Help! I'm setting up a household LAN and it isnt working!

[Mista K6]

Ok, the title really says the problem, but here are the details. I have Comcast Cable. I recently bought a NETGEAR wireless router and a NETGEAR USB wireless thing. On this comp (the one in the sig), I have the cable modem going to the router, and then an ethernet line going from the router to this comp. I installed all the software etc, made my connections etc, I can surf the internet here and everything. On the other comp (Pentium 2 333mhz w. 128mb RAM, sucks, I know, but it's basically a word processor and surfing maching for my bro), I installed the software for the USB wireless connector, I plugged it in, it reads my router that I set up (the SSID, etc) I hit connect, I have like 73% signal strength and 66% link strength. when I try to go online there it says I cant with a message that says: "An internal error occured in Windows Internet Extensions". I'm kind of lost here, did I miss something? I'm really a newb at this networking stuff, so any help is much appreciated. Thx in advance, it'd be great if someone could just give me the steps in order of how to set it up, I think I could figure out the details, but I dont know what to do and in what order to do it. Thx, : peace2: Mista K6

[Beefy]

Does the wireless card work in your PC? Simple test... Also, what setup did you do for the USB connector, if any?

[Darthtanion]

Something else to consider... what OS are you running on the brother's machine? USB support didn't work worth a flip until the Win98SE package came out. Even the patch for the original Win98 wasn't too good. Also, if you are running an older OS, make sure that you're not running into a conflict with IRQs. This can cause no end of headaches.

Good luck. :)

[kane2g]

try pinging your computer from his, if that works try traceroute (tracert) command.:thumb:

If that dont work,
Are you on the same network?
Do you have static IP or DHCP?
try pinging the router (most likely 192.168.1.1)

[Mista K6]

wow, I dont know if I understand all of that, but here's my best at answering it:

Beefy: it isnt a wireless card, its this little pocket knife size receptor that plugs into a USB cable that plugs into one of the USB ports on the back of his comp. The green light was flashing and then went steady, which, by the guide, says its working 100% properly.

Darthtanion: Sry, totally forgot to mention OS's. I'm running Windows XP Home Edition (good for a 5 comp network if I'm not mistaken) and he's running Windows 98 :( . However, the NETGEAR guide gave specific instructions for setting up on Windows 98, so my guess would be that it does support it. Also, what the heck are IRQ's...help!?

kane2g: The Net Gear wireless thing (what the hell do you call it?) came with its own program. When I scan for available wireless networks, the one I set up on this comp registers, but when I click connect, then try to go to a website, it doesnt work. SO I'm really lost. And how do I ping to the router. I think I have DHCP. But again, I'm really lost here.

Thx for all the replies, I hope we can figure this out =/. :peace2: Mista K6

[Mista K6]

Ok S***, I jsut removed the 56k modem from that comp and everything freezes about 30 sec into the desktop. I put it back in and same thing. What the hell is going on? :cry: :mad: . Ahem, thx if you can help out with this too.

[kane2g]

to ping or tracert
In XP go to start, than Run and type CMD
than type ping www.yahoo.com or tracert www.yahoo.com

In 98 you can just open a dos window, and type ping www.yahoo.com
Also try pinging your XP system, which should have IP starting with 192.168.x.x
You can find it by clicking on the LocalAreaConnection icon and clicking support :thumb:

As far as the system freezing, you probably have some dirvers/utilities installed that look for modem on startup. Since they dont find it installed, they freeze. Go to Run and type msconfig. Go to Startup Tab and uncheck anything that has to do with the modem.
HTH

[Beefy]

Is it Win98 or Win98SE? If it's not SE, then I wouldn't even bother. Even if they did give details on how to do it, USB support in Win98 is scratchy at best.

[Mista K6]

Bah, it's def normal Windows 98. What do mean the USB support is scratchy? Performance sucks or it just wont work? Really, my bro is only gonna use this to surf the web and d/l a file here and there, nothing big (def no gaming).

Well, I installed teh modem again, and like I said it wouldnt work. Well, my bro never does maintanence on his comp, so when one of the error messages for a file not found comes up during start up, start up stops. So, I took the time to disable the program for the USB wireless thing, and now his comp runs, but obviously the wireless thing doesnt. It seems to me that there was a conflict between the modems programs and the Wireless programs. For instance, before when it froze I'd bring up task manager and it's say the wireless program was not responding. I could be wrong, but it seems like it to me. I'm going to run through and disable everything having to do with the modem and then take it out. Then I'm gonna start working on getting the wireless working.

When I ping to yahoo.com, what's that do? Does it calibrate my modem? I'll ping to this comp from my bros, but like I said, the program that came with it already has that stuff (I think). For some reason, even the the USB wireless device recognizes my comp and router when I scan, its just not making the connection. I have to call Comcast tomorrow cause my e-mail is acting screwy anyways, I'll ask them on specifics. Also, my friend set up a wireless LAN in his house using teh same deal (although it might have been windows 2000 and 98, I forget), so maybe I'll give him a call too. Anyways, thx alot for all the replies, its helped me understand a lot more about all of this. Btw, are there any good online guides for this type of thing? Thx again, : peace2: Mista K6