Mark42
Fleet Admiral
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2003
- Messages
- 9,334
This weekend I installed my US Robotics Modem Router. I was excited about finally getting away from the Internet Connection Sharing(ICS) which requires the PC with the modem to be on for any other PC on the Peer-to-Peer LAN to it to have internet access. After re-routing, splicing and running new CAT-5e cable and relocating the PC's to their new rooms, I opened the USR box and started reading the install directions. Sounded easy, connect hardware, install software, start using the internet. <br /><br />Wrong, wrong, wrong. I spent 3 hours trying to figure out why the PC kept trying to access the internal modem and not go after the modem on the router. Figure that out and then the PC does not recognize the router. Fix that, then when it connects, the modem (an external USR 56k V90) just clicks away, and I don't hear the dial tone. It indicates that it can't make connection. Duh. So I screw around with modem settings for another 2 hours until it dawns on me to grab the external modem from my work-at-home PC and try that one. An hour later the system is working and dials out. Success! Now I try to access the PC upstairs (Remote1) over the router and it doesn't recoginze the other PC. OK, I go upstairs with the router CD and install the software and bingo! it now sees the router too. But it doesn't see the downstairs PC (Main). Back downstairs I mess around for a few more hours and go to bed at 1:00 am. The ENTIRE day, from 7:00 AM until 1:00AM was spent on these machines and things are not working right yet.<br /><br />Next morning I get coffee and jump back into it. Somehow I get the Remote1 pc able to do a remote desktop access of Main. It works. Back to MAIN, and Main cannot access Remote1. Doesn't even see it on the LAN. I am confused. These PC's are nearly identical, both have Win XP Pro installed (from the same CD even!) with same applications. I finally realize that Remote1 is used by the kids so it has Mcafe firewall, spam and virus protection up the wazzoo. Main has same Mcafee sofware, just with more lax settings. So I go and have to make changes in the firewall settings to allow communications between these two machines. Wow! What a difference. And now Main's access to Remote1 is MUCH FASTER than before. That firewall really slows things down. Remote1 is still as fast as before because I didn't have to make changes to the firewall on Main. All is good and working. My wife is happy and told the kids it's OK to go near daddy now. I felt bad when my daughter said "Are you mad at us kids or the computer?". I realized that I could have been less a grump in my state of frustration. <br /><br />I was really PO'd because:<br /><br />1) I spent my ENTIRE weekend working on software and hardware changes that should have only taken 2 or 3 hours.<br />2) It was a beautiful weekend and I didn't play with the kids outside until Sunday at 6:00pm.<br />3) The 1st modem was broken and it took me a few hours to conclude that. My bad.<br /><br />And last but FORMOST:<br /><br />4) The USR instructions should have listed the Firewall changes necessary to make this work. Firewalls are common and a step reviewing firewall settings/changes should have been part of the installation procedure. It would have saved me almost 1 entire day.<br /><br />I design mainframe software for a living. I built my first PC in 1994. You would think I could have figured out this whole mess a lot sooner. I feel like an idiot.
havent seen win3.1 in awhile now.<br /><br />I spent 3/4 of the day setting up my wireless network and setting up my computer to use as a server... figured I was far enough in the boonies to not require the security key.... WRONG 2 days later I notice an extra computor on my network... if I would have been thinking I woulda printed a warning on their printer before disconnecting them and setting up the security<br /><br />Course setting up the security created a whole new set of challenges