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LunarMist

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Both computers lose the internet when connected directly to each other through a separate line. For internet, one is on the wireless and one is on the port on the wireless router. What is going on?
 

ddrueding

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Just to make sure I understand what is going on.

1. You have two computers (A and B).
2. You have one internet connection, and it goes through a router (C).
3. Computer A connects to Router C via wireless.
4. Computer B connects to Router C via network wire.
5. When you also connect a network wire from A directly to B, neither can surf?
 

Fushigi

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dd, it sounded to me more like (Router C) --WiFi -- (Computer A) -- wired Ethernet -- (Computer B). If A loses internet connectivity when B is plugged in to A then it's most likely a subnet issue and A is somehow thinking B is the default gateway.
 

LunarMist

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Just to make sure I understand what is going on.

1. You have two computers (A and B).
2. You have one internet connection, and it goes through a router (C).
3. Computer A connects to Router C via wireless.
4. Computer B connects to Router C via network wire.
5. When you also connect a network wire from A directly to B, neither can surf?

Yes that is essentially correct. Computer A is the notebook. Computer B is the system I built recently. The user wanted to be able to copy files between them sometimes and wireless is too slow for a few GB each time. So I added a spare 100Mb NIC to the main system and it is connected to the router. There is a crossover cable to connect the onboard GbE to the notebook's GbE port. I did not notice a problem at the time of setup because the cable is only connected for a few minutes at a time.
 

Stereodude

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Windows doesn't allow you to bind an application to an IP address, so you can't force your web browser to use the IP with internet access, so that's not at all unexpected. One way you might be able to make it work is if you disable TCP/IP for the two network interfaces that directly connect computer A and B together and use another protocol like Netbui for Windows File Sharing and disable WFS on the other NICs. You also might be able to edit the hosts file and force the private IP's of each machine to a certain network interface and force external traffic onto the other one.
 

LunarMist

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Well, that stinks. :mad: Is the issue with the computers or the wireless? For example, would a 3rd computer be able to simultaneously access the internet wirelessly?
 

ddrueding

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The problem is that the computers don't know which way to send information. My proposed solution would be to connect both machines to the router via cables when you want to transfer files. It should be nearly as fast, without the downsides.
 

LunarMist

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Thanks, all.

The router is only 100Mbs, which is not so good. Unfortunately the setup was over a week ago, I'm long gone now, and the user most likely won't want to buy a new wireless and configure it.

Since the wireless router is attached to the modem, will another laptop in the house still be able to access internet even if the others can't? I think the main concern is that there will a pissed on user in another room, wondering why the "internet suddenly stopped." :)
 

ddrueding

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Other users will be fine. The break is at the computers, not the router.

Thanks, all.

The router is only 100Mbs, which is not so good. Unfortunately the setup was over a week ago, I'm long gone now, and the user most likely won't want to buy a new wireless and configure it.

Since the wireless router is attached to the modem, will another laptop in the house still be able to access internet even if the others can't? I think the main concern is that there will a pissed on user in another room, wondering why the "internet suddenly stopped." :)
 

sdbardwick

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Yes that is essentially correct. Computer A is the notebook. Computer B is the system I built recently. The user wanted to be able to copy files between them sometimes and wireless is too slow for a few GB each time. So I added a spare 100Mb NIC to the main system and it is connected to the router. There is a crossover cable to connect the onboard GbE to the notebook's GbE port. I did not notice a problem at the time of setup because the cable is only connected for a few minutes at a time.

Disclaimer: This is from the remote recesses of my memory (say, just after Win2K released), so I might just be absolutely wrong, and involved 4 NICs, rather than wireless.

IIRC, I had a similar situation, and I resolved it by configuring the NICs associated with the crossover cable to unique non-routable IP addresses (I think I used 10.0.0.10 and .11), leaving the gateway and DNS/WINS entries blank, and accessing the shared folders by using the crossover associated IP addresses rather than computer names (\\10.0.0.10 rather than \\server).
 

ddrueding

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Disclaimer: This is from the remote recesses of my memory (say, just after Win2K released), so I might just be absolutely wrong, and involved 4 NICs, rather than wireless.

IIRC, I had a similar situation, and I resolved it by configuring the NICs associated with the crossover cable to unique non-routable IP addresses (I think I used 10.0.0.10 and .11), leaving the gateway and DNS/WINS entries blank, and accessing the shared folders by using the crossover associated IP addresses rather than computer names (\\10.0.0.10 rather than \\server).

That will absolutely work, but is more complex than connecting both to the router.
 

Stereodude

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Does that laptop have an SSD in it? If not, don't worry about the 100Mbps. That won't be the bottleneck, and is still MUCH faster than wireless.
:bstd: I'm not sure what planet you're living on. 100Mbps is good for maybe 9MB/sec. While it's faster than wireless it most certainly is the bottleneck.
 

time

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Gigabit switches are less than $50. Just plug the two PCs into a gigabit switch and connect it to one of the router ports.
 

blakerwry

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Yes that is essentially correct. Computer A is the notebook. Computer B is the system I built recently. The user wanted to be able to copy files between them sometimes and wireless is too slow for a few GB each time. So I added a spare 100Mb NIC to the main system and it is connected to the router. There is a crossover cable to connect the onboard GbE to the notebook's GbE port. I did not notice a problem at the time of setup because the cable is only connected for a few minutes at a time.

There should be no problem doing what you want, and you don't have to worry about using separate protocols on each NIC or disabling any protocols.

This is purely a question of routing and it sounds like the computers are attempting to access the internet through the crossover link instead of the internet link. By configuring the appropriate IP settings you can tell the PCs how to get to each.

1) Ensure both PCs are setup as DHCP on their connections to your NAT router and receiving valid private IP addresses.

2) Ensure that the p2p network is configured statically using a DIFFERENT private IP range than the internet side. (172.16.0.x is a good candidate).

Assign .1 on one PC and .2 on the other, with a 255.255.255.252 netmask - fill in ONLY the IP and Netmask.

3) Connect to the PCs via IP (\\172.16.0.1 or \\172.16.0.2 in explorer) and not by name.

Assuming that Client for MS networks, File and Printer sharing, and TCP/IP are enabled (the default), your windows firewall is set to allow these protocols, you have the proper user credentials setup, and you have shared one or more directories, you should be set.


The result should be that your routing table has entries for the 172.16.0.x/30 network, the private IP network used by your router, and a default gateway of your router. You can verify this with "route print" from the command line.
 

LunarMist

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:bstd: I'm not sure what planet you're living on. 100Mbps is good for maybe 9MB/sec. While it's faster than wireless it most certainly is the bottleneck.

I think DD has been smoking too many SSD fumes. :mrgrn:

The drive is two years old, so it hits around 60GB/sec. max.
On a 100Mbs connection it takes forever to copy a 40.0GB file. :eek4:
 

LunarMist

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:oops: I recall it is a WD 250 or 320 GB drive. I meant MB/sec. of course.
 
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