Mac-PC Network Nightmare

Synkronite

Hi People,

Ive got an imac running OS9 and a PC running WinXP pro. I connect to the net thru the imac- is there any way I can network my computers so that my PC can use the internet thru the Mac? I have an ethernet card in both computers and a cable connecting the two. I tried WinXPs Internet Sharing Wizard, but I think it only supports Internet sharing with other Windows machines. MacOS9 I cant figure out- Ill probably be up all night trying to do it- but any help would be greatly appreciated. Cant I just set my Windows to connect thru the mac thinking of it as a gateway or something?

Thanks anyways

RapierX

I had much the same problem as you a few weeks ago. I had a g3 350 running mac OS 9.1 and a pc without a modem running windows 2000. I think you need to use UNIX to get the pc to run thru the mac online. However if you can get a hold of mac OSX, its a lot eaiser to do it with XP, apparently there is just a tick box option that allows you to render them internettable

Synkronite

*fear of being shoved into the mac forum*

Think my imac g3/400 would run OSX fine if I slapped on say 1Gb Ram or say 584mb Ram?

Jorinn

Originally posted by Synkronite
*fear of being shoved into the mac forum*

Think my imac g3/400 would run OSX fine if I slapped on say 1Gb Ram or say 584mb Ram?

256MB Ram should be fine, good graphics card would be helpfull though

timod

You could have a look at IP Net Router. It can share your dialup connection on a Mac through a LAN, (which I guess you have between the Mac and the PC)

You can use it for 3 weeks before it "expires"... then you have to "pay".


If you have a modem on the PC:

from http://www.macwindows.com

TIP: How to share a Win XP dialup Internet connection with Macs. July 17, 2002 -- Tom Coffee describes one way to set up Windows XP to share a dialup Internet connection with Macs:

I have just added a Win XP box to my home office network and was setting up the dial up connection through the wizard. At one point it asked if I wanted other computers on the network to connect to the Internet through this computer. Well, of course I did. The Windows XP dialup connection wizard wanted to make an installer disk to prepare other Win XP boxes to use the connection -- The problem was that, I have two Macs (OS 9.2) that needed to share the connection.

I let the wizard complete the process (without making the installer disk) and then had the idea to try putting the Win XP box's IP number in as the router/gateway address in the TCP/IP config window on the Macs, and it worked!

Now, as soon as I launch my browser or e-mail app on either Mac, the Win XP box dials up and makes the connection, I can even have all three computers on-line through the one modem (not the fastest, but at least I don't have to get off-line when my wife wants to check e-mail accounts from her Mac).

Off course this is not documented anywhere in the Win XP help files, but there it is. The only caveat is remembering to disconnect at the PC when through, you can set it to disconnect after a number of minutes of inactivity though.

You will have to be familiar with the ins and outs of setting up a TCP/IP network as far as IP numbering, subnet masks. I have assigned static IP numbers and a subnet mask to all three computers, and the name server address (as per BT Internet) configured for all three.

Synkronite

Thanks for all the help lads..

Well I downloaded and ran IpNetRouter- I seem to have gotten things to work fine on the Mac side of it. As in the program shows both my dialup active (cos of which I can type this) and my ethernet connection as being active.

WinXP is a different story though. Ive tried everything but it keeps telling me the cable is disconnected. Ive tried using 2 different cables- same answer. I suspect it's because it cant find another windows host. I try to set it up like how IpNetRouter says to do it (ie, put in an ip add- gateway- dns servers, etc) But even then it doesnt work saying the cables are disconnected.

I was really hoping Id be able to access it thru the mac cos otherwise Ill have to buy a modem for my Windows box And I cant wait till end of August/Early September when I get OSX installed.

Thanks for your help anyways
Ill keep searching

Please tell me if you find something new

Frank Grimes

Ive tried using 2 different cables- same answer. I suspect it's because it cant find another windows host

That wouldn't be the case. Are you using crossover cable? Also, are the 2 computers on the same ip/subnet range?

ando

the windows machine. Yes, make sure you are using crossover if connecting directly to the mac. Make sure you have IP configured in TCP/IP in the mac. (apple, control panel, tcp/ip)

Make sure you have LAN 'Enabled' in Network and Dial up connections in the windows machine.

That error you are getting 'network cable disconected' means its a problem with the windows machine. Is you NIC installed correctly ? usually means your hardware is not correctly sorted (wrong cable, NIC hardware problem or wrong driver installed)

Synkronite

When I installed the ethernet card and started up XP it said it installed it automatically. It's properly in and Im using the correct cables. Each time I try to setup Internet Sharing on it it wants me to put my WinXP Cd into my other computer (which is an imac so its pointless).

Id run my internet connection thru WinXP cos it seems easier but for some reason both the ethernet card and the modem have taken com1 and so the modem just wont work. Ive tried to reinstall the modem but it always only gives me Com-1 as an option to install on. Someone told me it may be a problem of upgrading my BIOS- But isnt there any way I can tell my modem to connect to another Com Port- surely I have more than just one! My keyboard and mouse are connected thru USB ports. But there's just one 9-pin serial port (which my external modem uses).

Im still trying to fix it
mother's getting annoyed at not being able to use her Windows machine

Thanks for the help people

timod

First off, XP is a piece of sh1te if you want to configure anything.... it tries to do it
for you, and does what you don't want.*

Don't set up internet sharing or anything fecked up

(I don't have XP in front of me at the mo)

In control panels, there should be some network option or something...

in there, you're looking for "<name of network card>TCP/IP" or something.
Click properties.

In IP address put in 192.168.0.2
In Gateway put in 192.168.0.1 (your macs IP address)
In Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
DNS: you macs IP address.

That's all you need.

I have it set up between my Linux box and my Mac... my mac has the modem.


Make sure that the PC is trying to connect via the ethernet port.

BTW, if it's a newish Mac, you can use a normal ethernet cable... All the new Macs have ethernet ports that automatically switch (cool eh?)

Tim


*I don't like the pedantic nature of XP, I find it infuriating. And don't get me started on "my computer" "my network places" "my photos" arrgh.

Synkronite

Timod! I did exactly what you did and it works!! Thanks!!
Thanks everyone for your help!!

The reason why it used to say my LAN was not connected was because I had connected the ethernet cable directly from my PC to the iMac. This morning I had an idea to connect in the hub I had lying about- so there's a 4-port hub- connected the two cables into it- and voila it worked! (If that's not the reason for why it wasnt working earlier ive just made a fool of myself!)

Now my mother isnt *that* annoyed with me although she hates the imac. Anyone wanna buy a g3/400 classic imac? :P

Thanks again everyone
I really appreciate everyone's help

Have a great weekend!