little network problem involving 3 computers

Carcis

Greetings boards techies,

I come to you with a network problem in need of solving,
the likes of which has never been seen by google! Yet,
also the likes of which you can easily solve.

Please ponder upon my attached visual aid.




My network problem is annoying this:
I cannot get Laptop 2 to connect to a game server on the Computer,
using either it's External IPv4 or Internal IPv4 (which is manually set to work with the laptop 1).

---

Here is a breakdown of my setup:

As in the picture, my network consists of my router, laptop 1, computer and laptop 2.
Laptop 1 and 2 are connected wirelessly to my router,
and the computer is connected to the Internet through laptop 1 by wire.

Router:

an old Netopia router, type as provided by eircom

Laptop 1:

-Windows XP Home SP 3
-Wireless connection: Shared, Firewalled and set to Obtain IP address automatically
-Local Area Connection: not firewalled. Manually set IPv4

Computer:

-Ubuntu 10.4
-Local Area Connection: Firewalled. Manually set IPv4
-Game Server (I want to connect to)
-Game

Laptop 2:

-Windows 7
-Game (I want to play on Computer's Game Server)

Regarding possible solutions:

-I have had no success yet with a Network Bridge on Laptop 1.
-Getting a wireless network card for my computer isn't feasible at the moment.

I hope you enjoy solving this problem! Thank you all very much for your time.

Regards,

Carcis

Cuddlesworth

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306126

Do the above on laptop 1. If it doesn't work, keep it enabled and set the default gateway on the desktop to the same IP as the one set on the LAN connection on the laptop.

Static M.e.

Great first post Carcis. Well thought out and structured.

Does all of Computer traffic have to pass thought Laptop 1?
Can you connect a cable directly from the Computer to the Router?
Have you tried swapping Laptop 1 and 2 to see if it will work?

Carcis

Thank you for your replies!

@Cuddlesworth

That's nearly exactly what I have set up.
Except instead of a Dial-up internet connection, the host is connected to a router which is connected to the internet.

The problem arises when I try to connect to the client computer which is connected to the host sharing the wireless connection to the router.

@Static M.e.

All Computer traffic must pass through Laptop 1 (until I am gifted a wireless card...hint hint!)

Connecting a wire to my router is not an option (unless I'm brave and drill a deposit busting hole in my floor)

Swapping Laptop 1 for Laptop 2 is not an option. (Laptop 2 actually belongs to a friend who should also be able to connect to Computer from external IP too, whichever is figured out first)

Overall the problem would be eliminated if I could somehow make Laptop 1 transparent to the router, which would then assign an internal IP to Computer.... I don't really know how to go about this, but I'm sure there must be other methods.

Naikon

Laptop 2 connects to the default gateway(your router). What is the subnet mask assigned to laptop 2? If the mask is not in the same address space as the router, the game server won't be found by laptop 2 at the IP level. Also, is laptop 2 connected at the link layer? Green/Orange light?

You should set up DHCP on the router so that laptop 2 won't require fixed network parameters. DHCP is the biz. *EDIT* - We are talking one gateway here, right? If it's more than one hop, we need to start looking at static routes. The default route should be the router ip address.

Carcis

@Naikon

Laptop 2 is assigned the correct subnet mask as far as I know,
Unfortunately I cannot test this at the moment but I will let you know how it goes when I can.

Where would I find this Green/Orange light?

You may well be onto something with the gateway jazz!

When I first set it up, I set Computer's gateway address to Laptop 1's manually configured IP address for the direct wired connection.
ed- While Laptop 1 and Laptop 2 have their gateway address set to the router address.
Herein lies the problem methinks...

[ed] I will give this howto a shot when possible:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/sag_tcpip_pro_addstaticroute.mspx?mfr=true

fingers crossed!
[/ed]

Naikon

Carcis wrote: »

@Naikon

Laptop 2 is assigned the correct subnet mask as far as I know,
Unfortunately I cannot test this at the moment but I will let you know how it goes when I can.

Where would I find this Green/Orange light?

You may well be onto something with the gateway jazz!

When I first set it up, I set Computer's gateway address to Laptop 1's manually configured IP address for the direct wired connection.
ed- While Laptop 1 and Laptop 2 have their gateway address set to the router address.
Herein lies the problem methinks...

[ed] I will give this howto a shot when possible:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/sag_tcpip_pro_addstaticroute.mspx?mfr=true

fingers crossed!
[/ed]

Good to hear. Keep us informed

Static M.e.

Carcis wrote: »

until I am gifted a wireless card...hint hint!

Maybe...I'll check if I have any at home lying about. Probably best to fix the issue until then. Its a long shot.

Carcis

@Static M.e

I'm shocked! I had no notion that anyone would be willing to do that.
Sound man!

If it was something that was just lying about gathering dust, I'd gladly take it off your hands. I could collect it or pay for posting it or something.

Otherwise, I'd feel more comfortable paying or exchanging something for the wireless card.

I'm not sure whether I can send or receive PMs yet, (there's something about spam prevention in my CP) but perhaps we could discuss things on our profile pages, or by e-mail or IM.

I really didn't expect anything to come from that hint! Even if you don't have it, the good-will-toward-fellow-man I'm feeling may last long enough to positively affect someone else!
Bodacious!