1. Home
  2. Wireless Networking
  3. Tried Netgear HomePlug -- no workie yet

Tried Netgear HomePlug -- no workie yet

After seeing many recommendations here for the HomePlug solution to link two machines, I got a pair of Netgear XE103 boxes to see if they would work better than my WAP54G/WPC54G wireless link.

So I unplugged the cat5 cable that goes to the WAP54G on my router (hooked to my desktop WinXP) and plugged one of the XE103 boxes (which is plugged into a nearby electrical outlet).

On the laptop that used to be the wireless client machine I umplugged the WPC54G (PCCard), rebooted the machine and plugged in the other XE103, like the little booklet said -- and that's all the booklet said.

Amazingly, the MS network works and I can look at the hard drives from either machine, etc. But the laptop can't find the net with any browser, ping doesn't work.

I presume the wireless setup I had is the problem. Since I've never found any trace of software or anything else involving the laptop wireless thing, I have no idea where to start. Here's the IPConfig /all: Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Toshiba_Laptop Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : houston.rr.com

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : houston.rr.com Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connect on Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-08-0D-9F-89-C3 Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.101 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.1 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.1 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.2 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 2007, April 21

18:44:56 Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 2007, April 22 18:44:56

Ethernet adapter {E2D47AA7-8E9A-4E5C-8E90-277D10DEB84E}:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Nortel IPSECSHM Adapter - Packet Scheduler Miniport Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 44-45-53-54-42-00 Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

I appreciate you readers taking the time -- any hints of what to do next would be appreciated. Meanwhile, I'm going to see if my wireless network still works.

Reply to
rob
Loading thread data ...

Update: I removed the HomePlug and went back to the wireless -- it still works.

Back trying to make the HomePlug get the internet (wireless card removed, rebooted) After more net searching, found some things to try:

1) turn off modem and router, wait several minutes, power back up - no help 2) on laptop client, tried ipconfig/release, /renew it gives same ip addresses, still no internet available. 3) turned off firewall, no help

By the way, the internet is working just fine on the host machine.

Since data is going thru the HomePlug link just fine both ways (I can transfer files between the two machines), lights blink when they should, surely there is something simple I am not doing. Would appreciate some suggestions. Thanks.

Reply to
rob

Can you ping a numeric URL? Like 209.191.93.52?

Reply to
Peabody

Peabody, you nailed it. Yes I could get a numeric url, so that woke me up to look into the dns server. Sure enough, my system for some reason defaulted to some odd ball new IP for dns. I changed it to one that the wireless was using and bingo, things are working now.

Of course I should have known to check this earlier but I'm just real slow...

Thanks a lot for taking the time to help me. Rob

Reply to
rob

On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 19:16:11 -0500, rob wrote in :

...

Your Nortel VPN may be a problem.

Reply to
John Navas

Glad you got that worked out. How much did the Home Plug implementation set you back?

Reply to
Maxwell Edison

You're correct that the VPN shuts down the file sharing and the net while it is is being used but all is now ok (after fixing the bad DNS) when the VPN is not in use. Thanks.

Reply to
rob

I paid $120 including shipping from Amazon. I haven't figured out how to determine its speed but it appears to be more zippy than my wireless with a corner reflector on the AP.

Reply to
rob

Hey, you're welcome. Glad you got it working. It just looked like your DNS server's IP address was outside your local network per the subnet mask.

Can you explain what takes the place of a router in your system? What device connects to the internet? I know nothing about Home Plug.

Reply to
Peabody

I've got a cable modem connected to a Vonage router (it has three Ethernet ports and that's all I need). Two ports go to two nearby desktop machines and the other one either plugs either into my Wireless AP or (now) into the little HomePlug box. The other HomePlug box is in a separate building on the same power wiring.

Reply to
rob

Was it the Netgear 85Mbps Wall-Plugged Ethernet Adapter Kit ( XE103G-100NAS )?

Reply to
Maxwell Edison

I find that Nortel VPN is a little too sticky. If you suspend while the VPN is up, it may cause some issues with general network connectivity when you come out of suspend. Occasionally this happens when the underlying network is lost.

I haven't spent much time figuring out which piece is broken. It might just be DNS lookups. Usually, I just reconnect the VPN. Sometimes that doesn't work, and I reboot.

Reply to
dold

rob hath wroth:

I use IPerf for benchmarking:

Setup one machine as a server at one end of the link. Run: iperf -s At the other end, run a client computah with: iperf -c ip_address_of_server

You should get some useful numbers.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

It's XE103 and I think the G means a pair. I don't know about the -100NAS, didn't see that number anywhere

Reply to
rob

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.