If you are having trouble connecting using
the default settings, the first, and best step you can take is to double-check
all the settings, restart the computers in your network, and try again. Failing
this, it's time to get under the hood a bit. Perform these steps on all
computers in the network.
Open the start menu, select run and type
'cmd' to open the command prompt window. (On Windows 98/ME select 'ms-dos
prompt' from the 'programs' menu.) Now type 'ipconfig /all' This will give you
your current IP address for each Local area network connection, as well as the
name of the adaptor that uses the connection.
As we have set things up, each adaptor
should have an IP address in the range of 169.254.xxx.xxx with a subnet mask of
255.255.0.0, which puts them in the 169.254 network. This is a private address
range (meaning that IP addresses from this range cannot be used over the
internet) which is used to automatically assign IP addresses to computers.
Possible exceptions to this are:
If you are using a DSL/cable router to
connect your network. In this case the router will have assigned its own set of
IP addresses to each computer, which will generally be in the 192.168.x.xxx
range (this is also a private address range).
If one of the network adaptors in your
computer is directly connected to a cable modem, it will have received an IP
address from your Internet service provider.
Assuming all of your computers have an IP
address of 169.254.xxx.xxx subnet mask 255.255.0.0, they are in the same
network, and should be able to communicate with each other provided the wiring
is set up correctly. To test this, note down the IP address of one of your
computers (for example 169.254.73.160). Now go to the other computer and from
the command prompt type 'ping 169.254.73.160' and hit enter. The ping command
sends a stream of data to the address you specify at periodic intervals. If the
other computer receives the information it will reply.
If all goes well, you should see:
Pinging 169.254.73.160 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 169.254.73.160: bytes= 32time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.73.160: bytes= 32time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.73.160: bytes= 32time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.73.160: bytes= 32time<1ms TTL=128
This indicates you are
communicating successfully with the remote computer, so you should be able to
connect using the run: \\{computername} command. If you are using 98/ME check to
make sure you enabled file sharing.
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