Matthew van Eerde said:

Like this?


Looks pretty good. The only optimization I would suggest would be to remove the Linksys altogether and just plug the upstairs computer directly into the router.

What scenario is causing you pain?

Harlequin said:

Matthew van Eerde said:

*snip*

Perfect drawing, exactly what it is.

Problem is that "Boy 2"(as example) has Vista Home Basic on his laptop and he can't see shares on "Harlequin"(Vista Home Premium). "Boy 1" has XP Pro. Computer upstairs(XP Pro) can't see the share on Harlequin. I have music share and want to share with others, but only my wife really has access to my share. Probably "Other computer" as well, but haven't tried.

Was easier before with XP since you could just put in //IP/sharename, but I guess you can't do IP shares like that with Vista.

Figured if all the computers came out of the same place, they'd see each other better. Especially with Vista.

Harlequin said:

Harlequin said:

*snip*

I'll simplify things.

Will a switch like this one help computers on your home network see each other better?

Matthew van Eerde said:

To wit, the Linksys is a problem (since it's a router.)

The problems on the boys' computers are likely not due to the hub, but there are plenty of other ways for networks to fail.

blowdart said:

Matthew van Eerde said:

*snip*

Might not be a router; linksys do plain access points.

Matthew van Eerde said:

blowdart said:

*snip*

But those typically only have one wired network interface, which is not the case here.

blowdart said:

Matthew van Eerde said:

*snip*

Then how does it attach to the router?

Matthew van Eerde said:

blowdart said:

*snip*

Maybe I'm confused.
There are wireless access points, which act as layer-2 extenders of a wired network to the air. These need, and have, only a single wired interface, which plugs into the router. They route layer-3 stuff like DHCP packets and returns.
There are also wireless routers, which frequently have five wired network interfaces - one on the "public" side, and four on the "private" side - as well as a wireless interface. The "public" wired interface plugs into the upstream router, and the "private" network computers can either plug in to the "private" network interfaces or connect via the air.
Harlequin seems to imply that his Linksys thingy has at least two wired network interfaces, which to me implies that it is likely not an access point.

Harlequin said:

Matthew van Eerde said:

*snip*

Perfect drawing, exactly what it is.

Problem is that "Boy 2"(as example) has Vista Home Basic on his laptop and he can't see shares on "Harlequin"(Vista Home Premium). "Boy 1" has XP Pro. Computer upstairs(XP Pro) can't see the share on Harlequin. I have music share and want to share with others, but only my wife really has access to my share. Probably "Other computer" as well, but haven't tried.

Was easier before with XP since you could just put in //IP/sharename, but I guess you can't do IP shares like that with Vista.

Figured if all the computers came out of the same place, they'd see each other better. Especially with Vista.

picohat said:

Harlequin said:

*snip*

Ok.. I think you might not configured file sharing properly on those computers... Temporary disable all the firewalls on computers (windows firewall, antivirus firewall, etc) until you have resolved this issue. You should be able to ping that Harlequin's IP from other computers, then take a look on these artilces to help you...

Enabling Simple File Sharing in Windows Vista

Password Protected File Sharing in Windows Vista

Why I Can’t See XP computers in Windows Vista Network Map

Hope helps..

Harlequin said:

picohat said:

*snip*

Yeah, think I've done most of those things on the boys Vista laptop, still can't see other computers. And yeah, the wireless isn't really a router for anything, just to spew out wireless; upstairs computer is just attached to it via network cable because I didn't want to run another cable up there, I'm probably going to bring the wireless downstairs anyways too hook up to the router(it already is upstairs) so the upstairs computer can use that plus and be into the router directly.

Would the Netgear product not make things cleaner and easier? Since all computers(each has it's own static IP) will be hooked up to it, and have the same parent. Would it not be less of a hassle for them to see each other, for those not 100% network-saavy?