[LightWaver-67]

Now... before everyone jumps in and says that the problem is that they are both on separate ports on the hub... they have ALWAYS been on separate ports, but worked before.

Here's the deal:

I have DSL. I plug the Asante router into the DSL modem which connects using PPPoE (irrelevant), I have my G4 plugged-into one of the ports, and in another, I have an SMC 802.11 wireless transmitter (I used to use it with my WinPC Laptop).

When we first got my girlfriend's iBook over a year ago, I also got the AirPort card and it worked fine for her to access the internet. But I could also use AppleTalk to share files and once we upgraded to (I forget which update) OS 10.?, I was able to share my printer with her via USB printer sharing.

Keep in mind. I have NOT changed or moved any of the connections, but since the last couple of updates, I cannot get our computers to "see" each-other. Not via AppleTalk, no rendezvous, no printer sharing... NUTHIN'...!

I've gone-in and made sure AppleTalk is active on BOTH our machines, I've turned on file sharing, printer sharing on my machine, etc... but they just don't "See" one-another.

I used to be able to use the "Connect to Server" command and her laptop would show-up in the list. Or vice-versa, my G4 would show-up on her iBook.

Now... NOTHING...!!!!

Am I missing something...? Did Apple change something...?

GGggggrrrr...!

[aaanorton]

Check both IPs. Are they on the same subnet?
Are you sure the SMC is not distributing IPs? It should not be, as the Asante should be the only thing doing that.
I don't think any of this has anything to do with AppleTalk.

[LightWaver-67]

Originally posted by aaanorton:
Check both IPs. Are they on the same subnet?
Are you sure the SMC is not distributing IPs? It should not be, as the Asante should be the only thing doing that.
I don't think any of this has anything to do with AppleTalk.

I'm a die-hard Mac-user... but I'm a ludite when it comes to "Networking Stuff"...

I will check the IP addresses, but either way, I'm still confused as to WHY it would work for WELL over a year... even considering I would restart the SMC once or twice a day (it would somehow disapear from signal) but always seemed to work afterwards, even if it IS giving a new IP each time, it was working flawlessly for a year.

I would also restart the router once or twice a week, so I was always getting a new IP assigned at LEAST once or twice a week. I figure that if it WERE an IP address issue, wouldn't I have found it LONG ago...?

Anyhow... I'll go check the IP thingy in just a bit.

Thanks.

[LightWaver-67]

Okay... on my G4 connected via Ethernet using DHCP... I get:

IP: 192.168.123.195

and my router address shows as:

192.168.123.254

----------

On the iBook connected via AirPort using DHCP... I get:

IP: 192.168.1.102

and her router address shows as:

192.168.1.1

----------

Ugh...! So, is there any way for me to tell the Asante router to use the same subnet for the two different ports...?

Or is that even the answer...? Is the frickin' SMC thingy mucking with the IP address(es)...? I am so dumb when it comes to this stuff... sorry to bother you all.

[LightWaver-67]

Another dumb, uninformed question...

Would Apple's AirPort software have ANY control over this SMC wireless transmitter...? or am I basically at the mercy of that unit until I decide to get (can afford) an actual AirPort base-station...?

Thanks again,

- me

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by LightWaver-67:
I will check the IP addresses, but either way, I'm still confused as to WHY it would work for WELL over a year... even considering I would restart the SMC once or twice a day (it would somehow disapear from signal) but always seemed to work afterwards, even if it IS giving a new IP each time, it was working flawlessly for a year.

I would also restart the router once or twice a week...

Well, first of all, you and I have entirely different definitions of "working flawlessly". I can't remember the last time I restarted my Asante wireless router, but if I had to do that a couple times a day/week/month, it'd been out the window long ago. You definitely have some LAN issues over there. It sounds like your losing your DNS. It's hard to say what the problem is, but for a mere fiddy bucks, you could replace both the Asante and SMC with a Netgear MR814. This would eliminate clutter and make your LAN a little more logical; routing and wireless handled by one device. Just a thought. Otherwise, I'd reset everything to factory defaults and start over.

[LightWaver-67]

Originally posted by aaanorton:
Well, first of all, you and I have entirely different definitions of "working flawlessly". I can't remember the last time I restarted my Asante wireless router, but if I had to do that a couple times a day/week/month, it'd been out the window long ago. You definitely have some LAN issues over there. It sounds like your losing your DNS. It's hard to say what the problem is, but for a mere fiddy bucks, you could replace both the Asante and SMC with a Netgear MR814. This would eliminate clutter and make your LAN a little more logical; routing and wireless handled by one device. Just a thought. Otherwise, I'd reset everything to factory defaults and start over.

You mis-read... I re-started the SMC Wireless Transmitter 2-3 times a day... I did the router once or twice a week because of DSL issues that would resolve when I re-connected the Asante by restarting.

The "Flawless" part was when the iBook WAS getting a signal, I could always connect back & forth between the machines consistently and share my printer.

I am currently unemployed, so purchasing anything new is not an option. If it were, I'd just chuck the dang Asante and SMC and just get a new BaseStation and a wireless card for my G4 and be done with it.

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by LightWaver-67:
on my G4 connected via Ethernet using DHCP... I get:

IP: 192.168.123.195

On the iBook connected via AirPort using DHCP... I get:

IP: 192.168.1.102

Well, there it is: Your Problem. Check the iBook and see exactly what network it is connected to. Maybe it's a neighbor's? Or it's yours and the SMC is distributing IPs too. Go to the SMC config page and turn that off. I can't tell you precisely how to do this, but it should be obvious. You want to disable DHCP serving on it.

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by LightWaver-67:
You mis-read... I re-started the SMC Wireless Transmitter 2-3 times a day... I did the router once or twice a week because of DSL issues that would resolve when I re-connected the Asante by restarting.

Nothing should need restarting once set up. That is the beauty of these things.

I am currently unemployed, so purchasing anything new is not an option. If it were, I'd just chuck the dang Asante and SMC and just get a new BaseStation and a wireless card for my G4 and be done with it.

Check eBay for the going prices of your SMC and Asante units. I bet you could get $50 for them.
Or keep 'em. There's no reason they shouldn't work properly. It sounds like you have the Asante config'ed right. So all you (probably) have to do is disable DHCP serving on the SMC.

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by LightWaver-67:
Would Apple's AirPort software have ANY control over this SMC wireless transmitter...?

Nope.
But it's probably browser configureable. What's the model #?

[LightWaver-67]

WOW! I just plopped-in the IP from the iBook into Safari off the iBook and up-popped an interface...! Who knew...???

I turned-off it's own DHCP crud and now it's all working fine. Thank you guys SO MUCH!!!

Sorry for being brain-dead with this stuff.



EDIT: To clarify, I looked-up the IP address of the "router" on the iBook... then pasted that IP in Safari while still using the iBook and it brought-up an administation UI that I never knew existed. I then found a tab referring to DHCP and told it to disable it's ability to distribute it's own IP addresses.

Once I went-back to the iBook's Network pane, I noticed the NEW IP was using the SAME subnet as my G4.

Sure-enough, I went to the Connect-to-server menu and saw her iBook.

Problem(s) solved.

Thanks!

[tooki]

This is a Networking topic, not an OS X topic!!!!!

tooki

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by LightWaver-67:
I turned-off it's own DHCP crud and now it's all working fine.

Great. Now one more thing... The Asante's IP is 192.168.123.254. Go there and see what the DHCP range is. It will be something like 192.168.123.x through 192.168.123.y. The x and y values represent the range of numbers it distributes. MAKE SURE that 192.168.123.254 is OUT of that range. That way it will not be able to assign .254 to another device, causing more troubles. Follow?

[LightWaver-67]

Originally posted by tooki:
This is a Networking topic, not an OS X topic!!!!!

tooki

I wasn't sure if it was an OSX topic when I first asked the question, as I thought it may have been relative to recent OSX Software Updates.

But thanks for pointing it out.



- hehehe

[aaanorton]

Bump. Not sure you saw my last post.

[LightWaver-67]

Originally posted by aaanorton:
Bump. Not sure you saw my last post.

Yep... just checked and by default, the range ends at .199, so we're all-set there.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Good to have shared printing back. Thanks for all your help.