My network is KICKING MY ASS!!!!

[Tiny]

OK.....Help!!!! I'm becoming my computer's bitch!

I was thinking about posting this in Lower Wacker Drive, 'cause I wasn't sure that many people frequented this part of the stadium (I've never stopped in to check things out before myself)....but here it goes, I'll give it a try.

Let me start off by saying "I'm not a tech geek..." although I wish I was, 'cause maybe I'd understand all this shit a little better.

I'm having home network issues, and I can't find a workable fix.

My set-up:

My computer: Insignia 2.8 Gig, 512 DDR Memory w/Windows XP Home.
Kid's computer:Gateway 800 something MHz, almost no memory; Win 98SE
Kitchen Computer:Dell Dimension L550r, again 800 something MHz, 127 meg RAM W/ Win 98SE

Networked with a Lynksys BEFSR41 wired router.

Insignia controls the router, and acts as the "hub" computer, or so I've read from the setup. (My wife disputes this, since the internet goes to the router first, and then goes to each computer from there).

Internet is broadband Wireless, running about 1.5 Gig (Varies depending on usage: last test ran at 730 kilobits/sec on the Dell in the kitchen).

The problem: We purchased a Nintendo DS Wi-Fi USB connector for son #2 for Christmas. This fucks EVERYTHING UP. It takes the whole network down, as it can only be used on the Insignia with Windows XP, and it kinda acts as the server (as previously stated). However the internet connection stays up, it's just the network that crashes, and the file sharing, print sharing etc goes away....
If we delete the Wi-Fi, reset-up the network, etc, then everything is in harmony, except the $50 Wi-Fi is useless, and the DS games don't work.

Wife got the network and Wi-Fi to coexist, but she had to shut down the windows firewall, to come to this understanding. WTF???? I can't run without the firewall....Nintendo.com SUCKS ASS, as they basically told us to go buy a wireless router....and (BTW) which would eliminate the need for their piece-O-Shit Nintendo USB connector in the first place. I'm not made of money, and buying the wireless router, in additionto the wireless NIC cards, is gonna be pretty steep (needing one for each PC). The only other solution is buying XP upgrades for the two 98 SE's, but that's gonna run me $100 each, to do it legally.

Finally, the question is:
Isn't there something I can do to the settings, to get the network, the Nintendo Wi-Fi, and the router to live harmoneously on the Insignia w/ Windows XP, with a firewall in place?
I've had ZoneAlarm suggested to me, as an alternative (as the kids scream because their games don't like ZoneAlarm), but again I don't know enough about it to decide what's best.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated; although I'll preface it from the begining that I'm not technically inclined, so you'll have to speak slowly, so I can understand what you're saying.

Thanks alot, should you try to learn me........

Tiny

[Dinsdale]

El Taco or one of the other masters will be along sooner or later, I'm sure.

But, my $0.02 -- anything is better than XP Firewall.

Not sure about games "liking" ZoneAlarm, but I would think you could set it to always allow all gaming traffic, whatever port(s) it talks on.

You could try Sygate, as well. I believe this would ask you(one time, if you check the right box) to allow "**whatever the name of the software that comes with the gaming interface** to access the network. Just guessing here.

And your Insignia shouldn't be any sort of "hub." That piece you know as a router is also your hub/switch.

Unless you've got one seriously messed up setup, with some sort of internet sharing, which it sure sounds like you don't, the way you describe it.

My best solution -- make the kids deliver papers and mow lawns, and buy the wireless router(which you could uplink your current setup to, theoretically).

[ElTaco]

Hey Tiny,

I think I kind of understand your question now so I'll answer it here.

As I understand it, your network configuration is as follows:

Internet comes into your Modem, which in turn connects with a CAT 5 cable (ethernet cable) to your Linksys wired router. This router in turn acts as an ethernet switch and connects to 3 computers with Cat 5 (ethernet) cables. IS this correct?

Depending on how your network is set up, your wife may be correct, but if your PC really is acting as a wireless AP, your network is not set up very well. Your router uses a technology called NAT (Network Address Translation) to take your network traffic from your PCs, convert the Private IP addresses they receive from the DHCP server, which is also running as part of the Linksys router, and send out your network traffic with the global internet IP address that your router received from your ISP's DHCP server. I know this sounds a bit confusing, but just take my word for it and if you need any part explained in more detail, just let us know and someone will go into it in more detail.

Anyway, this should of explained your network configuraton before you purchased the wireless network adapter for your son. Since your router is only wired, I am guessing that you have a wireless card installed on your PC and its acting as a 'Bridge' between the wireless and the wired network. Now this is not very ideal. It does slow down things and while the DS adapter shouldn't kill your wireless network, I could see this problem happening if things aren't configured properly.

You do need to answer about your network, but the first suggestion I would have is that you go get a wireless router. They cost about $50 and it would solve a lot of your problems. Certainly, if you want something aimed for gaming, it costs more, but your average $50 wireless router will do just fine. If all of your computers use wired connection to the current wired router, then you don't need wireless cards for your PCs anyway, so your only cost would be the wireless router because they also have 4 port switches built into them. Alternatively, you can buy a Wireless Accesspoint which will plug into your current Linksys router.

If you are already using cables and all three PCs are connected to the router and your wireless is going through your XP PC, and it still kills the network, there is something wrong set up on your network. Make sure your PCs aren't using your XP PC as a router. If you or someone else set up your PC as an internet router and dhcp server, its possible that your PC is getting the traffic from the other PCs and then sending it right back to the router.

Not sure what else to suggest. You might spell out your hardware setup a little better and also go look and see what IPs your machines have on their network cards. (go into cmd (command prompt) and run ipconfig /all on the XP machine, copy and paste the info into your message and run winipcfg on the 98 machines or upgrade them to XP) This should give us a better idea of how your network is running.

[Tiny]

Wow...a lot of info to absorb...

Part 1 -- your understanding of the installation is correct.

Part 2 -- I think you both are right. I think the DS connector (access point) makes the XP computer act as a router also(So to speak), for the Nintendo USB connector exclusively.

I am going to bite the bullet, and purchase the wireless router probably this week. The DS can use the Wireless (function) of the new router, and I can upgrade each of the computers in the other rooms as money becomes available (leaving the XP wired for better data transfer/rate). All this is moot, if I go buy one of the newer 54Mbps routers, because as I understand it: the newer 802.11g's don't loose as much speed as the 802.11b's did. (Is this correct?)

Also: I found out that although it is anything but ideal, the router has limited firewall type properties, which will at least make it take a little longer, should somebody try to gain access to my computer(s) from outside.

Thank you for all your help, and I must say that this has been a HUGE learning experience. I'll never know half of all I need to know; but I at least have a little bit of working knowledge of how the network operates.

Thanks again,
Tiny

[ElTaco]

Your average home router has two types of firewall technologies installed. One of them I've already mentioned, called Network Address Translation or NAT. There are other names used as well (such as IP Masquerading in Linux), depending on the technology but they are all essentially the same thing. The basic idea behind NAT is that it takes all traffic on your network and switches out the Network Address (IP address) within the Packets with its own WAN/Internet IP/Network address. So if you look at your XP boxes IP address, it would look something like 192.168.1.2 . The Every packet you send locally and to the internet includes this address. When the packet goes to the internet, your router takes a look at the destination IP address, determines that it is a machine out on the internet (in other words, it needs to go out on its WAN/Internet port) and replaces your PC's IP address with its WAN/Internet port's IP address. So the way this protects your machine, is that by default, no one can get from the internet to your Private network, unless you initiate communication with them first. Of course, as all things in real life, this isn't so cut and dry and in fact hackers have found ways around this, but for the most part most of the known exploits have been fixed so you only really have to worry about new exploits to your router, which generally means that worms can't on their own get through and infect your machine, which is what your biggest worry is. A knowledgeable hacker will probably find a better way to hack your machine (like sending you an email with a trojan/Virus installed that will connect back to the hacker's server), in effect totally circumventing your firewall. A lot of what hackers do these days have more to do with Social Engineering (fooling people) then actual hacking because people are generally ignorant or downright stupid, so it takes a lot less work.

Your other firewall technology is just basic IP and TCP blocking. Using this regular firewall technology, you can set what Ip address can get through your box or what Ports and what connections can get through. In this way, you can actually control your own network so that maybe you set up a machine for your youngest kid to do homework, but you don't want him or her to be able to connect to the internet unless you are there. The easiest way to accomplish this is to block their IP address on the router/firewall so that you have to be home to disable the rule so they can connect to the internet. Certainly there are easy ways around this, but with enough care, you could set up a fairly decent and comprehensive network firewall on most SOHO (small office/home office) wireless/wired routers.

If you are interested in learning more, there are plenty of papers/books out on the matter. I would start with Basic TCP/IP knowledge on how the Internet works. This will teach you about the Internet Protocol system, about what an IP address is, how you can assign IP addresses to PCs and other networked devices, and also about TCP, which will teach you the basics of Internet packet movement and routing. Once you learn the very basics, which is very simple if you have ever mastered Binary Math (ones and Zeros), you can pick up the rest fairly easily. Then once you understand how routing works, you can read about firewalls and pick up the basics and before you know it, you can write comprehensive firewall rules on your wireless device or even build your own device using one of the many Linux firewall projects, which give you some very comprehensive tools to manage your network and perhaps more importantly to protect your kids.