I discuss Internet sharing devices earlier in this article, and they’re covered in detail in, Article 19. Many have built-in hubs or switches, virtually all of them have DHCP support, and they have ports that allow a direct connection to your cable or DSL modem. That’s great: In fact, as I mention earlier, you won’t even need a host PC in that case. Feel free to prance about. But what if your hub doesn’t have a connection point (typically called a wide area network [WAN] port, or an uplink port) for your DSL or cable modem? That’s the situation that I mention earlier, where your host PC will need two NICs, and you will have to set it up as a host PC. To do this, connect your hardware and cables so that  -  The cable or DSL modem is connected to one of the NICs on the host PC. (It should already be configured this way, so no big deal.)  -  The other NIC on the host PC is connected to one of the ports on the hub.  -  The client PCs on the network are connected to the hub. Now follow the procedure that I provide earlier for setting up the host PC and the client PCs, and all should function like butter.

Troubleshooting Your Network

I sure hope you’re reading this section for fun . . . or because you thirst for knowledge, or just to be thorough. Why? Well, unfortunately, a misbehaving network can leave even the best techs with a four-bell headache. Your network is a mass of differing hardware, software, and data, all of which must work well in concert before you can send or receive a single packet. Windows XP does the best job that it can to automate the process; and if you’ve bought a networking kit, you can pretty much assume that everything will be compatible. But if you have one bad cable or one faulty NIC driver, your state-of-the-art network becomes a family of dead cables and a little box with no lights. (Sounds like my last attempt at outdoor Christmas decorations.) In this section, I provide the most common solutions to the most common problems.

Windows XP doesn’t recognize my NIC

Man, talk about starting with a problem from step one! That’s my kind of luck as well. Anyway, here are the possible problems and fixes:

-  An incompatible driver: NIC drivers are legendary for their fickle behavior. Unlike some printers that allow you to use the same driver for both Windows 98 and 2000, or for Windows 2000 and XP, a network interface card simply demands the proper driver, or it won’t work. Period. Reinstall the driver from the manufacturer’s media (making sure that you select the right operating system version). If that doesn’t work (and you still have access to the Internet on another computer), download the manufacturer’s latest driver for your operating system from the company’s Web site. (To download a driver, you will need to have access to another, working PC, and you might need a formatted floppy to install it.) And oh, by the way: You might actually have to uninstall the NIC and reinstall it to reload the driver. Such fun.

-  A faulty NIC: This is a definite possibility. If you have a NIC that you know is working, replace the misbehaving card (along with its drivers) to see whether the problem is solved.

-  A hardware conflict: This is quite rare under Windows XP, but it can still happen (and if your client PCs are running Windows 98 or ME, conflicts can crop up much more often). Use Device Manager to check whether Windows is having problems getting everyone to play nicely together.

No lights show up on my network card(s) or hub

This is classic stuff. Not the most comforting thing to hear, but then again, it’s good to know that others have been here before you. (To be precise, me. I used to handle network problem calls at a major hospital.) Anyway, a lack of lights indicates that you’re not getting a signal, which suggests a number of possible hardware problems:

-  Your cable is faulty. An improperly made cable can short, causing everything to come to a crashing halt. This is a likely cause if all the other client PCs have illuminated signal lights, and the hub’s lights are lit as well. (If the computer store sold you a special type of cable called a crossover cable, march right back and demand a standard twisted pair cable; crossover cables are meant to hook two computers together directly via their network ports. Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell the difference with just your eye unless you see the word crossover printed on the cable.)

-  Your NIC or hub is faulty. If either has gone off the deep end, they need to be replaced. If other client PCs are working, you can remove a working NIC from one of them and use it to test your hub.

-  Your hub isn’t powered on. (Whoops . . . no need for embarrassment.) A hub needs AC power to operate.

-  You’re using the WAN/uplink port. This is a special port on your hub, as I explain in “Using a Standard Hub with a Cable or DSL Modem”; it won’t work for a client PC connection.

Nothing shows up when I browse

Just plain nasty. If everything seemed to go well when you set up your host PC and your client PCs, but you still come up empty when you browse, here are the possibilities (and my recommended troubleshooting tips):

-  Client PCs are powered down. Simple, but effective. Boot up a client PC and refresh the My Network Places window by choosing View -> Refresh. The client should now be visible.

-  A piece of hardware is faulty. I use this term because any piece of your networking hardware might be experiencing problems, and you wouldn’t be able to browse. See what I mean about the four-bell headache? Anyway, make sure that all your NICs and your hub have lighted activity/ signal lights.

-  No network resources are shared. Remember, Windows XP doesn’t share diddly by default, so when you first browse your My Network Places window, it’s likely to be absolutely blank. However, click the View Workgroup Computers link in the window’s taskbar to see whether the client PCs don’t show up.

-  Workgroup names are mismatched. As I declare earlier in this article, if you don’t assign the exact same workgroup name to the host PC and every client PC on the network, those network packets are “walking around in different neighborhoods,” as an old boss of mine used to say. Check to make sure that everyone has joined the same party.

I can’t connect (or print) to a shared printer

I saved the best for last because this problem is usually much easier to solve (apart from the obvious, such as running out of paper, ink, or toner). Try these stress relievers:

-  The printer is powered down. I wish I had a dime for every time that someone complained that they couldn’t connect to Fred’s printer, only to find that Fred was out of the office . . . and (ahem) his PC (and the specific printer in question) was turned off. (D’oh! Sound of hand slapping forehead.)

-  The printer isn’t actually shared. Yep, you guessed it; this is the other hot potato. Make sure that the shared printer hasn’t been disabled (either by accident or on purpose).

-  You have faulty NIC or cables. Again, check the NIC for the PC that’s connected to the printer. The easiest thing to do is to see whether you can browse or work with shared files on that PC. If not, there’s a good chance that either the NIC or the twisted pair cable is giving you problems.

-  The printer has been placed offline. Some older laser printers have an Online/Offline button. If a printer like this is offline, the printer goes comatose and won’t respond.