[shmengie]

howdy! let me preface by saying that i'm waiting for this woman to call me back so i can get the exact message for the error (i'll google the message when i get it). in the meantime...

last nite, i did a job for a woman at her house. she bought a new linksys router but couldn't get it configured with her os9 (9.2, i think) powerpc or her osx (10.3.x) ibook. i brought my xp laptop, configured her router for pppoe, and that's great. her goal is to be able to get docs from the os9 box to the osx box so she can print them. so, i set up a folder called 'shared' on the osx desktop. i hit all the permissions to be 'read & write.' i then went to the os9 box, fired up the network browser, found the ibook, browsed to the folder, entered the password, ticked the keychain, and created an alias on the os9 desktop to that folder. she drops files on the alias and abracadabra, there they are on the ibook! works perfectly! but...

after about 20 minutes, the os9 box can't find the share anymore and i have to delete the alias and repeat all the steps and create a new alias. and again. and again...

anyone have any ideas on why this connection is not persistent and how i might fix it?

thx a mil!

[John Strung]

If the Macs are both set to DHCP, they may be switching IP addresses each time you boot. Try setting them both to fixed IPs.

Set one to:

Connect Using Ethernet
Configure Manually
IP address = 192.168.1.2
Gateway or router = 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask = 255.255.255.0
Domain Name Server (or Name Server Addr.) = 192.168.1.1

Set up the second one exactly the same except use 192.168.1.3 for the IP address.

[shmengie]

thx, john, i'll give that a try. but, as a note, rebooting is not part of the equation. i talked to a friend and he says that under tcp/ip settings, there is a timeout box that is ticked by default. i don't see that here on my 10.4.5 powerbook, so i'll have to go back to her place and check to see if it's there on her os9 box.

but again, thx. i'll give that a try.

btw, congrats on 600 posts!

[John Strung]

There is a box in the OS 9 TCP/IP control panel for "load only when needed" which is checked by default, and should be unchecked. My recollection is that in order to find that particular checkbox, you have to first open the control panel then type command-U and switch to Advanced User Mode.

There is no equivalent checkbox in OS X as far as I know.

[Hans M Aus]

The DHCP server will always assign a computer the same IP address if you enter the computer's hardware address and the corresponding IP in the server.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Hans M Aus

The DHCP server will always assign a computer the same IP address if you enter the computer's hardware address and the corresponding IP in the server.

Only certain routers do this-I believe D-Link is the only one, at least the only one I've seen. While you'll usually get the same IP address from the DHCP server every time you cannot bet on it. If you NEED a consistent IP, then configure the computer for a fixed IP-it's in the Network Preferences pane, just select the appropriate adapter and "TCP/IP" to see the options.

[shmengie]

thx for the replies, everyone. it looks like mr. strung is the winner with his 'command-u|load only when needed' tip. i fixed this yesterday and told the woman to call me if the connection dropped again and i haven't heard from her...so far. but i think that i got a winner.

thx again!

(of course, i'll post back if the situation changes and i need more help! )