LarryNJ

Here is my problem. I have 2 desk top's side by side in the same room running XP Home. A cable modem & linksys BEFW11S4 wireless router. The 2 computers are wired into the router with ethernet cables. I have an X5 with wifi card & a X3i they both connect & work great anywhere in the house, as do the 2 desktops. I just haven't been able to get the network setup. XP wizard says that I should let all the other computers use one computer for a internet connection because of the XP firewall. (I also need to share a printer) Everyone else tells me the router & norton IE security have firewalls I don't need XP's. I've read Ikes instructions along with several other's and I can't get my 2 computers to recognize each other. Do I have to run them through the one computer? If so will I need another network card for it? Or am I just missing something? I've tried it several different ways that I read including "search for computers", adding network place manually (maybe a mapping problem I can't figure out the correct path), and disabling all windows passwords, I'm very close to just hiring someone to handle this for me. Anyone live in South Jersey? Thanks for your input.

gbm85

Just letting you know, if nobody replies it's probably b/c this is not an Axim question and is really beyond the scope of this site.

LarryNJ

Good point, I'd delete the thread if I knew how. Sorry I was deperate.

gbm85

It's ok. Go ahead and leave it up, you're not steppin on any toes. Somebody may still reply. I was just letting you know so you didn't scratch your head if nobody replied.

Howard2k

Yep, you're confused and getting bad advice from XP

There is no such thing as a secure network. The key is to take enough steps in the right direction to make it "secure enough" so that a potential hacker will look for another target. At the end of the day if there is something in your PC that I want THAT badly I'll just break in and physically grab it.

The befw11s4 is a router and a basic firewall. As a rule I don't trust software firewalls except as a last resort. I choose not to run a software firewall, instead I too use a befw11s4 to secure my network from the Internet.

So you have the Internet traffic coming in through the befw11s4. That's one point of entry to the network and one place where you need to secure it.

Internet -> Cable modem -> befw11s4 -> PCs (wired and wireless).

Ensure that you use a decent password on the router, that remote admin is disabled and that you are running a recent ROM. The latest is 1.50 for the befw11s4 v4. IF you're not v4 I'm not sure what verison to use. You can look that up

The next thing to be concerned about is the wireless. There are three decent ways to secure your wireless LAN.

SSID Broadcast disable.
MAC filtering
WEP

They are all flawed but but pick any 2 (or more) and you're on your on your way to typically adequate protection.

Ike's FAQ will explain what these do in more detail.

Your 2 wired PCs will both just get IP settings from the router. I would personally disable the XP firewall on both of them.
Your 2 PDAs will be wireless clients of the router.

Away you go

Some of the more recent version of windows support Internet Connection Sharing. This is where you would have the cable modem plug into a network card on the XP box. There would be a 2nd network card on the XP box that plugs into a hub (or it could be wireless) and the clients pass Internet traffic through the Win XP box.

Internet -> Cable Modem -> XP Box -> Other PCs.

This is an ok deployment too but you need to harden the XP box to secure it. I would prefer to use a router. Which you have.

Hope that helps. Post any specifics and I'll try to help.

__________________
Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

Howard2k

BTW, depending how the XP Firewall is configured, it will also prevent the PCs from seeing each other and the PDAs from seeing the PCs.

__________________
Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

ikehiker

I don't have direct experience with Norton Internet Security, but I suspect it could be blocking sharing, too. I'm also relying on the NAT on my router rather than running a software firewall, too.

I'm assuming you have Internet access from all the equipment which would suggest the router is doing it's primary job. One set of tests you can run to see if your equipment can see each other is to ping the IPs. On the XP machines, Start, Run, type in cmd to open a DOS window. Type ipconfig /all to determine the IP on each computer then ping the opposite computer. This will show if the computers are capable of "seeing" each other.

__________________
-Ike-

LarryNJ

Quote:

Originally posted by ikehiker I don't have direct experience with Norton Internet Security, but I suspect it could be blocking sharing, too. I'm also relying on the NAT on my router rather than running a software firewall, too.

Your suspicions were correct. I simply disabled Norton Internet Security and just like that my 2 computers found each other, and they are sharing their lost baby. (printer) Whoohooo no more unplugging the usb cord and switching it just to print. Well it's late here so I'll deal with the rest of setting up the 2 Axims and worrying about all the other network saftey settings this weekend. My wife is waiting in bed for me. We lay next to each other and send MSN messages back and forth on our Axims. Well what do you expect we've been married since way back in the 80's before our first PC.

Thank you all very much for your help. I'll let you know how I make out this weekend.

Larry

LarryNJ

Well I followed the suggestions & instructions you guy's gave me for doing a wireless sync and my X3i syncs great. Thanks again for all the help.

But I can't get my wife's X5 to sync. (wireless, syncs great with the cradle.) Her wifi internet works good.
I've followed Ike's directions several times. Have her X5 settings the same as my X3i. I checked the settings on XP and I believe that they are the same. (she syncs under her xp users name, and me under mine.) Her wifi card is an AmbiCom WL1160C-CF. I'm probably missing something simple.

ikehiker

In ActiveSync under her user name on the PC, Tools, Connection Settings. Do you have the box checked to "Allow network (Ethernet) and ..." ?

Also, did you disable the firewalls under her user name?

I haven't run separate users on XP recently but I seem to remember all those settings are user specific.

__________________
-Ike-

Howard2k

Does it connect as guest? Or not at all? Did you create a hosts entry with PocketHosts?

__________________
Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

LarryNJ

You guys are the best...Thank you very much. After the 498th time I checked everything, I find I didn't have the use mobile schedule to sync & sync with this pc during manual sync boxes checked.

Now my home network is set up, I can wifi sync both Axim's, so my chore for today will be to network the Axim's. From the statement on your instructions "accessing your network can be tricky" I think maybe I better just look into getting Resco Explorer.

Thanks for saving my marriage. My wife has been upset with me for the last few days because I could wifi sync my X3i and she couldn't. She thought I didn't care about her & her X5. You would think after all these years she would realize that I simply have no clue. Well she me again. LOL

Thanks again and I'll keep you posted on my networking progress.

What do you think of my sig? My 8 year old son did it for me.

Howard2k

LOL, funny sig and glad you got it working. I've never used Resco Explorer and never seen the need, but I have read good things about it.

__________________
Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.