Desperately need network setup help

[bratboy1]

Help, running into a problem. If I connect my Envy to my router using rj45 then it can see the other computers on my home network, which is named "home network". However if I connect via wireless-N, which is a WRT160N patched into my dsl gateway, which I setup with a special name and password for wireless security, then My envy doesn't see any of the other hardwired computers. Did I set something up wrong?

If I pulled up network settings on all 3 computers

On my hardwired computers it shows:
my desktops name ---- "Network" ------ Internet

On my laptop using RJ45 it shows:
my laptops name ---- "Network" ------ Internet

On my laptop when using Wireless it says
my laptops name --- the name I gave wireless ------ Internet

I'm at a loss and hope theres an easy fix if someone can help me sort this out. I swear I came across a "merge networks" option but can't find it now. Please help an idot figure this out, Thanks
__________________
Desktop:
I7 965 EE,6 gig Corsair Dominator 2K, 2 1T WDG drives and 1 Seagate 1T drive,Sapphire 5970 OC, Dell 2709 WS monitor

 

[chev65]

I'm a bit confused still, Are all of the machines plugged into the same WRT160N router? I wasn't aware that the WRT160N could take an rj45 plug?

If any of your machines are plugged directly into the dsl modem instead of the router that will not work correctly.

You would need to use an rj45 to cat5 adaptor and then plug all machines into the router directly.

You should also use a different machine name for all machines. It looks like it says "Network" for the computer name on two of the machines? That will not work right.

 

[bratboy1]

My bad

LEt me try to explain better:

I have a DSL Gateway from Qwest that had 4 ether ports but no Wireless. I had my 2 desktops and the DTV box connected to it. Then Linksys had me plug in the wireless router, via a cat5 cable into the one open port on the gateway and the other to the inet in or the Linksys & set things up, she called it something but I can't recall the word she used.

Then on the wireless she had me set up a SSID and password for wireless so it would be secured. This makes it so I could use the wireless router to connect wirelessly using my older gateway for the internet/network connection since my DSL Gateway didn't have a wireless feature itself. If I plug in a cat5 from the laptop to the port on my gateway it then connects both wired to my home network so I can see the other computers but its also showing as connected via wireless which cant see any computers.

If I unplug the cat5 cable then it only connects securly via wirelessly and I have internet but cant see any of the other computer. I went to my main computer and tried to pull up a homegroup password but when I click on the link to show it nothing happens

 

[chev65]

It sounds like the wireless connection isn't part of the same network to me. Just to confirm because I'm really confused here. Are all machines plugged directly into the router other than the wireless machine which should only be connected wirelessly?

As for the Homegroup, are all machines Windows 7 machines? Homegroups won't work properly unless all machines are Win 7 machines.

Are you using any type of A/V software or a third party firewall?

 

[bratboy1]

It sounds like the wireless connection isn't part of the same network to me. Just to confirm because I'm really confused here. Are all machines plugged directly into the router other than the wireless machine which should only be connected wirelessly? As for the Homegroup, are all machines Windows 7 machines?

Thats exactly the issue.All computers are Win7 systems. The hardwired network was never setup with a pw. The wireless was so it was given a special name "bratsroom". when I have both a cat5 cable connected as well as the wireless going on my notbook then clicking on the Wireless network icon in my laptops taskbar shows both bratsroom and "network" connected and I can see everything but the minute I unplug the Cat then all the other computers disappear.

 

[chev65]

You need to reconnect wirelessly to the same network the other machines are connected too. They all need to be part of the same network and also using the same "Workgroup" name can help. You may need to leave the "bratsroom" network first and then rejoin the original network wirelessly.

You shouldn't need to create a seperate network name for the wireless network which I think is causing your problems.

My wireless machines are connected to same network "Rob's Network" as all my other wired machines, no problems at all that way.

It is sometimes easier to create and join the Homegroup with all the machines plugged in with a wired connection first, then after it's all working, unplug the one wireless machine and reconnect to the same Homegroup network and test everything out.

 

[bratboy1]

Not sure how I would do that. I programed the wireless router with security and a name and pw but when I origonally set up my home network I set it up without any of the computers needing a pw or anything so its just called network. The only reason I set the wireless one with one was so no one could "Tap" into the network.

On my main computer, the workgroup is simply called network, whereas I set the wireless to bratroom.

Also if I go to my main computer and open up explorer and click on Homegroup, even with the laptop hard wire connected, I get a pop up that says no other homegroup computers are available but if I click on the network link then my explorer window show all my shared drives and the laptop.

I really feel stupid right now trying to figure the best way to solve this. Should I somehow creat a new workgroup with the same name & password I used on the wireless and then try to get all the computers to log into it?

 

[chev65]

You really need to leave and delate that second network you created. You can do that from Device Manager.

You seem to be confusing the routers wireless log in password with the User passwords, the two of them are completely different things and have no connection to each other. It's good you set up the password on the router because you need that one for cetain.

To avoid any further confusion, follow this guide which will help you set up a Homegroup network. Pay attention to the names used for the Workgroup. To avoid futher confusion do not use the name "network" as a workgroup name. The steps in this walk through make it pretty clear.

Ultimate Troubleshooting Guide for Windows 7 HomeGroup Connection Issues

 

[bratboy1]

Humm, so maybe delete all the connections on the laptop and let it try to creat/join the one my other computers uses?

Like I mentioned earlier, not sure how I initially created the network other than knowing iI set things to not require a password. I do know if I click on homegroup in explorer on one of my hard wired systems I get the darn mssg saying "No other homegroup computers are available but I can see the laptop under the network. If I click the "view or change homegroup password" no window opens with a pw.

EDIT:
Well after reading the link I went ahead and ran ipconfig on both my destop and the laptop. The IP's are slightly different. Could this be the problem and would the way to fix this be to go into the wireless routers setup and change an address/default gateway?

ipconfig from desktop :
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

IP for the laptops wireless:
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

 

[aem]

ipconfig from desktop :
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

IP for the laptops wireless:
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

With those IPs and different gateway, i cannot see how you can connect them up.

 

[bratboy1]

I'll call Linksys Monday. Maybe they can help me get everything set to the same settings

 

[acurasd]

Okay this is what you need to do for your network...

You are basically using the router as your gateway/NAT/access point....

so you are going to have the quest modem there but you are only going to use one port. That is all you need.

On the Quest Router:
Change the DMZ to

192.168.0.2

Then you are going to connect the LAN 1 from the Quest to the WAN port of your router.

You are then going to configure your router to have a STATIC WAN

So the static WAN will be:
192.168.0.2
subnet: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 192.168.0.1

DNS: your internet's DNS numbers.
you can retrieve these by logging int the quest box and grabbing all this information first.


then on your LAN/Network of your Router:

It looks like it is already configured as a gateway of 192.168.1.1


So on your desktop:
Create the static IP:
192.168.1.2
255.255.255.0
192.168.1.1

DNS: of course your internet dns


this configuration shoudl work as follows:


http://192.168.0.1 ===> lots you into your quest
http://192.168.1.1 ===> router

then of course your static IP for the computer

http://192.168.1.2 or \\192.168.1.2

 

[bratboy1]

Well actually linksys fixed it for me a bit differently and figured I'd post in case it helps anyone else with a peicemeal setup like mine.

What they had me do first was connect my laptop via a cat5 cable to one of the regular ports on the Wireless router. Then she had me give her remote control so she could make the following changes. First she turned off the auto naming and changed the linksys addy to 192.168.0.140 then she had me unplug the laptop and move the cable running from my quest unit to the internet plug to just one of the regular 4 ether ports and reboot the laptop. Now wireless connects to my homes network and can see all the other computers and devices perfectly and all my hardwired computers can see the laptop when its connected wirelessly.

 

[chev65]

I wish I could see that set up but it sounds like she has everything using the same internet gateway which wasn't the case before. But plugging the quest modem into a LAN port on the router has me a little confused. Sounds like she bypassed the router for DHCP assignments for some reason.
Thanks for reporting back in bratboy.