Problems with home network.

[Delkan Cott]

Okay, I'll try to break it down.

There are three computers in my house:

Powerbook OS X 10.2.8 (farthest from router)
Dell laptop WinXP (closest; one foot)
Dell desktop WinXP (in the middle)


The computers are all connected, by ethernet cables, through a Netgear router (I believe; have the box upstairs) which is plugged into our Comcast highspeed cable modem. The problem is only one computer seems to be able to utilize the high speed connection at a time.

For instance if I reset the modem (reset the power strip) and reboot my laptop my internet connection works fine (like now), but if my brother decides to bring his laptop out of sleep I lose the connection completely. Also, if I reboot my laptop and the powerstrip at the same time while his Dell is awake I cannot steal his connection as he does mine. Same with the Dell desktop.

So I guess my question is, do you know of anything I can do so all three computers can utilize the cable modem simultaneously?

I'll try to answer any questions.

Thanks in advance,
Dan

[Ryan]

What are the settings on your router? It should use NAT(network address translation) and DHCP(help?) to assign non-routable IP addresses to your computers(like 10.0.0.1), which can't be seen by Comcast. That way when you use the laptop which has say, 10.0.0.3, it sends the packets to the router, which has an address from Comcast like 63.234.25.23. The router does some mumbojumbo and sends it out to the internet.

[alcimedes]

the cable modem plug should go into the WAN port. then the rest should go into the other ports. after that, all should be set to DHCP for everything.

[stoo]

The router may have a port marked WAN: plug the router into that port. Make sure NAT and DHCP are turned on on the router, and that all of the computers' network configuration settings are set to automatic.

Do you have to register network (MAC) addresses with your ISP?

[alcimedes]

well if the computers will work, only one at a time, that sounds like something is just plugged into the wrong port. most routers will work with cable modems with their default settings. if you have changed some of those settings around i'd just reset the router and it should work.

[Delkan Cott]

I may have made a huge blunder, but perhaps it is not a router. It's a Netgear Ethernet Hub EN 104 and has no WAN port marking. The ports are labeled 1 through 4 and there is a button labeled Normal/Uplink.

Don't know if this helps.

dan

[alcimedes]

ok, plug the cable modem into the port labled uplink/normal.

set that port to "uplink".

the other three computers should go into the other three still open ports.

that should do it.

[FFL]

no - he has a hub and not a router. Ain't no DHCP happening with that.

[FFL]

ok, plug the cable modem into the port labled uplink/normal.

set that port to "uplink".

the other three computers should go into the other three still open ports.

that should do it.

No, the uplink/normal button just controls whether that port is a crossover or a regular 10/100 port.

[FFL]

Well, alcimedes and I discussed it on IM and this
http://dealmac.com/articles/72373.html
will do the trick nicely - AND give you wireless for the notebooks

[alcimedes]

Click me (http://dealmac.com/articles/72373.html)

a wireless router. the elegant solution, and only $30. the hub isn't going to work. had a talk with FFL, i was wrong, what you have there won't work. you could set up a machine as a DHCP server and other jazz, but that would suck.

buy the router and all will be happy.

[Delkan Cott]

Thanks for everything. I took your advice and everything is smooth sailing, setup was a balmy breeze.

Thanks for making my life less complicated,
Dan