Simple Wi-Fi Network Help

I usually connect my laptop and PC via cable and it works like a dream.

The laptop has built in wireless so I added a wireless PCI card to the PC.
The wireless cards find each other but I can't share files or t'net and
can't see the other machine on the network.

I'm sure I've missed something very obvious. I'm running XP Home on the PC
and XP Pro on the laptop and have run 'Network Setup Wizard' about 100 times
on each but to no avail.

I have Sygate Personal Firewall installed but even with this off the PCs are
still not talking.

As soon as I connect the cable again the network is fine.

I've done a Google search but it all gets *very* technical and I'm not
particularly technically minded.

Any help appreciated via the NG please.

Thanks

--
bbk
XBL Gamertag - bigbaldkev

On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 10:09:57 +0000 (UTC), "bbk"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Any help appreciated via the NG please.

get a DOS window up by typing 'cmd' in the run box of the start menu
on each, then 'ipconfig /all' on both and cut & paste here.

To share the innernet the host machine needs to be running internet
connection sharing, you may have been running this before with the
ethernet cable connection but you will need to re-allocate the
wireless device as the LAN connection otherwise it will continue to
want to share on the wired port.

Can you confirm that everything worked OK with wired inc file sharing,
if so we only need resolve the IP addresses and routing issues (and
for once can ignore the dreaded MS networking)

Phil

"bbk" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:c6dedl$si5$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I usually connect my laptop and PC via cable and it works like a dream.
>
> The laptop has built in wireless so I added a wireless PCI card to the PC.
> The wireless cards find each other but I can't share files or t'net and
> can't see the other machine on the network.
>
> I'm sure I've missed something very obvious. I'm running XP Home on the
PC
> and XP Pro on the laptop and have run 'Network Setup Wizard' about 100
times
> on each but to no avail.
>
> I have Sygate Personal Firewall installed but even with this off the PCs
are
> still not talking.
>
> As soon as I connect the cable again the network is fine.
>
> I've done a Google search but it all gets *very* technical and I'm not
> particularly technically minded.
>
> Any help appreciated via the NG please.

You have set both the laptop and PC WiFI cards to run in "Ad Hoc mode", as
you are not using a Wireless Access Point?

By default, they may both be in "Infrastucture mode" - which assumes you
have a Wireless Access Point/router of some sort.

Regards
Sunil

"bbk" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:c6dedl$si5$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I usually connect my laptop and PC via cable and it works like a dream.
>
> The laptop has built in wireless so I added a wireless PCI card to the PC.
> The wireless cards find each other but I can't share files or t'net and
> can't see the other machine on the network.
>
> I'm sure I've missed something very obvious. I'm running XP Home on the
PC
> and XP Pro on the laptop and have run 'Network Setup Wizard' about 100
times
> on each but to no avail.
>

Wireless is meant to work wih an access point. Rather than buy a wireless
card for you PC you should have bought an Access Point and plugged that in
where you used to plug the laptop. Of course you may also need to change the
cable for a straight one, depending on the port on the Access Point.

If things still work when you plug the cable in the dial up connection is
still being shared over the LAN port. Try un-sharing the wireless port and
re-sharing, specifying you want to share over the new connection.

> I have Sygate Personal Firewall installed but even with this off the PCs
are
> still not talking.
>
> As soon as I connect the cable again the network is fine.
>
> I've done a Google search but it all gets *very* technical and I'm not
> particularly technically minded.
>
> Any help appreciated via the NG please.
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> bbk
> XBL Gamertag - bigbaldkev
>
>
>

"David Wade" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:c6dvgt$a3350$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Wireless is meant to work wih an access point. Rather than buy a wireless
> card for you PC you should have bought an Access Point and plugged that in
> where you used to plug the laptop. Of course you may also need to change
the
> cable for a straight one, depending on the port on the Access Point.

Sorry but that is totally wrong.

Two (or more) wireless cards work perfectly well, without a Access Point -
you just need to select "Ad hoc" mode and not "Infrastructure" mode, for it
to work.

Regards
Sunil

On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 16:01:48 +0100, in uk.comp.home-networking "David
Wade" <(E-Mail Removed)> strung together this:

>Wireless is meant to work wih an access point. Rather than buy a wireless
>card for you PC you should have bought an Access Point and plugged that in
>where you used to plug the laptop.

Absolutely and totally wrong. You can setup a wireless network with
two cards running in ad-hoc mode without any access points.
--

SJW
A.C.S. Ltd.

Thanks for the answers I've made sure that both cards are 'adhoc' and the
machines can now find each other over the network, need to fiddle a bit more
to share the files I want to.

Thanks again.

--
bbk
XBL Gamertag - bigbaldkev