Orion:
I sympathize. I wrote with some frustration here that I spent about 10 full
days getting a bunch of XP Home PC"s networked, and took a few more weeks to
get all the kinks worked out early this year. Four out of the five PC's are
connected wireless, and I had a laser hooked up to one PC, a photo printer
onto the other.
I got to surf the web do spreadsheets on the laptop, save the files onto one
PC acting as a pseudo file and print server. The wife is annoyed I lay in bed
all the time or spread out on the couch working on the PC, and watching TV.
Hey, I got the network working the way I wanted it to, why not??
I'm not trying to be a wise guy here, I agree XP, wireless, wireless access
points, USB routers all working seamlessly can be a challange. I did pull my
hair out the first few days, I'm not an award winning programmer, but
systematically got each PC hooked up to the router and working. Basically
step by step its:
- Hook each PC up by wire to the router first, firewalls off, making sure
TCP/IP is working. In between, I learned to recycle the cable modems, and the
router, and resetting the router. I recently called in a tach guy when I had
trouble getting things going, and it turned out that the cable modem had a
battery backup, and he had to take it out to recycle.
- Then turn on the wireless, right next to the router, to make sure the
wireless configuration is OK, WCZ works etc.
- Move the laptop/PC some distance away, where it should go, to see if
obstructions may create connectivity problems.
- Configure the firewalls in each and turn the firewalls on after you made
note of the IP address ranges.
- You might not see everything in Network neighbohood right away, as the
system has to set itself up (master browser), and it's taken a day for things
to straighten out here.
- Finally, check to see each and every PC connected to the internet, if not
check with IPCONFIG/all.
I just junked the cable company internet a few days ago, and went with with
the phone company FIOS, and its new router. I had everything up and running
in two hours. Most of the delay was caused by the Linksys adaptor software
creating problems on one PC when it was moved, and I had to switch it off and
use WCZ instead. It's always one little bugger.
Orion, it's not that bad.
"orion12" wrote:
> hello all,
>
> In a nustshell..(help, I'm in a nustshell..er'sorry) I can copy and paste
> almost every message here and they are as if they are written by the same
> person w/ the same problem. I noticed this early on in my search for an
> answer...oh yeah, the router may be a different brand, or the speakers a
> little different...But seriously, almost every post here is nearly identical,
> as they are in every 'wireless networking' messageboard on the net &
> (without question) the No.1 post concerning wireless networking...They are
> near carbon copies of one another... literally carbon copies of thousands
> that have been posted since the XP HOME and wireless networking combo have
> been pushed in every Best Buy weekly sales circular for the last few
> years...afterall, it's so easy, that you'd be crazy not to enjoy the
> hassle-free benefits of wireless-G and beyond...
> Cut to the chase:
> I ordered a sexy-new Dell core-duo laptop w/ explicit directions that I was
> buying it exclusively to add to my dell workstation's network...it would be
> my savior, allowing me to work comfortably & wirelessly...saving all my work
> to the workstation's large hard drives, using the large photo-printer, etc,
> etc...I followed all the instructions on the new netgear router, the Dell
> website, wasted time w/ Dell's India reasearch & time wasting team trying to
> spell out the 'print spooler not running error' and the 'doesn't have
> permission errors', then followed all the tutorials I could find, then tried
> everything else...then tried it all again...to no avail..And then I looked in
> the mirror one afternoon and realized I was getting older...that much time
> had been spent trying to resolve this simple lil' network issue....My
> internet sharing is flawless, fast...My desktop can see the notebook and
> access its files...but I still cant access the desktop or any of its
> equipment from the laptop...I know how to reset the print spooler w/ Cmnd
> prompt & a hundred other DOS commands that I learned on my own...but geesus,
> I am/was an artist...not a Dell network specialist...and although I detest
> class-action lawsuits...I think there should be a big one to make these
> companies remove the bright red "It's sooo easy, you can do it naked &
> asleep" stickers from the boxes'...
>
> Cut to my nephew, who's an awrd winning programmer, has been involved in
> every aspect of networking, broadcasting, uploading, custom system building
> etc, etc...who came down, spent two hours of intense network-work...and
> finally let me in on: ' XP HOME sux for wireless networking...you shoulda'
> got XP PRO, knowing that you were gonna' set it up this way...bottom line
> is...regardless of what the experts say...the thousands of identical posts
> speak much louder...XP HOME wasn't designed to network wirelessly within
> workgroups...XP PRO has all the options and is configured/engineered for the
> network envirnment...There are numerous ways to customize your network,
> wireless or not w/ PRO...I would be sitting on my sofa and churning out the
> project I need to get done w/o having to do this insane workaround thing to
> access my files and print anything I've done on the laptop...if only I'd done
> the research ahead of time, instead of relying on the very caring -concerned
> (sounding) dell salesperson...
> At any rate,I'm not saying that it can't be correceted in some
> instances...because it does actually work for some folks, but most everyone
> using XP home with a wireless network has the same problem... ITS XP HOME
> THATS THE PROBLEM....