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Troubleshooting Tips and Recommendations
for
Networking the Model 360 Modem
Compiled by Bob (Taco) Dias
- Problems caused by IRQ sharing:
A potential problem may arise when your computer is set to "plug-and-play
operating system". To alleviate this, set your computer to "non-plug-and
play" operating system in the CMOS setup. By doing this, the IRQs are set
at boot up and then Windows doesn't try to share them. The reason this setting
of "plug-and-play" is in CMOS is a hold over from the early Windows 95 days.
Windows 95 didn't/doesn't handle IRQ sharing very well. In later versions of
Windows, the setting is not needed and in some instances can cause problems. I
recommend that you always setup systems as non-plug-and-play.
(NOTE on how to enter CMOS: When you first boot up your PC, a message
will be displayed telling you what key or keys to hit to access Setup or CMOS.
Unfortunately, on many systems (esp. the fast ones of today) the message appears
only briefly and may not be visible while your monitor warms up and starts
displaying text. Check your motherboard documentation for accessing CMOS or
Setup. On some systems the ESC key works, on some it is the F1 key, on others it
is F10, and on some it is a combination of either CTRL or ALT used with another
key. Finally, on some there is a Setup program that you run from DOS or Windows.
A word of caution is needed here. If you don't know what you are doing, get
help when changing CMOS settings. The wrong settings can result in an inoperable
PC that can't be started!)
- NIC Speed & Duplex Settings:
For the PC connecting to the 360 Modem, be sure to set the NIC to 10 mb
and Half Duplex. If the 360-connected PC serves as a gateway for other PCs
which connect to it through a router, hub or switch, be sure that the 2nd NIC is
also set for the correct speed. Most small business/home class routers have WAN
ports that connect at 10 mb and half duplex. This includes DSL and cable
routers. Depending on the type of hub or switch, the speed may be 100 mb &
full duplex or 10 mb & half duplex.
- NIC set to Autosense or Autoconfigure:
The "Autosense" or "Autoconfigure" mode for setting speed and
duplex may or may not work. I've found that you have fewer problems overall if
you setup the NIC manually rather than letting the NIC automatically sense
the connection speed and duplex settings. The point of this and the previous
topic is to assess NIC speed and duplex settings especially if you are
experiencing intermittent or flakey connections or have no connectivity at all.
Before making changes to other configuration settings, check to make sure this
is not the problem.
- Avoid using USB Connection:
To avoid problems with the Starband hardware and software, don't use USB for
anything network related. Install 2 NIC cards in the gateway PC and avoid using
the USB port on the 360 Modem. If your PC is without enough slots for 2 NIC
cards, then you will be forced to use the USB connection. If that is the
situation, do not use any other USB devices on the gateway
PC.
- Modem must Connect to Computer:
The Model 360 modem has to connect directly to a computer, not anything
else. There is no room for variation with this; a PC has to serve as a
gateway to the 360 for the rest of the network. The 360 is connected to the
gateway PC by using the 360's Ethernet port and a crossover Ethernet CAT5 cable
that plugs into one of the NICs in the gateway PC.
Use the 2nd NIC card in the gateway PC to connect to your network. This NIC's
Ethernet port will provide the network connection to any of the following
devices: a Wireless Access Point, a router, a hub, a switch or simply another
computer.
- Verify Network OK Before 360 Install:
Make sure your network is operating properly before you install any of the
Starband Model 360 hardware and software (or anything else that may affect
network or web access or protocols, such as firewalls, FTP clients,
etc.)!
Many problems can be corrected with the simple re-installation of the latest
service pack for the particular operating system you are using. This is because
files may be overwritten or corrupted during installation and un-installation of
software and hardware. By re-applying the appropriate service pack, critical
files are restored. I recommend that you routinely apply the latest service pack
whenever you make any significant changes to the configuration of your
computers.
- Sharing the Internet Connection :
Decide what method you will use to share the Internet connection of the
gateway PC (the one directly connected to the 360) with the rest of the PCs in
your Local Area Network (LAN). This is operating system dependant. For
Windows ME and Windows 98SE DO NOT USE their built-in Internet Connection
Sharing (ICS). The implementation of ICS in these two operating systems is
not compatible with the 360 Modem. Many users of these operating systems have
found WinProxy to be a good choice for sharing the Internet
connection.
If the operating system of the gateway PC is Windows 2000 Professional or
Windows XP Professional, then I recommend using their built-in ICS, which is
fully compatible with the 360 hardware and software. Be sure to enable ICS on
the NIC that connects to the 360. It is a common mistake to enable it on the
other NIC (the one that connects to the LAN). If you do this, the network will
not work.
To troubleshoot speed problems, make sure the gateway PC and the LAN PCs are
"proxied" to the correct port (9877) for communicating with the Starband
network. To do this, in Internet Explorer click Tools, then Internet Options.
Click the Connections tab. Click Lan Settings. Make sure "Use a proxy server" is
checked. Click the Advanced button. For the Gateway PC do the following:
opposite HTTP: enter "localhost" (without the quotes) in "Proxy address to use"
and 9877 for the port. Do the same for the other client PCs except, instead of
entering "localhost", enter the IP address of the NIC that connects to your LAN
(probably 192.168.0.1) and port 9877.
To verify the proper setup of your network you must be able to ping the
following from the client PCs:
1. 192.168.0.1
2. Your 360 assigned IP address (Gateway 360-connected NIC, 148.x.x.x)
3. The Starband DNS servers (148.78.249.200 and
...201)
If you use a router in your setup try to follow the addressing scheme
below:
Network Addressing Mode: NAT with fixed addresses
LAN IP Address: 192.168.1.1
WAN Gateway Address (NIC that the router connects to): 192.168.0.1
WAN IP (NAT Public) Address: 192.168.0.2 WAN Subnet Mask:
255.255.255.0
If you manually configure the router's WAN port, be sure to also define the
DNS servers.
Remember Client PCs on the LAN side of the router are assigned IP addresses
in the range of 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.9 (or above) with a subnet mask of
255.255.255.0.
Please note that, from the gateway PC or from a client PC, you may not be
able to ping 192.168.0.2. The 192.168.0.2 address is the "public' NAT address;
it only has meaning to the Router. Some routers can be pinged and some
cannot.
Remember, ICS wants you to use the non-routable range of 192.168.0.x so
manually configure the LAN-side NIC in the 360-connected PC as follows:
IP address: 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: NONE (leave blank)
DNS Servers: 148.78.249.200 and 148.78.249.201
Make sure that the gateway is BLANK for the 192.168.0.1 NIC (LAN NIC in
Gateway PC). ICS will handle the routing.
Set your LAN PC NICs and the 360-connected NIC to automatically obtain
their addressing information; that is, enable DHCP.
To verify that DHCP is working properly check the IP addressing information
that is assigned to the NIC by doing the following:
If the operating system is Windows 98 or Windows ME, run "WINIPCFG". Click the "More Info>>" button and use the
drop-down box to look at the proper NIC.
If the operating system is Windows 2000 or Windows XP, go to a Command
Prompt
and enter "ipconfig /all" (without the quotes;
note there is a space between the "g" and the slash).
If you find that the IP address starts with 169 (for example 169.254.264.84),
this is a bogus address supplied by Windows when it cannot get an address from
the DHCP server. If this is the case it means that DHCP is not working properly.
To troubleshoot this, first try unplugging/re-plugging or replacing the Ethernet
cable or cables between the NIC and the DHCP server. Next, if this is a client
PC, try hard coding the info into the NIC. Use an IP address that is not used by
other PCs, for example 192.168.0.50. If none of this works, try deleting the NIC
in device manager. Then physically remove the NIC. Reboot without the NIC
installed. Shutdown again. Then reinstall the NIC and power up. Let Windows find
and install drivers for the NIC.
- Hardware Related Problems:
Have extra crossover and straight-through (or patch) CAT5
Ethernet cables to help troubleshoot hardware problems. Bad cables are more
frequent than you might expect. If you purchase them, use only high-quality
branded cables. If you make them yourself, use a cable tester to verify their
operation.
It is also a good idea to have at least one extra network card. The extra NIC
will help you determine if problems stem from a faulty configuration or from a
malfunctioning NIC.
Depending on your Hub/switch it may have an "uplink" port which will let you
connect to the router with either a crossover or straight-through cable. Be sure
to read the documentation to determine which type of cable to use based on the
state of the Uplink switch/button.
- Problem Accessing Other Computers in the
Network:
When trying to access files or folders on PCs behind a router you cannot
"see" the client PCs from the gateway PC. This is because the client PCs and
gateway PC are in different subnets and the router will block incoming
traffic from the WAN (gateway) side. However, if you want to be able to see the
gateway PC from one of the clients, this is possible. The router will allow
traffic from the LAN side to the WAN side. What you do is "map a drive"
on the gateway PC and then you can transfer files to and from the client PCs to
the gateway PC. Here's how.
First, make sure that you create a user account (ID & password) on the
gateway PC with administrative privileges. If the user account ID and password
match those used on the clients, then it is easier. It also helps if all PCs are
in the same Workgroup. You then will not be prompted for ID and password every
time you connect to the gateway PC. Also, if the gateway PC is running
Windows XP, be sure to turn off "simple file sharing". [To do this,
double-click on "My Computer", click on Tools in the top menu bar, select Folder
Options, then select the View tab. Under "Advanced Settings" scroll down until
the last entry is displayed. Un-check "Use simple file sharing".]
From a client PC "map" to the "Administrative Share" that is created by
default on Windows PCs. To do this go into Windows Explorer, select Tools from
the top menu bar, and then choose "Map Network Drive". A window will pop up with
a place to enter the "Folder". Here's the trick: Instead of entering a folder or
computer name, enter the IP Address and Drive that you want to "map" (=connect)
to; for example, if your gateway PC has the LAN side IP address of 192.168.0.1
and you want to access its C drive, then you would enter
"\\192.168.0.1\C$", without the quotes (be sure to use back slashes; the
$-sign is a special notation that refers to the default administrative share on
a particular drive). What this does is use the hidden administrative share that
is automatically created and exists on all Windows drives. To access it you have
to have a valid ID and password with administrator privileges.
You may now be prompted for an ID and password (This depends on if your
client is set up with the same ID and password that you use on the gateway PC).
Once you are validated, the drive is mapped and it will appear in the left
window of Windows Explorer just like it was really a drive installed on the
client PC.
You can now copy files to and from the gateway PC. I know this seems
complicated, but it is not. It just takes a lot of words to make sure nothing is
missed. Once you do it a few times, you'll be able to do it in your sleep. Later
when you want to map it again, just use the drop-down arrow beside the "Folder"
field. It remembers past mappings. Incidentally, after you finish transferring
files you may want to break the mapping. Just go to Tools and select "Disconnect
network drive". If you want the mapping to be permanent, then do not disconnect
it. When you map the drive the first time, there is a check-box below the
"folder" field to allow you to "Reconnect at logon".
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