Dear god, the horror!

Okay, I bought a new computer today and I was hoping to use it as a replacement host in my 2 computer network (old 'host' computer is not in the network but is being used in a different location off the network). I am using a switch and cable modem and I am trying to connect a computer with Win2000 with a computer running Win98. The win98 computer should be all set up (as it worked with the previous computer which was also running win2000) but I can't seem to get my new one up (win2000, host). A friend had done the network for me before, but he is unavailable now.

My problem is that I can't even see the other computer, I've been working for 5 hours on it (i'm a networking novice).

I've added my computer to the required workgroup (ex: test), changed my IP address to 192.168.0.1, masked to 255.255.255 and used the domain 205.151.222. Now, not only does this not allow me to see the other computer but it also kills my internet connection.

Also, the other computer had something like xyz.xyz.net as a domain and I'm not sure what to do with it?

I must be missing something and I would truly appreciate some help as this is killing me slowly inside, the frustration is nothing I've ever felt before.

Please, I beg you!

I don't think you should have set the domain to 205.151.222. The computer isn't on a domain, so you should only set a value for the workgroup. Instead, you need to set the DNS servers for the NIC. The IP address that you need to use probably looks like 205.151.222, although there should be four sections and not three.

I didn't think you could set domains/workgroups to numbers due to the potential for confusion with ip's.

You will need to set both workgroups as the same in order to be able to see each other in my network places, tho you might want to try entering \\192.168.0.x into the run command box (where the x is the last number of the ip address of your windows 98 machine) to see if you can still access the machine.
Make sure that the subnet address is the same on each machine (this should be 4 numbers seperated by dots, usually 255.255.255.0 for a class c private address range like the one you have mentioned).

What is your cable modem connected to? is it directly to your win2k machine or is it just plugged into your switch? If it's connected directly to your pc then make sure you aren't modifying the ip settings for that instead of for the network card.

I am plugging the modem into the switches uplink. This is what I've done so far:
IP: 192.168.0.1 (host) second computer: 192.168.0.2
Subnet: 255.255.255.0, both machines
Workgroup: TEST, both machines

Now, I am bit stumped on what to do beyond this? You see, my other computer (windows 98) not only is set as the TEST workgroup, but it also is set as a domain called 'machine2.kingsleynet.net'. And I am not quite sure as to what to do for the DNS area? How would I go about finding the correct information?

Also, once I change my IP address to 192.168.0.1 (host,win2k), it loses the internet connection. I am assuming that I need to change the gateway to the cable modems ip address (conected to the switch), is there a way of finding what it is?

Thanks a lot for the help, I'm really stumped on this.. and to tell you the truth it is driving me a bit insane. It seems rather simple, but I belive I'm getting the numbers wrong.

Well it shouldn't be really. It should only be on the domain. Where do you see this information on the computer?



For the correct DNS servers to use, you'll need to find them from your ISP. Often, they're listed somewhere on their website.



So is the modem acting as a router with NAT? If it is, you'll probably find that it's IP address is 192.168.0.1 which could be causing a problem if you use this address on the host computer. But, check with your manual and it should say what IP it is using.

also, the cable modem might have dynamic dns set up on it, in which case you could set your dns on your pc's as the ip address of the modem (which sounds like it's acting as a router) and it should work ok for you.