# LAN problem



## Thunder 11 (Feb 4, 2014)

I am at a wits end here. A 3 days ago, I would have a laptop connected wirelessly to a router and run an Ethernet cable from the laptop to the desktop which doesn't have wireless capabilities. All was fine, connection from the router to the laptop was solid, and there wasn't any problems in the local area connection. 

Yesterday, I turned my laptop and desktop on, as usual, and I notice the connection status has a yellow triangle with an exclamation point, the desktop has w7 and the laptop with vista. It displays the local area connection as "unidentified network" and doesn't have an internet connection. I ran diagnostics and says that local area connection doesn't have a valid IP address.

How do I go about to solve this problem without too much trouble? I'm not the best in computer smarts but can understand most things. Thanks in advance


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## brandonwh64 (Feb 4, 2014)

Does your laptop that connects to the router have internet connection?


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## Thunder 11 (Feb 4, 2014)

brandonwh64 said:


> Does your laptop that connects to the router have internet connection?


Yes, the laptop has a solid connection to the internet, it's just the desktop that is having problems


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## DRDNA (Feb 4, 2014)

Try rebooting the router yet?


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## Thunder 11 (Feb 4, 2014)

DRDNA said:


> Try rebooting the router yet?


Yep tried everything, from resetting the router to resetting the adapters in both PC's with no avail.


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## DRDNA (Feb 4, 2014)

Are you also certain you are on your own wireless?


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## kn00tcn (Feb 4, 2014)

so uh... write in an ip address manually for both comps in the ethernet adapter settings? when you said 'it' has the yellow mark, is this the laptop's ethernet adapter or the desktop's? is running ethernet from the router to desktop an option? or buying a wireless adapter for the desktop?


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 4, 2014)

So youre saying from your original post that you were using your laptop as a wifi spot? By the way for proper data transfer you need a crossover cable between the laptop and desktop. Otherwise its just like plugging a ethernet chord in one port on router and looping back around to another port on router (causes problems majorly)


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## brandonwh64 (Feb 5, 2014)

Just go to network communications and share the wireless connection to the lan connection and plug in the desktop==== profit


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 5, 2014)

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19249/how-to-assign-a-static-ip-address-in-xp-vista-or-windows-7/

read that


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## Thunder 11 (Feb 5, 2014)

brandonwh64 said:


> Just go to network communications and share the wireless connection to the lan connection and plug in the desktop==== profit


I have done this, still don't have internet


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## Thunder 11 (Feb 5, 2014)

eidairaman1 said:


> http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19249/how-to-assign-a-static-ip-address-in-xp-vista-or-windows-7/
> 
> read that


I read this, and I assume I need to assign the IP address to the desktop?


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## Thunder 11 (Feb 5, 2014)

I have done all of the aforementioned tips, enabled sharing, set a static IP on the desktop, restarted both adapters,but I still get an "unidentified network" with no internet access on the desktop


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## brandonwh64 (Feb 5, 2014)

Please do not double or triple post. We have an edit button for a reason. Thank you

My question is why is the desktop not hard wired into the router? This should be your main goal because windows share connection was not main to become a router on its own.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 5, 2014)

Yup thats what Asoka Pluglinks are for if running a wire would be too tedious. Or a wifi adapter for the desktop.

in this situation since things are broken those 2 would be the best solution so youre not hogging all bandwidth off the laptop. I mean if it was working then it failed obviously tou strained the laptops capabilities. Sometimes a driver reinstall is needed for lan adapters to work properly again.


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## Thunder 11 (Feb 6, 2014)

eidairaman1 said:


> Yup thats what Asoka Pluglinks are for if running a wire would be too tedious. Or a wifi adapter for the desktop.
> 
> in this situation since things are broken those 2 would be the best solution so youre not hogging all bandwidth off the laptop. I mean if it was working then it failed obviously tou strained the laptops capabilities. Sometimes a driver reinstall is needed for lan adapters to work properly again.


Yeah, I think I'll try to reinstall the drivers on both PC's but if that doesn't work I might as well buy a WiFi adapter, saves me a huge headache.


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## Mussels (Feb 6, 2014)

sounds like you were using ICS, aka internet connection sharing.

wifi -> laptop -> ICS -> ethernet to desktop


disable and re-enable ICS. should fix it.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 6, 2014)

the one lan chip i have known to see fail and require a driver reinstall is Atheros


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## silentbogo (Feb 6, 2014)

Have you tried bridging connections?

Bridge your wi-fi and ethernet networks:
- Network and Sharing center => Adapter Settings
- Select both connections, right click => Bridge connections
- Try assigning a static IP address to your laptop, let's say:
     IP: 192.168.1.100
     Netmask: 255.255.255.0
     Gateway: 192.168.1.1
- Then assign the following IP to your desktop:
     192.168.1.101 or whatever laptop IP is +1
     Netmask: 255.255.255.0
     Gateway: 192.168.1.1
     Alternative Gateway: 192.168.1.2

I have used this technique on several occasions form dedicated computers to sharing internet connection with Virtual Machines, and it worked.

If you do it with ICS, windows automatically changes your IP settings, so you have to check it afterwords.


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## Thunder 11 (Feb 6, 2014)

The lan cards are broadcom for the laptop and nvidia for the desktop. I will try to do the fixes mentioned above as I'm snowed in. I'll post the results

Edit: bridging the connections seems to work perfectly. You don't know how grateful I am for you guys helping. Thank you and now I can get back to some swtor hehe


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 7, 2014)

When you have the chance i highly recommend a stand alone wifi card or 200Mbps Pluglinks


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## Mussels (Feb 7, 2014)

eidairaman1 said:


> When you have the chance i highly recommend a stand alone wifi card or 200Mbps Pluglinks



or a 'wifi client router' - i got my TP link one for ~$30, and it grabs wifi, and turns it back into ethernet so you can connect multiple devices to it.


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