Can't get ICS to assign IP addresses (i.e., DHCP appears NOT to work)

I have a strange and preplexing problem.

I have a Win98 desktop and a WinXP Pro laptop connected
via a switch. I installed ICS on the Win98 desktop a year
ago and both the laptop and desktop could access the
internet via dia-up networking on the desktop (however,
the ICS icon in the system tray always said "No computers
are sharing the Internet Connection" even when both were
on-line). This worked fine, and the machines were being
assigned IP addresses in the 192.168.1.x range).

Recently, I removed my old 10 mbps switch and replaced it
with a US Robotoics wireless router and 4-port 100mbps
switch. I was not planning to use the router capabilities
yet (we don't have broadband in my area, but I was
thinking ahead), so I configured it to be a Access Point
(AP) for the wireless cards I plan to put in a 2nd XP
laptop and my Win2000 server (it has been sitting
unplugged for a year). However, I initially let the
router perform DHCP functions (in the 192.168.123.x range)
and was able to see the Win2k server (with a wireless PCI
adpater), the old laptop (with wired NIC) and the new
laptop (w/ wireless PC Card), but NOT the original desktop
(w/ wired NIC) -- p.s., in this configuration, ICS on
the desktop said it was shutting down everytime I rebooted
the machine due to multiple ICS devices. So I immediately
disabled all routing function of the USR Router and made
it a simple AP.

Unfortunately, I still could not get to the internet.
Therefore, I reconfigured the network back to the way it
was previously (i.e., Win98 desktop connected via a 10mbps
switch to WinXP laptop using ICS on the desktop), with one
execption -- Ultimately I want the network to operate on
192.168.123.x, so I changed the the registry's
ICSharing "Addressing" values to be START:192.168.123.2,
STOP:192.168.123.199 and its "General" value to be
INTRANET:192.168.123.0.

However, I now can't access the intnet from any PC but the
desktop (because its the one that did the actually
dialing / connecting to the ISP). The problem seems to be
that the desktop Win98 machine is NOT assigning IP
addresses in the 192.168.123.x range I specified in the
registry. In fact, its not even assigning them in the
default range of 192.168.1.x. The desktop's IP is
169.254.96.x and the WinXP Pro laptop is assigning itself
169.254.11.x. I have tried using winipcfg / inconfig to
release and renew IP addresses, but they come back with a
failure saying they can't find a DHCP server on the
network.

Now I might understand why the laptop can't find its way
through the switch to get to the desktop Win98 computer to
get a new IP address in the 192.168.123.x range, but how
can the desktop, which is running ICS, not find a DHCP
server/protocol to get a new address in the 192.168.123.x
range (not to mention why it didn't assign itself this
range upon startup)? And yes, I did try setting the
registry back to the default 192.168.1.x range and that
failed also.

It is interesting to note that when initially installed,
ICS worked and assigned the default IP range to both
computers, yet always said no computers were sharing the
connection. Now it won't even assign addresses to ANY
computer on the network.

One last note. I'm using the 192.168.123.x range because
ultimately I'm going to put the Win2k server back online
(w/ a static address), a print server (with a static
address) and the USR AP -- which defaults to a static
address in the 192.168.123.x range. Once I get it
working, then I'll change the range to be something a
little more secure.

With all this said, does anyone have any ideas about why
my ICS computer (i.e., the Win98 desktop) doesn't appear
to be performing the DHCP function? Is there a registry
entry that I messed up or missed? Is the only IP range
allowed 192.168.1.x? Can I use the DHCP function in the
router to replace DHCP on the ICS host (this didn't seem
to work when I initially added the router to the network)?

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 07:17:01 -0800, "Tommy J"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>release and renew IP addresses, but they come back with a
>failure saying they can't find a DHCP server on the
>network.

Sounds like you've screwed up your ics registry configuration. I'd be
tempted to remove and re-install ics so you're back to square one and
then give the router a static address (say) 192.168.0.254 and remove
this number from the dhcp pool if necessary. Of course you will need
to keep dhcp on the router switched off for now.


Jim.

www.careyholzman.com/netfixes.htm

Carey

"Tommy J" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:0e8101c3d9e8$4b0b7cf0$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a strange and preplexing problem.
>
> I have a Win98 desktop and a WinXP Pro laptop connected
> via a switch. I installed ICS on the Win98 desktop a year
> ago and both the laptop and desktop could access the
> internet via dia-up networking on the desktop (however,
> the ICS icon in the system tray always said "No computers
> are sharing the Internet Connection" even when both were
> on-line). This worked fine, and the machines were being
> assigned IP addresses in the 192.168.1.x range).
>
> Recently, I removed my old 10 mbps switch and replaced it
> with a US Robotoics wireless router and 4-port 100mbps
> switch. I was not planning to use the router capabilities
> yet (we don't have broadband in my area, but I was
> thinking ahead), so I configured it to be a Access Point
> (AP) for the wireless cards I plan to put in a 2nd XP
> laptop and my Win2000 server (it has been sitting
> unplugged for a year). However, I initially let the
> router perform DHCP functions (in the 192.168.123.x range)
> and was able to see the Win2k server (with a wireless PCI
> adpater), the old laptop (with wired NIC) and the new
> laptop (w/ wireless PC Card), but NOT the original desktop
> (w/ wired NIC) -- p.s., in this configuration, ICS on
> the desktop said it was shutting down everytime I rebooted
> the machine due to multiple ICS devices. So I immediately
> disabled all routing function of the USR Router and made
> it a simple AP.
>
> Unfortunately, I still could not get to the internet.
> Therefore, I reconfigured the network back to the way it
> was previously (i.e., Win98 desktop connected via a 10mbps
> switch to WinXP laptop using ICS on the desktop), with one
> execption -- Ultimately I want the network to operate on
> 192.168.123.x, so I changed the the registry's
> ICSharing "Addressing" values to be START:192.168.123.2,
> STOP:192.168.123.199 and its "General" value to be
> INTRANET:192.168.123.0.
>
> However, I now can't access the intnet from any PC but the
> desktop (because its the one that did the actually
> dialing / connecting to the ISP). The problem seems to be
> that the desktop Win98 machine is NOT assigning IP
> addresses in the 192.168.123.x range I specified in the
> registry. In fact, its not even assigning them in the
> default range of 192.168.1.x. The desktop's IP is
> 169.254.96.x and the WinXP Pro laptop is assigning itself
> 169.254.11.x. I have tried using winipcfg / inconfig to
> release and renew IP addresses, but they come back with a
> failure saying they can't find a DHCP server on the
> network.
>
> Now I might understand why the laptop can't find its way
> through the switch to get to the desktop Win98 computer to
> get a new IP address in the 192.168.123.x range, but how
> can the desktop, which is running ICS, not find a DHCP
> server/protocol to get a new address in the 192.168.123.x
> range (not to mention why it didn't assign itself this
> range upon startup)? And yes, I did try setting the
> registry back to the default 192.168.1.x range and that
> failed also.
>
> It is interesting to note that when initially installed,
> ICS worked and assigned the default IP range to both
> computers, yet always said no computers were sharing the
> connection. Now it won't even assign addresses to ANY
> computer on the network.
>
> One last note. I'm using the 192.168.123.x range because
> ultimately I'm going to put the Win2k server back online
> (w/ a static address), a print server (with a static
> address) and the USR AP -- which defaults to a static
> address in the 192.168.123.x range. Once I get it
> working, then I'll change the range to be something a
> little more secure.
>
> With all this said, does anyone have any ideas about why
> my ICS computer (i.e., the Win98 desktop) doesn't appear
> to be performing the DHCP function? Is there a registry
> entry that I messed up or missed? Is the only IP range
> allowed 192.168.1.x? Can I use the DHCP function in the
> router to replace DHCP on the ICS host (this didn't seem
> to work when I initially added the router to the network)?

>-----Original Message-----
>On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 07:17:01 -0800, "Tommy J"
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>release and renew IP addresses, but they come back with
a
>>failure saying they can't find a DHCP server on the
>>network.
>
>Sounds like you've screwed up your ics registry
configuration. I'd be
>tempted to remove and re-install ics so you're back to
square one and
>then give the router a static address (say)
192.168.0.254 and remove
>this number from the dhcp pool if necessary. Of course
you will need
>to keep dhcp on the router switched off for now.
>
>
>Jim.
>
>.
>
Thanks Jim for your thoughts. However, I did uninstall
and reinstall ICS (leaving the default addresses in the
registry) and it didn't work. Plus I took the router
completely out of the picture and hooked the old 10mbps
switch back up. Still doesn't work.

A friend said he had the same problem and it turns out
the DHCP and NAT protocol were stepping on top of each
other. The only way he could get it to work again was to
reinstall Windows (something I REALLY want to avoid).

Thanks for trying.

Thanks Carey. I went to your site and tried everything
that seemed appropriate (plus I went to the
www.practicallynetworked.com site you pointed me to) and
nothing solved my problem.

Thanks for trying though.

Tommy
====
>-----Original Message-----
>www.careyholzman.com/netfixes.htm
>
>Carey
>
>"Tommy J" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:0e8101c3d9e8$4b0b7cf0$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I have a strange and preplexing problem.
>>
>> I have a Win98 desktop and a WinXP Pro laptop connected
>> via a switch. I installed ICS on the Win98 desktop a
year
>> ago and both the laptop and desktop could access the
>> internet via dia-up networking on the desktop (however,
>> the ICS icon in the system tray always said "No
computers
>> are sharing the Internet Connection" even when both
were
>> on-line). This worked fine, and the machines were
being
>> assigned IP addresses in the 192.168.1.x range).
>>
>> Recently, I removed my old 10 mbps switch and replaced
it
>> with a US Robotoics wireless router and 4-port 100mbps
>> switch. I was not planning to use the router
capabilities
>> yet (we don't have broadband in my area, but I was
>> thinking ahead), so I configured it to be a Access
Point
>> (AP) for the wireless cards I plan to put in a 2nd XP
>> laptop and my Win2000 server (it has been sitting
>> unplugged for a year). However, I initially let the
>> router perform DHCP functions (in the 192.168.123.x
range)
>> and was able to see the Win2k server (with a wireless
PCI
>> adpater), the old laptop (with wired NIC) and the new
>> laptop (w/ wireless PC Card), but NOT the original
desktop
>> (w/ wired NIC) -- p.s., in this configuration, ICS on
>> the desktop said it was shutting down everytime I
rebooted
>> the machine due to multiple ICS devices. So I
immediately
>> disabled all routing function of the USR Router and
made
>> it a simple AP.
>>
>> Unfortunately, I still could not get to the internet.
>> Therefore, I reconfigured the network back to the way
it
>> was previously (i.e., Win98 desktop connected via a
10mbps
>> switch to WinXP laptop using ICS on the desktop), with
one
>> execption -- Ultimately I want the network to
operate on
>> 192.168.123.x, so I changed the the registry's
>> ICSharing "Addressing" values to be
START:192.168.123.2,
>> STOP:192.168.123.199 and its "General" value to be
>> INTRANET:192.168.123.0.
>>
>> However, I now can't access the intnet from any PC but
the
>> desktop (because its the one that did the actually
>> dialing / connecting to the ISP). The problem seems
to be
>> that the desktop Win98 machine is NOT assigning IP
>> addresses in the 192.168.123.x range I specified in the
>> registry. In fact, its not even assigning them in the
>> default range of 192.168.1.x. The desktop's IP is
>> 169.254.96.x and the WinXP Pro laptop is assigning
itself
>> 169.254.11.x. I have tried using winipcfg / inconfig
to
>> release and renew IP addresses, but they come back
with a
>> failure saying they can't find a DHCP server on the
>> network.
>>
>> Now I might understand why the laptop can't find its
way
>> through the switch to get to the desktop Win98
computer to
>> get a new IP address in the 192.168.123.x range, but
how
>> can the desktop, which is running ICS, not find a DHCP
>> server/protocol to get a new address in the
192.168.123.x
>> range (not to mention why it didn't assign itself this
>> range upon startup)? And yes, I did try setting the
>> registry back to the default 192.168.1.x range and that
>> failed also.
>>
>> It is interesting to note that when initially
installed,
>> ICS worked and assigned the default IP range to both
>> computers, yet always said no computers were sharing
the
>> connection. Now it won't even assign addresses to ANY
>> computer on the network.
>>
>> One last note. I'm using the 192.168.123.x range
because
>> ultimately I'm going to put the Win2k server back
online
>> (w/ a static address), a print server (with a static
>> address) and the USR AP -- which defaults to a static
>> address in the 192.168.123.x range. Once I get it
>> working, then I'll change the range to be something a
>> little more secure.
>>
>> With all this said, does anyone have any ideas about
why
>> my ICS computer (i.e., the Win98 desktop) doesn't
appear
>> to be performing the DHCP function? Is there a
registry
>> entry that I messed up or missed? Is the only IP range
>> allowed 192.168.1.x? Can I use the DHCP function in
the
>> router to replace DHCP on the ICS host (this didn't
seem
>> to work when I initially added the router to the
network)?
>
>
>.
>

I suggest using the router as your ICS and uninstall ICS from all PCs.


"Tommy J" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:0e8101c3d9e8$4b0b7cf0$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a strange and preplexing problem.
>
> I have a Win98 desktop and a WinXP Pro laptop connected
> via a switch. I installed ICS on the Win98 desktop a year
> ago and both the laptop and desktop could access the
> internet via dia-up networking on the desktop (however,
> the ICS icon in the system tray always said "No computers
> are sharing the Internet Connection" even when both were
> on-line). This worked fine, and the machines were being
> assigned IP addresses in the 192.168.1.x range).
>
> Recently, I removed my old 10 mbps switch and replaced it
> with a US Robotoics wireless router and 4-port 100mbps
> switch. I was not planning to use the router capabilities
> yet (we don't have broadband in my area, but I was
> thinking ahead), so I configured it to be a Access Point
> (AP) for the wireless cards I plan to put in a 2nd XP
> laptop and my Win2000 server (it has been sitting
> unplugged for a year). However, I initially let the
> router perform DHCP functions (in the 192.168.123.x range)
> and was able to see the Win2k server (with a wireless PCI
> adpater), the old laptop (with wired NIC) and the new
> laptop (w/ wireless PC Card), but NOT the original desktop
> (w/ wired NIC) -- p.s., in this configuration, ICS on
> the desktop said it was shutting down everytime I rebooted
> the machine due to multiple ICS devices. So I immediately
> disabled all routing function of the USR Router and made
> it a simple AP.
>
> Unfortunately, I still could not get to the internet.
> Therefore, I reconfigured the network back to the way it
> was previously (i.e., Win98 desktop connected via a 10mbps
> switch to WinXP laptop using ICS on the desktop), with one
> execption -- Ultimately I want the network to operate on
> 192.168.123.x, so I changed the the registry's
> ICSharing "Addressing" values to be START:192.168.123.2,
> STOP:192.168.123.199 and its "General" value to be
> INTRANET:192.168.123.0.
>
> However, I now can't access the intnet from any PC but the
> desktop (because its the one that did the actually
> dialing / connecting to the ISP). The problem seems to be
> that the desktop Win98 machine is NOT assigning IP
> addresses in the 192.168.123.x range I specified in the
> registry. In fact, its not even assigning them in the
> default range of 192.168.1.x. The desktop's IP is
> 169.254.96.x and the WinXP Pro laptop is assigning itself
> 169.254.11.x. I have tried using winipcfg / inconfig to
> release and renew IP addresses, but they come back with a
> failure saying they can't find a DHCP server on the
> network.
>
> Now I might understand why the laptop can't find its way
> through the switch to get to the desktop Win98 computer to
> get a new IP address in the 192.168.123.x range, but how
> can the desktop, which is running ICS, not find a DHCP
> server/protocol to get a new address in the 192.168.123.x
> range (not to mention why it didn't assign itself this
> range upon startup)? And yes, I did try setting the
> registry back to the default 192.168.1.x range and that
> failed also.
>
> It is interesting to note that when initially installed,
> ICS worked and assigned the default IP range to both
> computers, yet always said no computers were sharing the
> connection. Now it won't even assign addresses to ANY
> computer on the network.
>
> One last note. I'm using the 192.168.123.x range because
> ultimately I'm going to put the Win2k server back online
> (w/ a static address), a print server (with a static
> address) and the USR AP -- which defaults to a static
> address in the 192.168.123.x range. Once I get it
> working, then I'll change the range to be something a
> little more secure.
>
> With all this said, does anyone have any ideas about why
> my ICS computer (i.e., the Win98 desktop) doesn't appear
> to be performing the DHCP function? Is there a registry
> entry that I messed up or missed? Is the only IP range
> allowed 192.168.1.x? Can I use the DHCP function in the
> router to replace DHCP on the ICS host (this didn't seem
> to work when I initially added the router to the network)?

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 21:08:22 -0800,
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Thanks Jim for your thoughts. However, I did uninstall
>and reinstall ICS (leaving the default addresses in the
>registry) and it didn't work. Plus I took the router
>completely out of the picture and hooked the old 10mbps
>switch back up. Still doesn't work.

There's no reason to not use your new router.

As you don't have many machines you might like to try the static
option.

Installation of ics will change the ip address of the server to
192.168.0.1 so after this has been done you need to change it to your
chosen network addessing scheme and also change
this registry value so it matches your chosen ip address and mask
instead of the default.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\ICSharing\Settings\General

IntranetInfo = 192.168.0.1 255.255.255.0 (change to your chosen ip)
EnableDHCP = 1 (change this to 0 if you want to switch dhcp off)

The clients usually get their gateway and dns info etc. as part of the
dhcp process so you need to enter this manually on the clients

IP Address: 192.168.0.2 (change to whatever address you use)
subnet mask 255.255.255.0 (or whatever you use)
Default Gateway: 192.168.0.1 (change to address of ICS server)
DNS Configuration:
Enable DNS
Host = client computer's name
DNS Server = ip address of ICS server or your ISP's DNS server


Jim.

On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 00:54:01 -0700, "Carey Holzman" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I suggest using the router as your ICS and uninstall ICS from all PCs.

The router won't know the external ip address of the dialup
connection.


Jim.

Hmm...I guess I missed that in his original post. Thanks.

"James Egan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 00:54:01 -0700, "Carey Holzman" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
> >I suggest using the router as your ICS and uninstall ICS from all PCs.
>
> The router won't know the external ip address of the dialup
> connection.
>
>
> Jim.
>

I GOT IT TO WORK -- with ICS & DHCP no less!!!!

As things usually happen, you figure it out after you ask
somebody. I'm not 100% sure what made it work, but I'm
pretty sure since I only changed two things from all my
other attempts. Here's what I did:

a) I uninstalled ICS (making sure I was logged into my
ISP when I did it)
b) After a re-boot, I logged into my ISP (WITH A
DIFFERENT DIAL-UP NETWORKING CONNECTION) and re-installed
ICS.
c) Then I rebooted and LOGGED INTO MY ISP
d) Note: ICS & DHCP are working at this point with the
default address of 192.168.0.x.
e) I'm still logged into my ISP and I use RegEdit to edit
the registry and change all 3 relevant entries to be in
the 192.168.123.x range.
f) I re-boot and LOG INTO MY ISP
g) ICS & DHCP are NOT working at this point.
Note: The ICS Host computer has assigned itself a
statis address of 192.168.0.1 (not 192.168.123.1), and
you cannot "renew" the adapters from the host or any
client (they all still have an IP in the 192.168.0.x
range) -- the "renew" command from WinIPCfg or IPConfig
fail (i.e., ICS and DHCP aren't working at this point).
h) Wait a while (I actually went to bed since it was
2:30am)
i) Check the host and client computer. They have all
assigned themselves IP addresses in the 192.168.123.x
range (i.e., the host has a static address of
192.168.123.1 and all the clients have IP addresses in
the range I specified the the "Start" and "Stop" entries
in the registry .......
j) and everything worked and has continue to work!!

p.s. After I got ICS to work, I swapped out the switch
and put the broadband wireless router (configured as an
AP Only device, with DHCP disabled and having a static
address of 192.168.123.254) in the mix and everything
works fine.

I believe the key was always being logged in to the ISP
everytime I made a change AND using a differend dial-up
connection to do so. I think this allowed ICS to truly
reconfigure and re-install itself (vs. seeing the old
connection and keeping some of its leftover settings).

Thanks so much for your help.

====
>-----Original Message-----
>Hmm...I guess I missed that in his original post. Thanks.
>
>"James Egan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 00:54:01 -0700, "Carey Holzman"
<(E-Mail Removed)>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >I suggest using the router as your ICS and uninstall
ICS from all PCs.
>>
>> The router won't know the external ip address of the
dialup
>> connection.
>>
>>
>> Jim.
>>
>
>
>.
>