Connecting two PC's together (wired)

[sdd]

Hey guys

Some help here please. I spent over two hours trying to get my pc and that of my sons to connect last night with no luck.

I want to connect the PC's using a crossover cable.
PC1 runs Vista (This is my PC)
PC2 runs XP SP2

I thought it would be easy - boy was I wrong.

On PC2, with the cable connect I can see the icon with 2 compters and the status says that it is connected.

On PC1, when I it says limited connection. Diagnose gives me a result of something to the effect of check IP address setttings.

I don't know what to do .... can someone please give me some direction - maybe a website of something.

Thanks in advance

Super-duper-Dad

 

[Thestealth]

Hi SSD - Is the 2nd pc in the same workgroup and within the same IP range? If you "explore" from either of the machines, can you see the other one? Also, are you using a crossover or straight network cable? Let us know, and we shall help!

 

[Brawler]

Assume you using a cross over cable?
You also need to set the IP manually

 

[sdd]

Guys,

I set the IP addresses like an example I found on the internet. I changed both Workgroup names to WORKGROUP.

The computer name for each PC is different. One I called STUDY, and my son's I called BEDROOM.

Cannot see the PC when I 'explore' . My machine gives like a yellow exclamation mark on the small icon at teh bottom right of my screen.



Do you think I am setting the IP address incorrectly. One thing I noticed in Vista is that there is a choice of setting (cant rememebr the details now) like TCPv6 and TCPv4. Both were checked.

Should I be doing anything with the DNS setting or should it be automatic?


I feel really crap this morning cos I saw disappointment in my son's eyes last night. So today I am trying to get as much info as possible to make this thing work.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ivork]

What settings did you put in the tcp-ip of each machine? ip's subnets, gateways etc - lets have it.

 

[Messugga]

just make the machines IP's 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.3
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
They should be able to chat to each other then.

 

[Franna]

Only set TCPv4 manually to something like:

Vista
Hostname = STUDY
IP = 192.168.0.10
Subnet Mask = 255.255.255.0
Workgroup = WORKGROUP

XP
Hostname = BEDROOM
IP = 192.168.0.11
Subnet Mask = 255.255.255.0
Workgroup = WORKGROUP

Make sure that you enable FILE & PRINT SHARING service on both machines, and create an exception for it in the firewall. Also enable the CLIENT FOR MICROSOFT NETWORKS on both machines. Right click any folder on both machines and enable "SHARING".

Once this is done open a command prompt on Windows XP (Start->Run->cmd<enter>) and type ping 192.168.0.10 to check for connectivity to the Vista machine.

 

[killadoob]

why not just leave it to auto

make sure both pc's are workgroup and it should be fine

my home network consists of 5 pc's all on auto and it works 100%

 

[Cybersakkie]

It looks like you've entered the IP settings in the TCPv6 window. You'll need to enter them in the TCPv4 one.

Set your PC ip to 10.0.0.1 ; subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Other PC to 10.0.0.2 ; subnet mask 255.255.255.0

Don't worry about the Gateway or DNS settings

Hope this solves your problem.

 

[Ivork]

why not just leave it to auto

make sure both pc's are workgroup and it should be fine

my home network consists of 5 pc's all on auto and it works 100%

Nope, you have a dsl router or something kicking out DHCP then.

 

[Thestealth]

Have you got DHCP running on your router Killa? I'm not sure SSD has. He hasn't mentioned it, at least.

 

[killadoob]

no idea to be honest

even when i used to connect 2 pc's via cable i never used ip address's

auto is perfect as long as the name is the same on each machine

 

[Re83L]

Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Centre -> (Sharing and Discovery), File -> Network Discovery On -> (If u wanna share files etc,) File-Sharing On, Password protected sharing OFF

Now put the cable back into your pc, then as it "finds" the network, change the network type to a private network (if it's on "public" your pc is not discoverable).

Also, there where you change your IP settings, disable IPv6 in Vista, use only IPv4.

Lastly : If you want to exchange files between the two pc's, download "Netscan", it's a useful app to quickly scan user specified IP ranges.

EG :

Set your pc's IPv4 IP to :
192.168.0.10
subnet mask 255.255.255.0

Your Son's :
192.168.0.11
subnet mask 255.255.255.0

Now in netscan, specify IP ranges to be scanned as:
192.168.0.0 to 192.168.0.255

You should be able to see both computers WITH their shared files.

 

[sdd]

I REALLY appreciate all this info guys - especially franna and frag.

I am gonna try this tonight (was even thinking of ducking off over lunch to do it).

It sounds so simple - lets hope it works.

 

[sn3rd]

Guys... Everyone giving different settings, lol

@sdd:

The settings should be something SIMILAR to:
IP Address: 192.168.0.xxx (where xxx is anything between 2 and 254)
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 (This puts the computers on the same logical network)
Gateway and DNS shouldn't really matter.

When you say you are not getting connectivity, do you mean you are unable to access the shares, or do you mean ABSOLUTELY no connectivity? To test:
Start -> Run -> ping -t 192.168.0.xxx
where xxx is whatever you assigned the OTHER PC. You should see a continuous ping that will either receive responses (connectivity, yay) or will time-out or give an error message (unreachable or something). Each message is diagnostically helpful.
If the pings are successful, then you have connectivity.
If the pings are unsuccessful with a message, then the message could indicate that the PC is unable to communicate with the other network (either because of a damaged cable, or firewall), that the PC doesn't KNOW where to send the message (or the other PC does not know where to return it), or that there is some sort of issue with the messages getting lost (not really likely here -> one cable, can't really get lost unless you have multiple network adapters).

So that was my attempt at a more standardized approach to solving your problem. I hope it's not too confusing. If it is, feel free to disregard it and call me a n00b

@Ivork:
killadoob is absolutely correct. Leaving settings on automatic will (once a DHCP server is not found), cause the NICs to revert to their default 169.254.xxx.xxx addresses, and this should work.

 

[sdd]

ok I have printed this thread and am off to go see if I can get this thing to work.

 

[quik1]

from what i hear you have to install sp1 for vista to work out the connectivity problems between xp and vista

 

[Re83L]

from what i hear you have to install sp1 for vista to work out the connectivity problems between xp and vista

Nope, not necessary...

That's why I gave him the settings that I did.

I'm running a Vista and XP system on the same network at home.

Vista is just a bit more complicted, because you have to fix the firewall, sharing center, AND specify the type of network all exactly correct before anything works.

 

[quik1]

Nope, not necessary...

That's why I gave him the settings that I did.

OK My bad - wasnt sure anyway - heard about it at a MS conference - must of heard wrong, was half asleep in any case

 

[sdd]

So guys - here is a iced cold virtual Amstel for the advice ... I just poured myself a double Jameson on the rocks to celebrate my victory over this blooming network connection.

Guess who is the champion in my boy's eyes again? !!!

Got it to work on the two PC's. Hell, I even played a multiplayer game on it - just to make sure.

Once again - thanks - I owe you guys.

Greetings from,
Super duper Dad