[Ham-Computers] Home network setup

[Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)]

Hi Loren,

Just wondering if you've been able to figure it out.  As Jeff mentioned, one of the things you should try is typing "IPCONFIG" at a Command Prompt.  IIRC, I think you have some sort of special setup such that the systems are configured with STATIC IP addresses, so PING won't really work as Windows auto-assign a 169.xxx.xxx.xxx address if you haven't manually set the STATIC address yet - IPCONFIG will confirm this.

OK, so the NIC shows up in Device Manager - good.  However, does it show up in the Network Control Panel (NCP)?  If you open the Control Panels and double-click "Network Connections", does the NIC show up there?  If not, we have a problem with the basic networking stack in Windows.  I've seen this before a couple of times and it can be a PITA to fix (requires registry surgery).  But, if the NIC *does* show up in the NCP, then there's no reason why you would "need" to run the Network Setup Wizard to get the NIC working (even with Home Edition).  In fact, the wizard can actually cause more confusion.

So, first question...when you ran the wizard, what option did you chose for the first question?  If you are on an ethernet network with a router, then you should chose the second option, "This computer connects...through another computer...or through a residential gateway".  Once you do that, the rest of the questions are easy and the computer is essentially configured as a stand-alone system ready for an ethernet connection.  If you chose any other option, try it again as shown above and see if that works.

Next question...what does IPCONFIG say?  Does it respond with an IP address or a blank line?

This will get us started.  Hopefully, it's not something that requires much drastic work.  The key right now is, does the NIC show up in the Network Control Panel?


73,

  - Aaron, NN6O


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Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 3:47 PM
Subject: [Ham-Computers] Home network setup


Hello,

I am using this computer and the network card is working fine.

Problem is when I try Network Wizard to set up home network it says it can't find the network hardware. NIC shows up in Device Manager just fine.

Can someone tell me maybe where to tell the Network Wizard that this card is here with maybe a registry edit or something? Thanks!

 
Loren   WA7SKT

 
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