Rosemary-PC could connect to the network, connect to CHC-HP, and view CHC-HP/C, but when trying to view subfolders of C, received error message saying that "you do not have permission to access CHC-HP/C. Contact your network administrator for permissions" or some such.
After trying everything I could think of, I decided to make all settings the same as on my laptop, which can connect to C. After I turned on password protected sharing under advanced sharing settings and re-connected to the homegroup, Rosemary-PC could connect to CHC-HP/C. I'm not sure exactly why it works. I tried to make the same changes on Mom's computer, but it still does not connect to C. Frustrating!
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Unable to connect to johnson2
Phone computer (Acer1) cannot connect to the internet. Our network, johnson2, does not show up on the list of available connections, though our neighbors' networks do.
Unplugged Linksys wireless adapter, tried it in different USB ports, but nothing worked. Tried one of our spare Cisco adapters, and after the installation failed because I was using the installation disk for a different version of adapter, I used the correct disk and was able to connect to johnson2.
A few minutes later, the connection failed. Johnson 2 showed up on the list of available networks, but when I tried to connect to it, an error message popped up saying that the signal strength was too low. Thinking that this was because the wireless adapter was faulty, I used Mom's adapter and was able to connect to johnson2. However, the signal strength was "Poor." Not sure how this could be possible, I got out my laptop and opened inSSIDer (http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/), which identifies the signal strength of all detectable networks, and what channel they are broadcasting on. It confirmed the "poor" signal strength, showing that johnson2 was only at about -80 dB, even lower then our neighbor's networks. (usually ours should be around -15 to -40 dB, with -15 being the better signal)
So I unplugged the power to the router, watched the signal fade away from inSSIDer, re-plugged in the power, and watched the signal appear in inSSIDer at about 30dB higher, between -50 and -40 dB.
Going back to the Phone computer, I plugged in the original network adapter, and connected to johnson2 with no problem.
The other wireless computers (Mom's, Rosie's, mine) probably did not have the same problem as ACER1 because their network adapters are more powerful so they can pick up a weaker signal. Hopefully the problem was just that the router needed to be restarted. If that hadn't worked, I would next try changing the frequency on which we broadcast. This can be done on a computer that is hardwired to the router, and connecting to the router's settings page using the IP address.
Just something strange I noticed while doing this: the signal strength of johnson2 in the office was considerably lower, by about 10-20 dB, than the signal strength out in the kitchen/family room. Perhaps the Linksys router could be re-positioned if this becomes a problem.
Unplugged Linksys wireless adapter, tried it in different USB ports, but nothing worked. Tried one of our spare Cisco adapters, and after the installation failed because I was using the installation disk for a different version of adapter, I used the correct disk and was able to connect to johnson2.
A few minutes later, the connection failed. Johnson 2 showed up on the list of available networks, but when I tried to connect to it, an error message popped up saying that the signal strength was too low. Thinking that this was because the wireless adapter was faulty, I used Mom's adapter and was able to connect to johnson2. However, the signal strength was "Poor." Not sure how this could be possible, I got out my laptop and opened inSSIDer (http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/), which identifies the signal strength of all detectable networks, and what channel they are broadcasting on. It confirmed the "poor" signal strength, showing that johnson2 was only at about -80 dB, even lower then our neighbor's networks. (usually ours should be around -15 to -40 dB, with -15 being the better signal)
So I unplugged the power to the router, watched the signal fade away from inSSIDer, re-plugged in the power, and watched the signal appear in inSSIDer at about 30dB higher, between -50 and -40 dB.
Going back to the Phone computer, I plugged in the original network adapter, and connected to johnson2 with no problem.
The other wireless computers (Mom's, Rosie's, mine) probably did not have the same problem as ACER1 because their network adapters are more powerful so they can pick up a weaker signal. Hopefully the problem was just that the router needed to be restarted. If that hadn't worked, I would next try changing the frequency on which we broadcast. This can be done on a computer that is hardwired to the router, and connecting to the router's settings page using the IP address.
Just something strange I noticed while doing this: the signal strength of johnson2 in the office was considerably lower, by about 10-20 dB, than the signal strength out in the kitchen/family room. Perhaps the Linksys router could be re-positioned if this becomes a problem.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
New Printer
Bought new office printer: HP LaserJet P2055 Series
The installation software failed to install on Veronica's computer, coming up with an error saying that to install, the user had to have administrative privileges. I was signed in to the computer as the administrator, so that didn't seem to be the problem. So I decided to see what would happen if I skipped the installation and plugged the printer into the network. (This is a special feature of the new printer. I used an Ethernet [CAT5e] cable and plugged the printer into the network switch.) It worked just fine!
Moral: never follow the instructions! :)
The installation software failed to install on Veronica's computer, coming up with an error saying that to install, the user had to have administrative privileges. I was signed in to the computer as the administrator, so that didn't seem to be the problem. So I decided to see what would happen if I skipped the installation and plugged the printer into the network. (This is a special feature of the new printer. I used an Ethernet [CAT5e] cable and plugged the printer into the network switch.) It worked just fine!
Moral: never follow the instructions! :)
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Network Discovery
Sara's computer couldn't find computers on the network. Box popped up asking if I wanted to make the network I am on a private network, or turn on network discovery on public networks. I selected "make this network a private network."
Whether a network is considered "private", "work", or "public" is entirely up to the individual computer connecting to it, i.e., there is nothing inherent in the network making it private or public. Private, Work, and Public are each like a set of saved settings, defining how your computer should act when it connects to networks at home, or a network at work, or a network at a public place, e.g., the library, Starbucks, etc.
Network discovery is a setting that is automatically enabled for private networks and disabled for public networks. When enabled, it allows you to view all the computers that are connected to that network, and the files which they are sharing. When it is disabled, you cannot see who else is connected to the network, so if you want to share files, you will need to use a more complicated process in which you need to know the exact name of the computer you want to share with. Fortunately, I don't see us ever needing to learn how to do this!
Whether a network is considered "private", "work", or "public" is entirely up to the individual computer connecting to it, i.e., there is nothing inherent in the network making it private or public. Private, Work, and Public are each like a set of saved settings, defining how your computer should act when it connects to networks at home, or a network at work, or a network at a public place, e.g., the library, Starbucks, etc.
Network discovery is a setting that is automatically enabled for private networks and disabled for public networks. When enabled, it allows you to view all the computers that are connected to that network, and the files which they are sharing. When it is disabled, you cannot see who else is connected to the network, so if you want to share files, you will need to use a more complicated process in which you need to know the exact name of the computer you want to share with. Fortunately, I don't see us ever needing to learn how to do this!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Slow Internet, New Router
Mom's internet has been working slower than when we had the low power modem. We decided to replace our router (the machine that "broadcasts" the wireless signal) with a stronger one.
I plugged in the big Linksys router (WTR600N) that we used when we rented the office building. When we moved, we just transferred all the work computers onto Mom's home network, so ever since then we've been using a cheap D-Link router.
As soon as I plugged in all the hardwired computers to the Linksys, the internet on those computers worked. However, the wireless computers were offline because they could not detect a network to connect to. I looked up the default IP address to adjust the settings on the Linksys (192.168.1.1), but that IP did not work--we must have changed it when we used the router at the office building.
So I decided to find the manual for the Linksys. I found a setup disk, which was supposed to step me through the process of installing a brand new router, so I tried to run that, even though I knew the Linksys still had all the settings on it from when we used it at the office building.
Apparently, the normal setup on the disk could not run on a Windows 7 operating system. So I had to open the disk manually (instead of autorun) and open "setup.exe." This program stepped me through plugging in the router correctly, so I unplugged the router and re-plugged it in following these directions. I continued following the directions, and the system asked for a password for me to access the router information. This would not happen if the router had been brand new, but it happened this time since we had already changed the default password on the Linksys. I found the password in the records I made before we moved from the office, and input it.
The system then asked me to set some basic settings, the security key, etc. I just left it the way it was. Then the system said that the setup was successful.
So I tried connecting to the internet on a wireless computer. It still had the same problem--it couldn't find our network. When I tried it on Mom's wireless computer, it found something called "Other Network" but I could not connect to it because it said something like my system does not fulfill the requirements for this network connection.
So I went back to the setup disk and ran it again. This time, I changed the security system from WEP2-Personal to WEP-Personal, with the same password. I thought that perhaps our wireless adapters (the little usb things that plug into the computer) were not programmed to handle a WEP2 security system. Assuming that WEP would be a more basic system than WEP2, I hoped the change would make the adapters able to connect to the network.
Unfortunately, it did not. So I tried again to access the Linksys settings directly through the IP address. The default address still did not work, but I tried several IPs that I had written down in my notes from when we moved from the office building. I tried 192.168.1.254, 192.168.1.64, and 192.168.0.1. The last address worked! I logged in with username admin and password kady, and started looking at all the settings. (This won't work unless you are on a computer hardwired to the router)
First I tried to compare them with my notes, and see what was different, but then I realized that at the office building, all our computers were hardwired. So I looked under the "Wireless" tab, and I found that the wireless signal had been turned off! So I checked the "Enable" radio button in two places: one under the 5GHz heading (this was titled "johnson_media") and one under the 2.5GHz heading (titled "johnson"). I assumed that these were the two different frequencies I had read about which the Linksys broadcasted on to minimize interference. I saved my changes, and went to check the internet.
This time, the network showed up as "johnson" and again as "johnson_media". I was able to connect to one or the other on some computers, while other computers still said that "your system does not fulfill the requirements for this network". On Mom's computer, I was able to connect, but when I connected to "johnson" the connection became "Fair", while the "johnson_media" connection became "Excellent". So then I connected to the latter, and it's connection became "Fair" while "johnson" became Excellent.
So I figured I needed to enable one or the other, not both. So I went back to the wireless settings page (at 192.168.1.64) and under the 5.0GHz network (johnson_media) checked "disable" under "Allow network discovery." I didn't realize at the time that this was the wrong checkbox, and only controlled whether other computers could find, or "see", the network.
Sure enough, the other computers now saw a "johnson" network and a "Other Network". When I tried to connect to the latter, it asked for the name of the network, then the password. I input "johnson_media", and the connection worked just as before, with the connection quality going down as soon as I connected to it, while the connection quality of "johnson" jumped up.
So back at the wireless settings page, under 5.0GHz, I checked the "disable" box next to the original "enable" box that I had checked earlier (duh!). I chose to disable the 5.0GHz because I know that 2.5GHz is more standard, and thus probably better to use unless I have problems with interference (which I might, but I'm still not going to change the frequency unless a definite problem arises, such as very intermittent connections, lost data, etc.). I saved the changes, then went to the Security tab and double checked that the security system was WEP, not WEP2.
Now it all works! Whew!
However, Mom's computer was still going rather slowly. So I moved the Linksys router closer to the wall shared by the office and the family room (onto Annie's desk). To do this, I had to use a huge long CAT5e cable (don't use a CAT5--they can actually slow down your connection speed. There should be text printed on the cable which will tell you which type it is.) to connect the router to the modem all the way across the room. The modem couldn't be moved because there was no cable outlet on the farther wall (remember, we are using Comcast cable internet now, not like the AT&T internet at the office building which we plugged in to phone lines).
Then I used a short CAT5e to connect Annie's computer to the Linksys. (Remember, all but one [Rosie's] of the computers in the office are hardwired.) Since I didn't have any more really long cables, I decided to use the switch we had used at the office. The switch basically looks like a little modem, but it functions more like a power strip in that it will lengthen your power cord and multiply the number of outlets available. To use it, I plugged one cable into it and then into the Linksys router. Then I used two more cables to plug the remaining two computers in the office to the switch. This allowed me to double the distance I could have between the computers and the router, and that is the only reason I used the switch.
See my next post for a diagram of the office as of today.
I plugged in the big Linksys router (WTR600N) that we used when we rented the office building. When we moved, we just transferred all the work computers onto Mom's home network, so ever since then we've been using a cheap D-Link router.
As soon as I plugged in all the hardwired computers to the Linksys, the internet on those computers worked. However, the wireless computers were offline because they could not detect a network to connect to. I looked up the default IP address to adjust the settings on the Linksys (192.168.1.1), but that IP did not work--we must have changed it when we used the router at the office building.
So I decided to find the manual for the Linksys. I found a setup disk, which was supposed to step me through the process of installing a brand new router, so I tried to run that, even though I knew the Linksys still had all the settings on it from when we used it at the office building.
Apparently, the normal setup on the disk could not run on a Windows 7 operating system. So I had to open the disk manually (instead of autorun) and open "setup.exe." This program stepped me through plugging in the router correctly, so I unplugged the router and re-plugged it in following these directions. I continued following the directions, and the system asked for a password for me to access the router information. This would not happen if the router had been brand new, but it happened this time since we had already changed the default password on the Linksys. I found the password in the records I made before we moved from the office, and input it.
The system then asked me to set some basic settings, the security key, etc. I just left it the way it was. Then the system said that the setup was successful.
So I tried connecting to the internet on a wireless computer. It still had the same problem--it couldn't find our network. When I tried it on Mom's wireless computer, it found something called "Other Network" but I could not connect to it because it said something like my system does not fulfill the requirements for this network connection.
So I went back to the setup disk and ran it again. This time, I changed the security system from WEP2-Personal to WEP-Personal, with the same password. I thought that perhaps our wireless adapters (the little usb things that plug into the computer) were not programmed to handle a WEP2 security system. Assuming that WEP would be a more basic system than WEP2, I hoped the change would make the adapters able to connect to the network.
Unfortunately, it did not. So I tried again to access the Linksys settings directly through the IP address. The default address still did not work, but I tried several IPs that I had written down in my notes from when we moved from the office building. I tried 192.168.1.254, 192.168.1.64, and 192.168.0.1. The last address worked! I logged in with username admin and password kady, and started looking at all the settings. (This won't work unless you are on a computer hardwired to the router)
First I tried to compare them with my notes, and see what was different, but then I realized that at the office building, all our computers were hardwired. So I looked under the "Wireless" tab, and I found that the wireless signal had been turned off! So I checked the "Enable" radio button in two places: one under the 5GHz heading (this was titled "johnson_media") and one under the 2.5GHz heading (titled "johnson"). I assumed that these were the two different frequencies I had read about which the Linksys broadcasted on to minimize interference. I saved my changes, and went to check the internet.
This time, the network showed up as "johnson" and again as "johnson_media". I was able to connect to one or the other on some computers, while other computers still said that "your system does not fulfill the requirements for this network". On Mom's computer, I was able to connect, but when I connected to "johnson" the connection became "Fair", while the "johnson_media" connection became "Excellent". So then I connected to the latter, and it's connection became "Fair" while "johnson" became Excellent.
So I figured I needed to enable one or the other, not both. So I went back to the wireless settings page (at 192.168.1.64) and under the 5.0GHz network (johnson_media) checked "disable" under "Allow network discovery." I didn't realize at the time that this was the wrong checkbox, and only controlled whether other computers could find, or "see", the network.
Sure enough, the other computers now saw a "johnson" network and a "Other Network". When I tried to connect to the latter, it asked for the name of the network, then the password. I input "johnson_media", and the connection worked just as before, with the connection quality going down as soon as I connected to it, while the connection quality of "johnson" jumped up.
So back at the wireless settings page, under 5.0GHz, I checked the "disable" box next to the original "enable" box that I had checked earlier (duh!). I chose to disable the 5.0GHz because I know that 2.5GHz is more standard, and thus probably better to use unless I have problems with interference (which I might, but I'm still not going to change the frequency unless a definite problem arises, such as very intermittent connections, lost data, etc.). I saved the changes, then went to the Security tab and double checked that the security system was WEP, not WEP2.
Now it all works! Whew!
However, Mom's computer was still going rather slowly. So I moved the Linksys router closer to the wall shared by the office and the family room (onto Annie's desk). To do this, I had to use a huge long CAT5e cable (don't use a CAT5--they can actually slow down your connection speed. There should be text printed on the cable which will tell you which type it is.) to connect the router to the modem all the way across the room. The modem couldn't be moved because there was no cable outlet on the farther wall (remember, we are using Comcast cable internet now, not like the AT&T internet at the office building which we plugged in to phone lines).
Then I used a short CAT5e to connect Annie's computer to the Linksys. (Remember, all but one [Rosie's] of the computers in the office are hardwired.) Since I didn't have any more really long cables, I decided to use the switch we had used at the office. The switch basically looks like a little modem, but it functions more like a power strip in that it will lengthen your power cord and multiply the number of outlets available. To use it, I plugged one cable into it and then into the Linksys router. Then I used two more cables to plug the remaining two computers in the office to the switch. This allowed me to double the distance I could have between the computers and the router, and that is the only reason I used the switch.
See my next post for a diagram of the office as of today.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Upgrading internet speed
Went to the local Comcast store and upgraded our internet from ~12 Mbps download and ~4Mbps upload to ~50 Mbps download and ~10 upload. Exchanged our modem for a new one that can handle the increase in power.
Plugged in the new modem right where the old one was, except using the new cords provided with the new modem. Connected to the router through browser (at 1.something.something) and fiddled with some settings, but to no effect. Connected the modem directly to the computer, still to no effect.
Clicked on a bookmark, and instead of the expected page, a page came up from "Xfinity" asking us to input account id and phone number. Did this, and after a few more clicks, the modem was "activated."
Still could not connect to the internet.
Called Comcast help line, unplugged and re-plugged router and restarted computer.
Yay! Now we're connected!
On Veronica's computer, speedtest.net says that our download speed is ~60 Mbps, upload ~12 Mbps. On Mom's computer, download is ~12 Mbps, upload ~10 Mbps. The difference is probably from a combination of things, but mostly because Veronica's computer is hardwired to the router, while Mom's is connected wirelessly, in addition to being much farther away from it.
By the way, during this process I didn't have to create any new passwords or change any settings. Apparently, all these settings are kept on the router, not the modem.
Plugged in the new modem right where the old one was, except using the new cords provided with the new modem. Connected to the router through browser (at 1.something.something) and fiddled with some settings, but to no effect. Connected the modem directly to the computer, still to no effect.
Clicked on a bookmark, and instead of the expected page, a page came up from "Xfinity" asking us to input account id and phone number. Did this, and after a few more clicks, the modem was "activated."
Still could not connect to the internet.
Called Comcast help line, unplugged and re-plugged router and restarted computer.
Yay! Now we're connected!
On Veronica's computer, speedtest.net says that our download speed is ~60 Mbps, upload ~12 Mbps. On Mom's computer, download is ~12 Mbps, upload ~10 Mbps. The difference is probably from a combination of things, but mostly because Veronica's computer is hardwired to the router, while Mom's is connected wirelessly, in addition to being much farther away from it.
By the way, during this process I didn't have to create any new passwords or change any settings. Apparently, all these settings are kept on the router, not the modem.
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