ICS problem

Hello all. This is my first post here, so if I failed to mention any pertinent information, please forgive me.

Also, I searched for the this topic in the forums, and didn't find anything that solved the problem...



First off, I'm using direcway two way satellite for my
internet, and I have the latest version running.
Operating system is Windows XP Home on host computer. XP
professional on client.


I'm trying to set up up a peer to peer network between my
desktop and laptop using wireless pc cards. Cards are
installed, and both show excellent signal ratings.


Now, when I try to go to Network Setup Wizard on my host
computer, it opens up for a second, and then shuts down
without doing anything. I can't get it to run.

Fine then, I'll just start up internet connection sharing
manually. But when I go to control panel -> network
connections, my satellite USB device is not even listed.
I have to set up ICS through this device, according to
everything I've read.

Further, I called Direcway tech support, and after being
transferred to advanced support and being on the line
with them for 2 hours, they finally told me to try using
the network setup wizard, because they didn't know why
my 'satellite USB device' wasn't showing up in network
connections.


I've reinstalled the direcway software, and reinstalled
windows (upgrade, not fresh) trying to remedy the
problem, and nothing.



Anybody got any ideas?

 

Have you looked in device manager to see if there are USB device errors there?

Is there any other type of USB device you can try to make sure the port is functional?

And the main reason you haven't found much on here about USB networking is that we have almost no one posting here who uses it. I always recommend against if asked. In theory, USB should be good for networking but in practice, it often isn't and many times a good reason or a fix is just never found.

I will happily run almost any device via USB if it has the capability but for networking, I'm still firmly in favor of PCI style ethernet network cards.

 

Thanks for the response.


No, there aren't any errors associated with the USB device in device manager.


I wish I didn't have to deal with this USB connection, but unfortunately, I'm stuck with it unless I want to go back to dialup. Direcway -may- have a connection which hooks into an NIC, but even if they do, they'd probably want to charge an arm and a leg for me to trade out modems. They're not knows for their generosity.



I'm befuddled. I absolutely cannot turn on ICS. I can't do it under my USB adapter in network connections, because it's simply not there, and I can't use the network setup wizard, because it won't even come up. (I'm open to suggestions on how to get network setup wizard working again, as well)


Is there any way to manually configure internet sharing short of one of these two ways?

 

What happens when you try to run the wizard on the client? Does it let you set up and make a disk for the other PC? And just out of curiosity, is there a host and a client in a peer-to-peer?

Go into the control panel>add/remove programs>add/remove windows components and see if all network options are installed (box will be greyed if not all installed). If they are, remove them, reboot, add them back (keep CD handy), reboot and try to run network setup wizard again. If it runs, you need to choose 'other' then 'each computer connects directly'.

There is also a forum for Direcway here where you can get help also, if this turns out to be a Satellite/USB problem.

 

Other than to suggest uninstalling all your USB devices from device manager and then rebooting to let them load fresh, I'm afraid I don't have any good suggestions for getting the USB piece working on the PC.

If you want to bypass the USB networking on the PC and go with ethernet, you can. It would also allow you to use a hardware solution rather than ICS and I think you'll be happier with it. Some hardware needed though.

- 2 ethernet NICs for the PCs. Probably around $15 each.
- 4 port router switch and the ones from Linksys and DLink are both good. Probably others as well but I only have first-hand experience with those brands. Around $50 for the router/switch.
- USB to Ethernet adapter (will connect the USB cable modem to the ethernet router/switch) is available from Here for around $20.

Since the only piece you'll need with a USB modem that you wouldn't need with an ethernet modem is the adapter, probably not worth trying to get the ISP to change your device.

If you do want to go this route, it should be simple enough to set up.

 

Thanks for the responses.


I think I'm going to try the USB to ethernet adapter. That sounds like the simplest trouble-shooting effort.

I had no idea you could reliably use such an adapter.


I'll check back in with the results.





To noahdfear: Yes, the computers are set up for peer to peer right now. I haven't tried running the network setup from disk from the client, but I've tried using the XP disk and it does nothing. It's almost as if it's not finding anything to network, so it shuts down almost immediately. I went to the add/remove programs and tried to remove/add any missing networking components, but it didn't help in this case. (I did manage to remove internet explorer by mistake, though).


I've seen that forum at DSLreports, and I agree, it's good stuff. If I don't solve my problem here, I'm going to take the issue there and see what happens.

Thanks again.

 

Found this in M$ website. Might be worth a read.