Can't Get Network Going

[truewakko]

Hello everyone. Having a prob getting my network running. This has been an issue for about 2 years now and I've tried as much as I can find on the web, but I cannot get it to work. Been relying on PC Anywhere. I would love to get a REAL network going and scrap that prog. The only thing that I can get is "Myhome" listed in Network Neighborhood. Info below:

• 
  A description of your network
  • Whether its dialup, cable, dsl,... - DSL
  • Make and model of your modem - Westell, C90-610030-06
  • Whether you have a router - Linksys Wireless Router WRT54GS and using a Linksys Expander WRE54G
  • Do you have multiple PCs networked - Can only connect through PC Anywhere
  • Is it wireless or not - 2 wired, 1 wireless
  • Are you using Internet Connection Sharing - Through the Router

• The OS(s) you are using
  • Main Computer - WINXPPRO SP2
  • 2nd Computer - WINXPHOME SP2
  • 3rd Computer - WINXPHOME SP2

• What do you have for an IP address?
  • 192.168.1.100
• What is your default gateway?
  • 192.168.1.1
• Can you ping your default gateway?
  • TTL=64

[freakinprince]

is the DHCP enable?
are all the computer getting an address from DHCP?
are you able to ping each other?
are you able to ping the gateway from each computer?
are you able to do file/printer sharing on the network?


let us know

[truewakko]

is the DHCP enable? Yes
are all the computer getting an address from DHCP? Yes
are you able to ping each other? I can ping them... they can't ping me
are you able to ping the gateway from each computer? Yes
are you able to do file/printer sharing on the network? No... but I didn't want printer functions, just file sharing (kids and printers don't mix) lol

Upon thinking about the whole can I ping each other thing... I (a long time ago) changed some security settings that I found on the blackviper site. Good possibility that I shut off a process that is needed for networking? Is there somewhere to list and check all the processes that should be running on this box?

[Met44]

Truewakko,

Do you remember any details about what you might have changed on the computer? Where you went to make the changes, or what they dealt with? The more information you have about any changes that were made, the easier it will be to fix the problem.

- What error message do you receive when you attempt to ping the computer from another computer and fail?

- You cannot "do file/printer sharing on the network." Do you have the File and Printer Sharing service enabled on all computers?

You can check by going to the Control Panel, entering the Network Connections applet, right clicking the LAN connection that describes the correct device you use to connect to the network and selecting Properties. Now look for "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" in the "This connection uses the following items" section.

If it is not enabled, enable it by clicking Install... , click Service and click Add, select File and Printer Sharing, then allow it time to install.

EDIT: Also, you don't have to install a printer on the other computer(s), or you can disable the print spooler service for any computers that you do not want your kids to be able to add a printer to.

- On the computer system that will not respond to pings, open the local area connection properties dialog box for the device you use to connect to the LAN (as above), and click on the Advanced tab. Under the Windows Firewall section, click Settings. Click the Advanced tab inside the Windows Firewall dialog box. In the ICMP section, click Settings... Here, please verify that the first check box, Allow incoming echo requests, IS checked, and let us know.

[truewakko]

Do you remember any details about what you might have changed on the computer? All settings of things that you don't need that run in the background. Services and things like that. I think the list is at:

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

(sorry in advance if you're not allowed to post links.)



Where you went to make the changes, or what they dealt with? services.msc


- What error message do you receive when you attempt to ping the computer from another computer and fail? Timeout 100% failure

- You cannot "do file/printer sharing on the network." Do you have the File and Printer Sharing service enabled on all computers? it's installed on all puters


- On the computer system that will not respond to pings, open the local area connection properties dialog box for the device you use to connect to the LAN (as above), and click on the Advanced tab. Under the Windows Firewall section, click Settings. Click the Advanced tab inside the Windows Firewall dialog box. In the ICMP section, click Settings... Here, please verify that the first check box, Allow incoming echo requests, IS checked, and let us know.[/quote] Here's something... I think I just found a good one. Apparently I cannot get into the settings for WIN firewall. On the advanced properties tab of my connection it reads:

Windows cannot display the properties of this connection. The Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) information might be corrupted. To correct this, use System Restore to restore Windows to an earlier time (called a restore point). System Restore is located in the System Tools in Accessories.

I can tell you that this happened at least 2 years ago and that restore point is loooong gone. lol Possibility of uninstall/reinstall of those services? I tried to access it straight from the Security settings in Control Panel and I get that ICS is not installed and do I want to start it. If I try to it errors out saying that it cannot be installed. That's it.

I remember that I turned off a few services that did deal with Windows Firewall (not a big fan of it), but I didn't think that would inhibit ICS or networking. This help??

[Met44]

Ok, Start -> Run -> type Services.msc and press Enter, then:

Scroll down to Windows Management Instrumentation and right click it -> Properties. Ensure that the Startup Type is Automatic and that the service is currently Started. Also make sure Remote Procedure Call and Event Log are Automatic and currently Started. Start it if necessary. Then, make a list of the services running on one of your other systems, and make sure that all the same services are set as Automatic (or manual) and Started on this troubled system. The easiest way would be to take a screen capture of the services and paste it into a wordpad document, then copy it to a floppy diskette or flash drive if you have one and walk it over to your troubled computer so you can look at them both at once. That will start to get us back on track.

I don't see that website suggesting WMI or any of its dependencies be disabled however, so if they are already started other issues are taking place here.

[truewakko]

Got it... Event Log was the problem. It wasn't turned on. Never figured that would be needed for that, but there we go! Thanks a lot. Network up and running.

One last question... you mentioned turning off the spooling so that they can't print everything in the world? I have an idea how to do this, but I'd rather verify just to be safe. The printer is hooked up to mine if for some weird reason that matters.

[Met44]

Excellent! Glad to hear it

About the printing: yeah, you can either simply choose not install the printer on the other two computers, thus you can share files while not allowing them the ability to print anything, and that would work unless they are old/savvy enough to know how to install a printer.

If they will be able to click through the Add Printer wizard that will pop up the first time they attempt to print something without a printer installed, then the next easiest solution is to disable the print spooler on EACH of the two computer that you do NOT want to be able to print.

Remember, though: Some day it is possible that you will want to reconfigure your network so that these computers can print either locally or remotely, and that means you will have to know how to revert this change in a number of years. I recommend typing up a short, page-long sheet of documentation for your network and keeping it in a safe place such that you will remember where it is when you need it. I advise to include generic information like your router's login and password, the login and password provided by your ISP used on your router, your ISP's DNS server IP addresses, etc., as well as the changes that you are about to make, and any major changes you make in the future. The general information I find handy to have on-hand if things start breaking, and the detailed information about changes can save you a lot of hassle down the road.

So, to disable the print spooler:

Enter the Services applet again (Start -> Run -> services.msc), and scroll down to Print Spooler. Right click it -> Properties, click Stop, and set the Startup Type to Disabled.

To re-enable it, simply go back into the Services applet and change the settings to Automatic, and be sure to click the button to Start it.

If the kids figure this one out, then consider yourself a lucky parent.

[truewakko]

Yeah... I learned a long time ago that I needed the printer installed or it's a ritual of saving and transferring to print in PC Anywhere. What I did to get around it at the time was install the printer then renamed it to "Adobe Photo Viewer", then set the default printer to "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer" so that if they hit it, that brought up the saving dialog box. It was a quick fix that been working for a while now. But now that I have the network up, it's just saving and browsing to print, and a lot easier to tell the wife over the phone how to do. lol

Now, if I can just figure out why the one 'puter locks me out everytime someone starts the WIN firewall (even though all the programs I use are listed in the exceptions), I'll be golden.

... but that's a different thread. lol Thanks again for your help!