to the WAN port of the BFSR81.

There actually isn't a corporate edition of XP Pro. Here's Microsoft's page.

What got passed around as "Corporate" was - from the copies I saw - a version of XP Professional with the Volume License Key (one key -> many installs, no activation).

Oh, and the WRK54G (wireless unit) doesn't have the option to be gateway or router, like the BFSR81 does. Even that is set to Gateway.

WAN/Uplink: Ah yea, different versions again. Later versions have WAN but no uplink. Uplink was shared internally with LAN port 1 so you get either/or. Some creations use the terms interchangeably. Or put another way:

Gateway router. Router bridge gateway IP, router CAT5 gateway. Router gateway router IP gateway, bridge router IP CAT5 crossover. Repeater, bridge gateway router IP bridge CAT5!

Hey, english are flexible.

(Knows better than to do network stuff on a forum. :) )

Ah, but the fun part is that different routers put the WAN/Uplink port on different physical ports. I've got some routers and switches with uplink on the first port - and some with it on the last port (8, in this case).

Furthermore, I've got a 4-port Netgear switch with the uplink on port 1 and an 8-port Netgear switch with the uplink on port 8. Go figure.

Found in recent router doc PDF:


Okay, not really.