Sharing the Cable Modem

Okay - here goes. I know this will sound screwy so bear with me. We are trying to connect two computers in our home so that we can both utilize our cable modem and internet service. After talking to an aquaintance about doing this, he showed us how to set it up, although I'm realizing that it is not what you would call a conventional set up. Here's my best attempt at explaining it:

He had us install a second net card into the main computer (a new Dell). The cable modem connects directly to the Dell through net card #1. A second Cat5 cable comes out of net card #2 and into a hub (we also have a router but we don't know which one to use). Then, the second computer (an HP) has just one net card, which is also hardwired to the hub. He then told us to run the Network set up wizard on the server computer first (dell), and then the client computer (HP). And supposedly, both should have internet access.

So after much drilling and climbing into the floor boards to hardwire all this, its just not working. We have internet access of the main computer (the Dell) as it is still basically connected to the cable modem the same as before (through the original net card).

What I'm asking is, what are we doing wrong? Is this set up completely not right? Did this guy completely screw us up? Or is it just something simple we aren't doing correctly? Also, does it matter if we use the hub or the router? We've heard support for both. We are so confused!

 

First of all, with the way you have your computers set up [Internet to the DELL(NIC1), (NIC2) to the Hub to the HP], is more of an Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) type of setup. Considering that you already have a router, what you should have done goes like this:

Cable Modem to the WAN (Internet) port of the router(is this a multi-port router?). Then have one patch cable from the router to the DELL, and one patch cable from the router to the HP. Then use the Network setup wizard. The way you currently have it setup would also work if you just took the hub out of the loop and went from NIC #2 on the Dell to the HP with a crossover cable and set it up with the ICS wizard. But I personally wouldnt go that route so I dont really know why that guy set it up like so for you.

Another thing, well even though you it is probably all done correctly already, check to see that both computers have unique IP addresses but the same subnet mask. This could all be made easier though if you would set up the internet connection to the router and then just hooked each computer up to the router as i suggested.

 

Thanks for the fast response. To be honest, the original plan was to make it so that we don't have to purchase a second IP address from our ISP. The tech guy said this is the best way to do it to bypass getting stuck paying the extra per month. So we went ahead with it. I'd love to go back and do it with the cable modem plugged directly into the router and then out to the HP and the Dell, but we already have it all hardwired this way (the computers are on opposite ends of the house with the hub in the middle.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's all physically set up correctly according to all the research I've done online. However, we still can't get on the internet on the "client" computer (HP). I don't have any firewalls enabled at the moment (should I?). Both computers are running Windows XP. I also have all 3 nics set to auto detect IP and DNS. Finally, I have the first nic (in the dell that is connected to the cable modem set to "allow other users to access this computers internet connection".

 

Okay well since you already have the router then this will be very easy for you to do. Using the router you can be asured of only having one IP address from your ISP. What you do is run the Cable Modem output to the Internet port of your router. The cable that is plugged into NIC #1 of the Dell, can be plugged into one of the Router output ports. The cable that is plugged into Nic# 2 of the Dell that runs to the Hub, can still run to the hub, just unplug it from NIC#2 and plug it into another output port on the router. Now enabling the DHCP server on the router will assign an IP address to each of the computers on your newly formed LAN usually in the form of 192.168.1.xxx. You still have the one IP from your ISP which is assigned to your entire home network as a whole, but you will now have two additional internal network IP addresses that are assigned to each of your individual computers.

Cable Modem
|
|
V
Router--->Dell
|
|
V
HUB------>HP

 

Okay, i have it all hooked up that way, but you lost me at the part where you enable the DHCP server on the router. Once I get it connected like that, what do I need to do in the actual computers? And also, is this set up basically making the 2nd nic card in the dell useless (not that it matters, I just wanted to make sure it isn't supposed to have anything connected to it).

 

yeah the second NIC in the Dell is not needed now.

now if your router came with setup software and you already set it up then you probably dont have to worry about the DHCP server in the router as your setup software should take care of that for you. Both of your computers should be set up basically how you described your HP to be set up by obtaining IP address automatically and obtaining DNS server address automatically.

Run the Network Setup Wizard on both computers and it should walk you through the process.