Router Configuration/Assigning IP addresses

[LMITOUT]

I currently have a wireless router that is connected directly to a desktop PC and an XBOX. A laptop connects to the router via the wireless.

My question is: can I manually assign IP addresses to my desktop and XBOX?

Right now they both automatically assign an IP address to themselves and I believe it causes issues. If I fire up the laptop and the desktop is already on, most times I have to cycle power to the router for my desktop to connect again. Same goes for the XBOX....sometimes I'll turn it on and it says it can't connect to the internet.

I'm guessing there are IP conflicts and I'd like to set them manually to see if that solves the problem. What steps do I have to take to do this?

Thanks.

[upnorth]

Yes you can. Best thing to go is go and check out the DHCP pool on your router, then pick an address in the same subnet range but not in the DHCP pool.

For instance on my router the subnet is 192.168.1.0 the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 Which means my subnet has addresses from 192.168.1.1 thru 192.168.1.254 the DHCP pool is 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.150 so any address not in the pool can be assigned statically.

Just to be sure you will need to assign the gateway and your DNS servers to the devices. Gateway is where it sends packets not on your network and DNS is how it resolves a URL to an IP address for internet traffic.

Hope that was the info you are looking for. I am not sure where to set the address on the XBOX, but the PC, go to network connections and find "local Area Connection" and right click on it, select properties, find the IP address line and it is different in XP than Vista, Vista is Internet Protocol Version 4 and click properties, then check the box where it says "use the following address" fill in the IP address, subnet mask, gateway and then go down and fill in the DNS info. You can find that if you don't have it by going to start, run, key in CMD hit enter, in the command window key in with out the quotes, "ipconfig /all" it is going to give you a pile of info in vista, but what you need is DNS servers. There should be two of them, enter the address for you DNS servers.

You should be good to go.

[LMITOUT]

I went into the router's configuration menu and it gave me a pool of available addresses so that should be a slam dunk.

I'm guessing that the default gateway would be the router's IP address?

[LMITOUT]

OK. Got it all set up and have designated IP addresses for the desktop and laptop. I'm going to leave the XBOX on "automatic" for now, but I did find the menu where I can set them manually if I change my mind.

I hope this clears up the issues I've been having for quite some time. It seems like whenever I turned on the laptop it takes over the network/router and throws a wrench into the works. I can only assume at this point its due to a IP conflict because I can't figure out what else it could be. I never had a problem until I got the laptop and added the wireless router. The laptop is running Vista and the desktop has XP.

Now if I could only get the two PC's to share files......arrrrrgh. I've got it to work somewhat, but everything I've read on the web indicates that it almost takes black magic or voodoo to make it work correctly. After trying all the suggestions I've read (aside from sacrificing a chicken) I'd have to agree!

[upnorth]

I have not done a whole lot with it, but I do file and print sharing at home, but I am using mostly XP pro and one Vista machine. Where are you running into problems? I have not done a whole with the home versions.

I think worst case scenario you create a windows home network on one PC and that starts things rolling, I remember something about creating a home network install disk and then you go to the other PCs and install it.

MS filesharing

[LMITOUT]

Yeah, I did the file sharing/home network thing to no avail. What I would like to do is share my entire drive on both the laptop and desktop so that I can move files back and forth no matter which PC I'm at. The only way I could get it to work is to share a folder on the desktop PC, put the files I want to share into that folder, and then jump on the laptop and pull them onto it's hard drive.

My only guess is that there is too much security going on with Vista to allow something like this to happen, and maybe doing something like that is leaving me open to security issues anyway so I should just leave it alone.

BTW, thanks for the help!

[spearchucker]

You have to turn on file sharing in Vista. Make sure you have the same Workgroup name in the System Properties control panel. I don't think you can share the entire hard drive , but you can share out pretty much any directory. I have it working at home between XP, Windows 7, and Ubuntu. It is pretty simple, no black magic involved.

I you are getting IP conflicts this sound like your router may be the problem. It would have to be assigning the same IP address to more than 1 device which it shouldn't do. Maybe check for a firmware update for it. The static IP will work as long as they are out of the range of addresses available in the DHCP range setup in the router.

If the problem only occurs when the laptop was turned on, maybe it had a static IP assigned that was within the range of addresses that the router was assigning via DHCP. If an address is static, the router won't know about it.

[upnorth]

Most home routers are pretty simple devices and same with the DHCP server on them. Even some of the more sophisticated DHCP servers will hand out the same IP address twice on occasion. Quite often a device will request the same address it recieved in the past, but windows devices will complain if it sees another device on the network the same IP address.

But a restart of these devices every now and then helps.

[LMITOUT]

You have it working with XP, 7, and Ubuntu....but didn't mention Vista!! hahaha.

I've had file sharing enabled, same work group names, etc, etc. No luck.

When I say I want to share the entire drive, I mean the C:\ drive (or directory). With two or more XP PC's it's never been a problem for me, but Vista and XP are like oil and water.

[upnorth]

I can access my XP PCs from Vista. I have yet to try it the other way around tho. Where is failing? Can you see the other PCs share and just not authenticate?

[spearchucker]

You have it working with XP, 7, and Ubuntu....but didn't mention Vista!! hahaha.

I've had file sharing enabled, same work group names, etc, etc. No luck.

When I say I want to share the entire drive, I mean the C:\ drive (or directory). With two or more XP PC's it's never been a problem for me, but Vista and XP are like oil and water.

They work fine together. I had my laptop running Vista, but upgraded it to Windows 7. When I had Vista on it everything worked fine with my network.

If no go, try shutting the Windows Firewall off temporarily. If it works with the firewall off you will have to allow File Sharing through the firewall before turning it back on.

PCs don't request a particular IP address when using DHCP, they just make a generic DHCP request and the router hands them the information(IP address, DNS, and Gatewate info). Many routers will give back the same IP address because it has a table of IP addresses tied to MAC addresses. This table will eventually age out, but if a connection is made within the aging time it will usually give you the same address based on the MAC Address of your network card.

[upnorth]

Quote:

PCs don't request a particular IP address when using DHCP, they just make a generic DHCP request and the router hands them the information(IP address, DNS, and Gatewate info). Many routers will give back the same IP address because it has a table of IP addresses tied to MAC addresses. This table will eventually age out, but if a connection is made within the aging time it will usually give you the same address based on the MAC Address of your network card.

As part of their broadcast when they renew they will request the address they had last. I have setup/managed 4 different types/brands of Enterprise DHCP servers and the logs will show it in the request, and you can also see it in packet captures.

[spearchucker]

Quote:

PCs don't request a particular IP address when using DHCP, they just make a generic DHCP request and the router hands them the information(IP address, DNS, and Gatewate info). Many routers will give back the same IP address because it has a table of IP addresses tied to MAC addresses. This table will eventually age out, but if a connection is made within the aging time it will usually give you the same address based on the MAC Address of your network card.

As part of their broadcast when they renew they will request the address they had last. I have setup/managed 4 different types/brands of Enterprise DHCP servers and the logs will show it in the request, and you can also see it in packet captures.

Do they do this on power up too, or just on a lease renewal of an already running machine?

[upnorth]

Truthfully don't know about the power up, never distinguished it, but a restart does and same with a release/renew from the command line.

[CONDUCT]

Just a little trick for you to know...

Look and see what Node Type you have on Vista and XP.

If they are not on the same Node Type XP will not see Vista

C:\Users\CONDUCT>ipconfig -all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : PC

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Change Node Type info here

[MuleShack]

Yeah, I did the file sharing/home network thing to no avail. What I would like to do is share my entire drive on both the laptop and desktop so that I can move files back and forth no matter which PC I'm at. The only way I could get it to work is to share a folder on the desktop PC, put the files I want to share into that folder, and then jump on the laptop and pull them onto it's hard drive.

My only guess is that there is too much security going on with Vista to allow something like this to happen, and maybe doing something like that is leaving me open to security issues anyway so I should just leave it alone.

BTW, thanks for the help!

I have the same set up as you do and I have no problem getting into the XP desktop from my laptop (as long as the monitor is up), but it is spotty trying to get into the laptop (vista) from the desktop (xp). You have to have the same user name on both to access files with in the user directory...other wise have to move the files to a shared folder. Even though i have my desktop set to always on, the monitor shuts down after 30 mins and then It wont show up on my network list on the laptop...still haven't jumped this hurdle yet.

[upnorth]

Check your power settings, the PC may be going to sleep or into hibernate. If you want a device to act as a file server(file sharing) disable hibernate and make sure it it not shutting down anything other than the monitor. You set that in your power settings.

[LMITOUT]

MuleShack - That's about the point I got to also.....one way access but couldn't get to the C:\ directory in the XP machine, only that "shared files" folder.

[upnorth]

That is normal and by design. You may be able to access it by the admin share. Go to start, run, key in \\<PC Name>\C$ I know that works in an Active Directory environment. You may get asked for the admin username and password on the PC you are trying to access.

Or you may be able to go in and change the share and permissions but that may be kinda risky.

[fishnowworknever]

You can always do it the old fashioned way, UNC

from Start>Run

\\(machine name you want to connect to, or IP)\c$

ex; \\desktop1\c$

or

\\192.168.0.3\c$

You will need to setup file and print sharing on the pc you are connecting to to allow network users to access the folders on that PC.

You can also right click on My computer, choose map network drive and use the same \\desktop1\c$

Select use different username/password and enter in the user ID you use on the computer you are connecting to.

[MuleShack]

MuleShack - That's about the point I got to also.....one way access but couldn't get to the C:\ directory in the XP machine, only that "shared files" folder.

I was messing around with my router settings tonight and I had mine set up for static IP and changed it to automatic assignment and it seems to be not only faster response but I have no problems getting to my laptop from the desktop.

I also renamed the user accounts on each one so they match, and made sure the workgroup was also named the same.

There was also a setting in the router that said lease time 0 (which stood for 1 day or something) I changed this to 60, not sure if that made any difference or not. But I set my C drive on the XP machine to shared...it prompted me not to do this but I did it anyway and it showed up as available from the laptop.

Could be some internal router settings that are being a pain too??

[upnorth]

The router setting wouldn't been an issue, all that would be doing is passing the requests from one PC/laptop or another. Purifying the naming scheme is what would have been what made a change. As far as speeding things up your router was probably needing a reboot, changing from static to DHCP would not have any impact on that.

[spearchucker]

It may have been slow and problematic when using static because there were IP conflicts as well.

[upnorth]

Usually windows networking will give you visual complaints that some other machine has it's IP address if that is the case.

[spearchucker]

Usually windows networking will give you visual complaints that some other machine has it's IP address if that is the case.

That is correct unless they would be on separate subnets. I guess that isn't really a conflict, but it would make routing a problem.