Very basic network help

[BMW POWER]

a few days ago i came across my old PC and my wife wanted it in the living room for her to use so she dosent have to kick me off my new one everytime she wants to go online. someone told me about networking the two together and sharing the internet connection. today i went out and had a look round and came across a Sitecom Easynetwork kit. in it i had two network cards and a 15m cable. i installed both cards no problem but i cant seem to get it all running properly they just wont connect, both PC's are running XP Pro. i run the network setup wizard and put all the information in but i get an error at the end of it. sorry i'm not to clear but i cant really explain it, i just cant seem to connect the two PC's together oh and another thing how in the hell do i share the internet connection?
earlier today i was ready to set fire to both of the computers and let them burn in cyber hell so you can imagine how frustrated i'm getting
please help

 

[Matrixhasu77]

Originally posted by BMW POWER
a few days ago i came across my old PC and my wife wanted it in the living room for her to use so she dosent have to kick me off my new one everytime she wants to go online. someone told me about networking the two together and sharing the internet connection. today i went out and had a look round and came across a Sitecom Easynetwork kit. in it i had two network cards and a 15m cable. i installed both cards no problem but i cant seem to get it all running properly they just wont connect, both PC's are running XP Pro. i run the network setup wizard and put all the information in but i get an error at the end of it. sorry i'm not to clear but i cant really explain it, i just cant seem to connect the two PC's together oh and another thing how in the hell do i share the internet connection?
earlier today i was ready to set fire to both of the computers and let them burn in cyber hell so you can imagine how frustrated i'm getting
please help

Are you trying to connect the two computers directly via the one cable? If so, make sure that it is a crossover cable instead of a noncrossover cable. That could be why they are unable to communicate. If you are using a router/hub/switch then two noncrossover cables are needed.

As for getting the two computers to share a connection, make sure that one is set as the gateway computer and the other is set to connect through the gateway computer in the "networking wizard" under "my network places".(I'm assuming you are on cable/dsl because I'm not sure about 56K. Ignore that if you aren't.)

Sorry if I'm not much help. I just have a basic knowledge of Networking.

 

[BMW POWER]

thanks for your reply, it says i got a crosed UTP network cable so would that be ok to directly link the two computers?
ive been messing with it all night so far and im just not getting anywhere. i find that windows networking wizard crap it never seems to get me anywhere, is there any other programs available for creating networks that you know? someone told me it was easy to create a network. oh yeh am on ADSL
cheers

 

[Matrixhasu77]

Originally posted by BMW POWER
thanks for your reply, it says i got a crosed UTP network cable so would that be ok to directly link the two computers?
ive been messing with it all night so far and im just not getting anywhere. i find that windows networking wizard crap it never seems to get me anywhere, is there any other programs available for creating networks that you know? someone told me it was easy to create a network. oh yeh am on ADSL
cheers

It may work(I'm a little confused by what a UTP network cable is. I've only heard of CAT5 cable).

Personally, I've never had any problems with the network setup wizard. I would invest in a router/hub if you dont have one. That way you can hook up your ADSL modem and your computers to the router/hub and have it direct everything.

 

[Burnout]

UTP cable is CAT5. If it's a crossover cable XP should automatically recognize the network and open the network wizard when you connect the computers.
What error do you get? Honestly, you can setup a network on XP without any computers connected, it'll just say a network cable is unplugged. Because of this I'd say it would be more so a problem with maybe your cards...Drivers or something...
Are you absolutely sure you installed the cards correctly? Make sure your drivers for them are up to date.
What would help the most is knowing what error you get.

And, like Matrix said, you should invest in a hub/router. It makes the internet sharing a lot easier.

Oh yeah, how is your DSL connected?

 

[Matrixhasu77]

Originally posted by Burnout
UTP cable is CAT5.

Der. I knew that...

Make sure your ethernet cards are also enabled as well(I'm pointing out the obvious here, I know, but I sometimes overlook this when at a friend's house who has cable and a network). You can do that through Start>Settings>Network Connections>Local Area Connection. Then run the network setup wizard if your cards weren't enabled.

 

[Pako]

Being that they are both in different rooms, this can be a handy little device.

http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?prid=173&grid=19

So here's how it would hook up.

Phone Wire > ADSL Modem > BEFW11S4 Router >> (Computer 1 and Computer 2)

This is the hardware side. You can use straight-through 568B Cat 5 cables to connect the Modem to the Router, and from the router to each computer.

All the Password/Login Information is setup in the router. This is the information that you would receive from your ISP.

At that point, both computers would connect through the internet through a "LAN" or Local Area Connection as Matrixhasu77 has already pointed out.

This BEFW11S4 is a wireless unit so you wouldn't need Cat5 cables fromt he router to each computer, but if you wanted to save some $$$, you could pickup another linksys router that's not wireless for much less.

Hope this helps....

 

[BMW POWER]

ok cheers for all the help guys but im still having no luck. ive been all through windows help and troubleshooter, getting no where fast and im just about ready to give up. all i want to do is be able to share the internet connection and the printer, nothing else. heres what i got:

both PC's running XP Pro
576 kbps ADSL connection with external USB modem (both on host computer)
PCI network card in both computers and a crossed UTP network cabe joining them together.
do i need to use a HUB to do what i want or should i be able to do it with my current hardware alone? oh and heres the error i get when i run the connection wizard in windows.
cheers

 

[Burnout]

Make sure your Ethernet card is correctly installed. Open up Control Panel, goto system -> click the Device Manager tab(or is it hardware) -> Look for any errors for the ethernet card. If all is workign correctly, make sure they are enabled.

Have you tried running the network setup with the UTP cable unplugged from the computer and without entering any information about yoru internet connection?

 

[Pako]

What is the make/model of the ADSL modem? Some additional information is needed. Being a USB modem as you just stated, it could very well complicate things...

Also, on which computer do you get this error message on? Does that particular computer have the ADSL modem connected to it?