On 12 Feb 2004 at 13:19, Shakeel Ruttee wrote:

> While i'm at i'm having another problem. I have two system running win
> 98SE which i want to network. I'm using an Ethernet Lan Card on both
> machine. Any of the 2 machines can't see their peers in the Network
> Neighborhood.
>
> My Ethernet Lan Card is bounded by TCP/IP setting of 198.160.100.1 for
> one and 198.160.100.2 for the second one, with a SubMask of
> 255.255.255.0 for both. I use Full10 Mode for one while the other one
> is set to Auto. Some times i've to set both toAuto as it will not get
> pass over the Windows Splash Screen and i'll have to reboot using Safe
> Mode with Network...
>
> Can someone give me some tips about what i'm doing wrong?

  Those settings might be correct -- depending on what else is in your
network and how it's connected together.

  The "Full" setting will only work reliably if each machine is plugged into
its own port in a *switch* using RJ-45 cables (looks like an oversize phone
connector).  It won't work with a hub, or with co-axial cables.  ("Ethernet"
is not a sufficiently precise description.)
  Note:  If you use one of the small home routers (LinkSys, NetGear, etc)
with multiple LAN ports, those generally include a switch inside the router
case, so that's okay.

  The 255.255.255.0 network mask says that every other local device should
use the same first three octets:  i.e., 192.168.100.x, where x is different
for each machine (and is in the range 1-254).

  If that is all correct, then from a DOS/cmd prompt on 192.168.100.1 you
should be able to enter "ping 192.168.100.2", which will make four attempts
to send round-trip "echo" packets to 102.168.100.2, and report whether it
gets answers, and how long it took to do so.
  Note that this is *round trip*; the hardware must be working and the
TCP/IP configuration correct on both machines for answers to arrive.
  If ping is getting answers, then we know that the hardware and cables work
and the TCP/IP configurations are compatible (if not necessarily "correct").

  That's necessary, but not sufficient, to get the machines to show up in
each others' Network Neighborhood.  There are at least three other things
that could be issues:

1.  The machines should be using the same Workgroup name.

2.  The machines should be using the same network client and "File/Printer
Sharing" settings.

3.  There must be a machine on the network running the "Computer Browser"
service (NT/2K/XP), or allowed to be elected the "Master Browser" (I forget
exactly where this setting is in 98.)  Each machine gets its list of
machines to show in Network Neighborhood by contacting this machine.

  Finally, note that Network Neighborhood relies on protocols that you DON'T
want to exchange with the Internet.  The best (* IMHO) way to do that is
with a firewall, but note that if you're using software firewalls on each
machine, you need to permit them to reach the other 192.168.100.x machines
on your LAN.
  (*  Some people will recommend that you enable NetBEUI to share this
information safely.  That can work, but I hesitate to recommend it because
it tends to mask problems that still exist in the TCP/IP configuration -- my
preference is to get that working right instead.)

  This is all pretty general; if it's too general, we're going to need more
detail about the rest of your network and its configurations to help track
down the problem.  I hope there's enough info here for you to tell what info
will be necessary.

David Gillett
CCSE CCNA MCSE A+

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