a 3 way setup...

[mikill]

hello

i am trying to setup 2 comps and an XBOX to share the cable connection. i have my pc with 3 nics in it and one nic in the 2nd pc and then the XBOX has its own nic.

setup is as:

my pc = realtek rtl 8139 integrated nic (PCI 3) and 2 pci linksys nc100 nics (PCI 1 & 2)
friends pc = intel pro/100 integrated (PCI 1)
friends XBOX

problem is only the realtek and the PCI 2 nc100 nic connects with the cable. the PCI 1 nc100 nic doesnt seem to be connecting. when i plug it in to the 2nd pc or the XBOX, neither one will connect to the internet/cable. if i unplug the PCI 2 nc100 nic and leave the PCI 1 nc100 plugged in, it still doesnt connect to the internet/cable.

i have tried messing with the ip stuff and it didnt make any difference. am i missing something or will it not work like that?

any help is appreciated.

 

[j79zlr]

are you using ICS?

I prefer hardware routers over using a computer as a router, takes the resource usage away from the host PC, and it doesn't have to be on for the others to connect.

 

[mikill]

yes i have ICS enabled. its just that one NC100 nic that doesnt connect to the internet/cable. the other 2 are ok.

one reason for setting it up this way is so that the XBOX can only be online if the pc is on, so as to limit usage. call it regulation if u will. the other is so that all 3 can be on when needed.

 

[Unleashed]

IRQ's?

 

[mikill]

IRQ's used are 5, 11, 12. no conflicts

 

[Unleashed]

Hmmm... really not sure then, sorry :/

Sidenote: You joined on my birthday!

 

[ming]

It's better if you get a modem router... that way there is a gateway for all devices to get connected to the net/lan.

 

[j79zlr]

I dont think you can use 3 NICs, I've never used ICS to share a connection, but the problem is that you would need 2 IP addresses, one for each card, then bind ICS to both. I really dont see that working. I believe the only way to do this, without a router, is to use 2 NICs in the host PC, then use a hub to share the connection with the other 2 devices.

I still say plop the money down for a router, if you want to control the usage, put the router by your PC and unplug the XBOX when need be

 

[RabidPenguin]

This is not possible using ICS. If you want to do somehting like this then you need a more sofisticated router. If you are comfortable with Linux then that is your answer. Otherwise you need to get a standalone router.

 

[mikill]

guess we'll get a router asap. thnx for the replies.

 

[RabidPenguin]

Most routers have the ability to set up rules for when machines are allowed to have net access. You can usaully assign this to specific IP's or to MAC addresses.

 

[Admiral Michael]

I agree, your best bet would be to get an actual router. I like Linksys and have had zero problems with the two I use.

 

[mikill]

ok fellas, i have a linksys 4 port router here. hooked everything up and have connection to the net on everything, but another issue now.

we play MW4 and it has an in-game browser. when both pc's try to join the same hosted server, only one can be joined at a time. its like something is blocking maybe, im not sure.

friends pc 192.168.1.100 <------- this one has DMZ set on it
my pc 192.168.1.101
xbox 192.168.1.102

without DMZ set on my friends pc, only one at a time joins. if i set DMZ on, then they both join, but the 192.168.1.100 disconnects either right away or after a few secs goes by and cant rejoin. they way it explained DMZ was that it puts the one pc outside the firewall. so basically there are no restrictions against that IP, but yet it cant stay connected for more than 2 or 3 secs.

i think i remember reading that dx7-8 need port settings added? but wouldnt DMZ take away the need to do that? any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[LeeJend]

Based on the past 4 years experience of the 15 people in our game clan using the MS Zone on every major brand router:

1). The microsoft gaming zone is the most router/firewall unfriendly gaming service on the internet.

2). Microsoft branded games are the most unfriendly software product on the MS Gaming Zone.

3). The worst router to try and use with the MSN Gaming Zone is the Microsoft branded router. They admittedly have butchered up the ports and DMZ trying to make it zone friendly.

(Note to MS: Please sue us, we have a file of all the correspondence with MS Tech support related to the above accusations.)

If you can connect a pc that is not on the router DMZ at all, it is a miracle!

There is a post in Zone FAQs (copied into attached text file) that tells you what ports to open for a non DMZ connection.

Non-microsoft games seem to be much less troublesome on the zone. The Mech War series are the worst for play on the zone.

Other features of the zone painfully learned over the years:
The zone does not like Zonealarm Pro. ZA POPUP blocker active keeps you from accessing the zone. MS did this to make their advertiseerrs happy. Even with ZA popup blocker disabled I still had problems with the zone so I uninstalled ZA and all is well again.


Hardware recommendation:
The latest netgear router (model number escapes me right now, but it looks really sleek) has been the most user friendly router for behind firewallsa and over VPN. (Cable company with VPN set up.)

I use the ancient linksys befsr-11,41,... family with last winters firmware, but only through dmz when on the zone. (SBC DSL) Others have been unable to use this router. It depends on your ISP. Find a router that works best with your ISP.

 

[mikill]

thanks LeeJend for the txt. will see if it helps.

 

[mikill]

ok fellas, check this out. i took the router back and hooked everything back to the way it was in the beginning.

refresher:

my pc = 3
friends pc = 1
xbox

i disabled ICS and rebooted. went to the network wizard and let it do its thing. this time it did something different than the other times. check out the pic below to see the setup. everything connects to the net and both pcs can join the same game server, even in MW4 . i don't know why it didnt setup like this any of the times before, but im happy. thanks for the help.