memNOC Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 ok so after a couple weeks of banging my head on the wall (:argh: >> me in last couple weeks) trying to figure out why the 2 freaking boxes wont share the internet connection (ADSL), on one of my extensive google ventures, i stumble upon this and many more sites after that one that clearly say you need 2 NICs in order for ICS to work (or to even show itself under advanced properties.. trust me, figuring out why the hell it at least doesnt show up in there, was very frustrating, to the point that i doubted my mighty WinXP -- *bows* -- cd.. :angry:).. so anyway, after reading the whole freekin MS help service and looking through their KB, i STILL got nothing about having to use 2 NICs in the host computer for ICS to work.. so much for help from MS.. :crazy: so my question is this.. first of all, is that true? do i really need 2 cards in the host PC for it to work? i dont want to go out and buy another one if i dont need it.. and secondly, if it is needed, then what do hell do i need a hub for? my network is only of 2 PCs, btw.. also, could you give me straight-forward (dumb downed), fast, instructions on how to setup ICS and network at the same time on 2 XP boxes.. ive been using 10.0.0.2 and 10.0.0.3 as IPs for each one, respectively.. now, if i dont need a hub (i DO have one btw), how is the connection supposed to work? i connect the ADSL to one NIC in the host computer (crossover cable, right?).. then i simply connect both computers with a crossover cable as well.. a simple NIC to NIC hook up.. ? and what about the TCP/IP config? subnet class C mask (255.255.255.0)? and should the gateway be 10.0.0.1? this is the part i get mixed up.. and if its with a hub, should it be different.....? :s ghaaa i hate networking.. any help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eevoo Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 ok i can answere a couple of those. yes you need 2 nics in the host, 1 to the modem and the other to the other comp. if you have a hub i don't really see the need for ICS, unless you just want to try it. for the modem to host cable it does not need to be crossover, but i believe the other (host to client computer) one does. as far as i know ICS takes care of all the ip addressing stuff for you. hope i help some, have not done ICS in a while cause i got a router. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Veteran Posted July 31, 2003 Veteran Share Posted July 31, 2003 yes, you need 2 nics to use ics. unless you have a usb cable/dsl modem, then i think you only need 1. you need a hub to connect to your computer with ICS, so that the connection can be shared with 3 or more computers. as for setting it up, i could probably do it, but i'd run into problems since i've never actually done it. basically, plug the modem into one of the nics and setup ICS on that connection. then, plug the ethernet cable into the other nic, and attatch it to the hub (or directly to the other computer, i dunno if a crossover cable is needed). then from the hub, run another ethernet line to each additional computer. once you setup ICS on the computer with 2 nics, that computer will be configured as a DHCP server, and the other computers shouldn't need any additional configuration. but i'm not sure, you might want to run the network setup wizard in xp or from the xp cd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Veteran Posted July 31, 2003 Veteran Share Posted July 31, 2003 if you have a hub i don't really see the need for ICS, unless you just want to try it. if his ISP only gives him 1 IP (like mine) the hub won't work. he needs to setup ICS so he's running DHCP and the other computers will get private IPs through the hub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eevoo Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 so that is the difference between a hub and a router? cause i only have 1 ip now and my 3 other comps have their own private ips behind the main ip from my provider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Veteran Posted July 31, 2003 Veteran Share Posted July 31, 2003 so that is the difference between a hub and a router? cause i only have 1 ip now and my 3 other comps have their own private ips behind the main ip from my provider. yes, routers have a DHCP client (to receive the IP given by your ISP), as well as a DHCP server built in so they can create a private network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougkinzinger Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Right. You have 1 IP from ISP. Your ICS PC (call it Bob) acts as a DHCP and DNS server so PC's plugged into Bob can access the Internet thru Bob. PC 2, call it Tom, is hidden behind the 'firewall' which Bob has become by running ICS. It's really simple once you understand the basics. PM me and I can help you out if you need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eevoo Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 ahh well that explaines it then :) thanks. memNOC listen to gameguy. the only ICS i used was only useing 2 computers so i had no need for a hub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougkinzinger Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Here's a hopefully helpful ASCII drawing: [PC1 (Bob)] NIC #1 ------[DSL Modem] ------> ISP [PC1 (Bob)] NIC #2 ^ | | [PC2 (Tom)] Does that help a little? Bob acts as the gateway between your new internal network between Bob & Tom, and the Internet, between Bob and the ISP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Veteran Posted July 31, 2003 Veteran Share Posted July 31, 2003 LMAO @ the ascii :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoSigma Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 DSL and ICS. All I can say is AHHHHHHHHHHH! I hated it, never got it to work. But that was before XP ever came out. Never had the oppertunity to try it now with XP cause to relieve myself of the headaches and stop wasting my time I just bought a Cable/DSL router and was up and running in 5 mintues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petrossa Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 I had severe problems with inet sharing on XP pro. I have 2 NICS installed, i can network normally, but in no way can i get XP to inet share. Selecting the setting, results in an errormessgae. I eventually bought Syagte Home Network now it works using Sygates connector. Methinks some weird bugs need to be weeded out here. :x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougkinzinger Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 LMAO @ the ascii :laugh: Yeah...but hey, it worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pebbles Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Umm just for the sake of saying it here, seeing as no-one else has, why not get an old PC 486/p1 or something and install FreeSco (www.freesco.org) or some such Linux ICS distro, i've done this myself after bein in the same boat as you (more or less) i tried Wingate and XP's ICS and they both sucked, now i got a 486 that does my I/net connection for me and my wife, and truth be told the whole setup is pretty painless. Plus either of us can bring the connection up or down and there are a whole host of other tools i can install on it too, including my own Website etc. Just my $0.02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougkinzinger Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 DSL and ICS. All I can say is AHHHHHHHHHHH! I hated it, never got it to work. But that was before XP ever came out. Never had the oppertunity to try it now with XP cause to relieve myself of the headaches and stop wasting my time I just bought a Cable/DSL router and was up and running in 5 mintues. Yes, it used to be very tough to make work. But, as a stop-gap solution XP's ICS works well. But, like everyone's said, getting a full-fledged router solution for $50 from Best Buy or somewhere is the best option for most people. When I first got DSL, I had a proprietary PCI card. The ISP had no option of an external Ethernet-based router. Now, they do, and my life's a lot easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Derf Veteran Posted July 31, 2003 Veteran Share Posted July 31, 2003 People here have been discussing 1 NIC vs 2 NICs and routers vs ICS. Here is a summary: If you use ICS then you don't need a router. If you use a router then you don't need ICS. If you decide to use ICS you need 2 NICs in your computer that is connected to the internet (one for the Cable or DSL connection and one for your internal network). You will also, obviously, need a NIC in each of your other computers that want to share the internet. You also need to leave the computer with the internet connection on all the time if you want easy access from your client computer(s). If you decide to use a router instead of ICS then you need one NIC in every computer. It doesn't matter which computers are left on. You can get a DLink DI-604 for less than $50 these days and it does a great job. You don't need to leave any computers running and it is generally pretty easy to set up. My advice is to spare yourself the hastle and get a cheap router. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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