[ut-macattack]

By no means am I an experienced computer user in either Macs or PC's, but man what a pain I'm having trying to hook up my PC w/Windblows XP to the LAN connection on the back of my AEBS.

I have a 17" PB working just fine (writting this now from it), but try as I might, I can' get the PC to connect to the net. What's worse, I think I've messed things up in the Network Connections window in XP. I would really just like to start a new connection, delete the old one's and start from scratch, but no going. PC's can be real frustrating. Took me all of 2 minutes to hook up the PB....3 nights trying to figure the PC out!

If someone could give me step-by-step on how to hook up through LAN connection on AEBS that would be great. If too much work, could you make some suggestions for finding info...I've had absolutely no luck finding anything. I need a hand-holding type of instruction set that will tell me how to go from step 1 to connection.

The PC was previously the only machine connected to the net through a PPPoE DSL connection. Once I hooked it up to the AEBS no connection, and still can't figure it out. So far, my connections keep on saying it's not connected....same cable that I used to use before. Used diff. cable and same thing.

Thx for the help or for the point to help.

gnight!

[ghporter]

Did you stop the PPPoE connection? Go to Start/Control Panel/Network and Internet Connections, and delete your current connection. You don't need an "Internet dial-up connection" now-you're using a LAN. Once you do that, go to the Network Connections page and make sure your network card is shown. If it isn't right, delete it (yes, delete it) and turn the computer off, wait a bit, and restart. XP will detect the card-probably correctly, and all will be well.

That may be all it takes. If not, let us know and we'll have another go at it.

[ut-macattack]

Thank you for answering. There are 3 connection in the Network Connections page. One appears to be the card, the other two appear to be LAN connections. I've tried to delete them all, but no go. It keeps telling me that an error occurred while trying to delete them. I've gone in and even uninstalled all modules and still nothing.

When I get home I will try again to delete those connections. I would love to start from scratch.

I will post my failure or succes...thx.

[ghporter]

Here's a plan for you. Turn off the computer and remove the network card (or disable it in BIOS if it's integrated). Restart Windows and go into Device Manager. Click on View and select "Show Hidden Devices." Now open the Network Adapters list and see if your network card is still there. If it is, delete it. If it isn't, you probably won't have a Network Adapters item to open, but it could also show "virtual adapters" like a MS VPN adapter, and so on. Delete ALL of them.

When you quit Device Manger it will tell you you need to restart. Go ahead and do so. When it restarts, repeat the check in Device Manger-there should be no Network Adapters listed. You are now at the "start fresh" point.

Turn off the computer and either reinstall the network card or reenable it in BIOS, then restart. Windows will detect the card and install the right drivers (you told it to dump the drivers, but only from the list that gets started automatically; they're still on disk). Be prepared to supply a driver disk if you got one with the card, but that should not be a problem.

At this point, you are ready to run on a network. Plug into your base station, let the computer get an automatic IP address (you do have that enabled in the base station, right?), and you should be able to surf.

[ut-macattack]

Thanks for that info. I did what you suggested and was able to start from "scratch".

After enabling the card again and going to the network control panel, I had automatically two network connections. One is the card, the other is a MS VPN. I tried everything from bridging them, to stand alone.

Unfortunately, sitll nothing. I ended up going and buying a LinkSys 4 port router (what the heck...only $45). I've got dsl (no static IP). Connected the AEBS to it, no problem. Still problem hooking up the PC though! *sigh*

I tried static IP for the PC to no avail. I tried DHCP and nothin'. Can't even log into the web interface for the LinkSys! No problem from the Mac side.

Card is good...at least it was before I connected the airport to the network. I'm going to try connecting the PC directly to the modem again just to make sure.

What's getting me is that at my office I have basically the same PC (for accounting) hooked up to a LinkSys router and no problems. I have a static IP at the office. But I looked in the Network control panel and there is only 1 connection....

I'm just a sad specimen of a networking wannabe!

[ghporter]

Go to Start, right click on My Network Places, and then select Properties. Right click on the Local Area Connection that shows up. The window will show the name of the network card in a grey box, and a list of clients and protocols. All you need are these:
Client for Microsoft Networks (a picture of a little computer) and
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) (a picture of a little cable connection)

You may also want to keep:
File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks (computer) and
QoS Packet Scheduler (computer)
Delete all the others-really, just select them and "uninstall" them.

Now double click on the TCP/IP protocol and make sure you have "Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically" selected. You'll have to reboot the computer after you accept (click OK) all of these changes.

Also, for some reason XP always likes to bridge multiple network connections. You only really need ONE-your network card. The other one that shows up (the MS VPN adapter) is virtual, so bridging it with anything gets you a big circle with no start or stop. Just remove all bridging (from the adapters first!) and then delete the bridge.

[ut-macattack]

OK...this is strating to frustrate the crap outta me. Thank you for being more patient than me and helping a guy out.

I came back yesterday and tested the computer by connecting it directly to the modem. No problem. So that eliminates the cable, the card, and the modem.

AEBS is working fine now with my mac. Have manually set IP's inernally for the AEBS and the PB (I need manually set IP's internally for assorted reasons). So I disabled DHCP from the LinkSys router. No problem on the mac side of things...working like it's supposed to (writting this again from the network).

I still can't get the dang Windblows XP Pro to work. I tried going from scratch again (thanks to your instructions) and it automatically creates two network connections. The first one is called "1394 Net Adapter" and I assume that to be the card. It has Clinet for Microsoft Networks installed, File and Printer Sharing fro MS Networks installed, and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) installed. Under TCP IP I have given it a 192.168.1.X setting with the same subnet mask and gateway as it is set for the LinkSys router.

The second connection is called "Intel(R) PRO/100 VM Network Connection" and I have absolutely no idea why it's automatically created. Can't delete it (even in device manager, it just reinstalled at reboot). In this connection it has Client for MS Networks installed, QoS Packet Scheduler, File and Pritner Sharing, and another Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). If I try and set the same IP as in the first connection, it tells me that I can't duplicate. So I give it a different IP. Still nothing..can't even connect to the router.

I have tried disabling the second connection, nothing. Tried deleting it from the device manager, just gets reinstalled.

I'm at a complete loss....I feel real stupid that I can't set up a pretty straight forward network with a LinkSys router and manual IP's....????

Wonder if there's any signs of life left of my brain cells!

[ut-macattack]

OK...finally got it to work.

Disabled the first connection and everything works fine now...

Wish I knew why disabling the actual card would make the PC work, but it works...so I am happy, to a point.

Thank you so much for your help. Very kind of you.

[ghporter]

The 1349 card is a Firewire card. Again, XP likes to bridge stuff, so first it tries to bridge your firewire and ethernet cards (so data coming in one goes out the other--go figure!), and then it doesn't clearly tell you which card is what. At least it's better than it used to be...

But you got things working, and that's the best part. When you feel like touching those settings again, you'll want to go in and disable the bridge by first unselecting "bridge" in both the ethernet and firewire cards, and then (if it shows up on your network settings) delete the bridge itself.