Hi, hope all you techs can help me out here:

Im new to networking & dont understand the basics to be honest so please bare with me:

Im visiting a friends home tomorrow & he has a wireless network ALREADY set up & working no problem. He has a sony laptop which works through a router located upstairs. From the router a lead goes off to the adsl modem & everything connects perfectly. He uses this for intenet.

At present my friend hasnt had any problems with the current setup & would like to keep it that way! He also has a desktop computer located in the same room as the router & I suggested to purchase a network card 10/100 netgear which I have installed in the desktop machine & downloaded the up-to-date drivers for. Both computers run windows XP operating system.

My question is how easy is it to setup a network using a wireless router already setup to his laptop to include his desktop into the picture via ethernet ' wired' cable. He has an ethernet cable which looks like it will fit into the back on the router no problem? (wireless & wired networks)

For now all we would like to do is setup this network for the desktop to also connect to the internet; here are my questions:

1) Do I need to install the adsl modem software onto the desktop?

2) I would like it setup so my friend can connect to the Internet via desktop without having to switch on the laptop.

3) Can I just plug the ethernet cable into the back on the router & connect to the internet via the desktop? I dont think i can because I will only have the internet explorer icon & not the dailup screen for the internet which is used on his laptop?

Please reply a.s.a.p -thanks in advanced!

Dean

Hi Dean,

QUOTE

1) Do I need to install the adsl modem software onto the desktop?

No. You may browse the net directly from IE, if the lan settings are correct, unless you dont need to start the connection from the desktop.

QUOTE

2) I would like it setup so my friend can connect to the Internet via desktop without having to switch on the laptop.

Take a look at the network properties on the laptop, recreate them on the desktop, except for the local IP address. All the computers on the lan must be part of the same workgroup. - To start from there, you will need to change all the Lan settings and install some programs.

QUOTE

3) Can I just plug the ethernet cable into the back on the router & connect to the internet via the desktop? I dont think i can because I will only have the internet explorer icon & not the dailup screen for the internet which is used on his laptop?

You can fire up your Internet access from the desktop, but you'll have to reconfigure the laptop, if it is connecting. Also, in this case, the desktop will need the connection program.
The cable that goes from the desktop to the router must be a straight one (not crossed, as the one that goes from the router to the ADSL modem).

Note that setting up a lan connection after important changes may be tricky if you do not know exactly how to proceed. There are no complete instructions about doing this out there, and solving Lan/connection problems remotely can turn into a nightmare.

Chris

thanks for the quick reply:

*Where do I find these settings on the laptop to recreate?

*You said the desktop needs the connecting program? What program is that?

*Does the laptop need to be switch on? if not, what do i do to reconfigure the settings to allow this?

*is there anything you can do which gives me a step by step run through?

So what your saying is this then: Plug the ethernet cable into the route from the desktop, then check then the laptop configuration settings, mirror these onto the desktop apart from the ip address, (not sure where to find these settings). (with laptop switched off) click on the internet explorer icon on the desktop & off i go?

Please help me fill in any missing gaps.

Thanks again,
Dean

Unfortunately, this may be not so simple... I can not give you step-by-step instructions without knowing "exactly" how the lap is configured. All I can tell you is that doing this remotely or not knowing what to do may turn into a nightmare, so I recommend, before doing any changes, to create a restore point on all the systems running there, so you can roll back if something goes wrong (and believe me, something always goes wrong, even if we know all the tricks).

To start with this, your desktop must have the ISP connection program installed. You may have a CD shipped from your ISP - it will set the desktop connection. Also, the desktop must have the ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) software loaded (it's a Windows stuff).

The laptop can be reconfigured later, using the Internet connection wizard from the desktop. (this sounds simple once the desktop is set and connecting normally, but here you can have some bad surprises).

Chris

o.k. - here is one question -

can I install the software for the adsl modem onto the desktop & configure it with the correct username & password settings for it to connect to the internet via the router (ethernet connect).

What im trying to say is can I dial-up using the software installed on the desktop for the adsl modem which runs through the router? Normally this type of setup would be without the router & just the adsl router - does the router still allow you use the dialup connection without any technical settings bein made? thanks

You can connect from the desktop, unless your laptop does not try to do the same... my lan for example has an old P2 400 using two lan cards for this purpose. One lan card is connected directly to the modem via its crossover cable, the second lan card is connected to a hub via a straight cable, as well as the other computers. It is named 1, and act as a gateway. My system is named 3, using a static IP.

My guess is that you will need to set a static IP to the desktop and another to the laptop. Then, you'll need to block the lap from trying to dial when the desktop is connected.