Computer Hope
Hardware => Hardware => Topic started by: CatLady on August 08, 2006, 11:56:26 AM
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Hello, all!
I tried searching for this topic but it drew too many results and there was an error message. Here is my problem. I have an HP Pavilion that apparently experienced a surge; it still works well, but the display usually doesn't work. HP gave me some useful tips with that, and I can use an external monitor and sometimes even get the laptop to display on its own after the monitor has been connected for a while. However, I have another laptop, a Dell Inspiron B120, and I'd like to be able to connect the Pavilion to it so I could use the Pavilion's hard drive and air card (which doesn't fit in the Inspiron) with the Inspiron's display. Is there a way to do that?
Thanks in advance.
Barb
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You can connect the two laptops using a crossover cable and you should be able to set up Internet Connection Sharing. And, file sharing is possible once the network is setup. But, you're going to lose some of the mobility benefit of wireless by having to connect them with a crossover cable. Maybe you should just get an extension cable to connect your good laptop directly to your modem. Or, get a wireless receiver that will fit the good laptop; one that connects a USB port is an option.
Sorry, but I'm going to leave the details of using a crossover cable for someone else. In the mean time, you might do a Google search on network two laptops.
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Just ask for a crossover cable from your local PC shop. If your two laptops have ethernet ports, you can do this. You will need to be able to change some settings on the dodgy laptop though to make it work.
Have a read of the networking FAQ (follow the link in my signature), then set laptop 1 to IP address 192.168.1.1 and laptop 2 to IP address 192.168.1.2.
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Just ask for a crossover cable from your local PC shop. If your two laptops have ethernet ports, you can do this. You will need to be able to change some settings on the dodgy laptop though to make it work.
Have a read of the networking FAQ (follow the link in my signature), then set laptop 1 to IP address 192.168.1.1 and laptop 2 to IP address 192.168.1.2.
Thank you very much! I read the very helpful FAQ and then connected the two laptops with the crossover cable, ran the Network Setup Wizard and gave both of them the same workgroup name (I had named each of the two computers prior to this). The HP has an air card I would like to use for Internet connection, so I ran the wizard on that one first, with the connection active, and denoted that as the gateway computer. The Dell I noted as connecting to a residential gateway computer.
I rebooted, but now when I try to see the computers in my network via My Network Places, it tells me that this workgroup (WORK) is not accessible. I don't know what I did incorrectly or how to proceed from here. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Barb
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Does it work if you disable your firewalls? (Unplug from internet; disable firewalls; reboot both.)
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Windows network places seems to be so shotty when you try to set up small lans...I have this same problem. I finally just said *censored* with it and installed aim on both rigs for file transfer purposes. There has to be some kind of software out there besides windows server that makes for creating easy work groups that can share folder contents with ease...Any ideas?
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Windows network places seems to be so shotty when you try to set up small lans...I have this same problem.
I agree that it may be hard to understand and correctly configure a network, and yes, probably it ought to be more simple - but a lot of sophisticated concepts are employed in order to make networking possible. The Windows networking wizards can't possibly cover every eventuality.
Your best bet is to understand the networking principles (see the networking FAQ for starters) - you will then find it much easier to set up LANs in a Windows peer-to-peer or client-server environment.
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Does it work if you disable your firewalls? (Unplug from internet; disable firewalls; reboot both.)
I wasn't knowingly running firewalls since I use Kaspersky Internet Security on both machines (and recommend it highly!). However, Windows Firewall had appeared again on the Dell; I usually have that disabled. I disabled it again and rebooted. After this, the icon in My Network Places disappeared, although I am still able to get to my workgroup through the link to view the entire network; however, it still gives me the "inaccessible" message.
I will try disabling KIS when offline, reboot, and see what happens.
In the meantime, too, I've realized that I had overlooked what Soybean said about Internet Connection Sharing. My main purpose in this adventure is to enable the Dell to use the air card that is in the HP, as well as to use the files and applications on the HP via the Dell's screen. The HP was set up to be the residential gateway and the Dell to connect through the HP to the Net, but now I have also enabled the HP's connection to be used by all computers on the network (just the Dell in this one). It hasn't worked, but there seems to be quite a lot to Internet Connection Sharing and I have to go through all the Help documentation on it more thoroughly.
Sincere thanks for the helpful suggestions, and I will check back with results soon.
Barb