Dual NIC - Internet connection issue

[mickboyle]

I cannot stop thinking about a problem that I was working on yesterday at a clients.

Essentially they already have a P2P small business network and I have setup a standalone (DSL) Internet PC - Internet Lake Simcoe (Canada).

They now want one other PC (on the existing network) running XP to have access to this high speed service.

I tried my (Dlink Extreme G) router and wireless PCI card and was unable to get this new unit to connect to my router (Cordless Phone) so decided to run a Cat 5 cable instead. I then installed a 2nd NIC on this PC to connect the cable to.

When I type in the gateway IP (192.168.0.1) in this PCs browser I can get to the Router Menu so IE6 is working OK but I cannot seem to get to the outside world with any regular www addresses.

The existing P2P NIC has a static address and the new NIC has been left with it's default DHCP settings.

Do you think that this is some kind of DNS issue, is there a problem trying to run 2 NICs in one XP system (and can their Internet streams be isolated i.e seperated) or do both NICS have to be set to the same static IP address (can this be done?)

I should have tried my own laptop on this new NIC cable connection but unfortunately neglected to do so.

I was rather "Snow Blind" after spending 5 hours on this issue yesterday.

Any help would be appreciated as I have to get them up and running ASAP today.

Thanks again

[Pilch]

Tried getting the network to run ok without the net? then i think you need to enable Internet Connection Sharing

[Agent Smith]

Hello mickboyle, and welcome to the Forum.

I must apologise, but this will be a really quick response, as I am on a flying visit to the Forum (It's my birthday, and I'm going out :D :P )

First things first. You cannot have the same IP address on two NIC's, it will just cause all sorts of problems.

Next, I suspect that the issue is probably the gateway settings on the IP Protocols on the NIC's. The local lan will not need a gateway address or dns entries (unless there is some info you have not posted), so I suggest that you go into the properties for the NIC on the local lan and remove any information relating to these. Then ensure that you have the correct gateway and dns settings in the properties for the NIC connected to the router (if it is on DHCP, then it should be automatic, however you may wish to disable this on the NIC and set the entire thing manually).

Forgive me, but I am not fully up on XP, and I don't have a machine to hand to check, but if the above fails, then in 2k, it is possible to set the priority of the NIC's. It should be possible in XP as well, so I would then suggest setting the "Router" NIC to be the primary interface.

Final thought, check that it is not an issue with the XP built in firewall.

Good luck, and please let me know how you get on.

Regards. Mr. Mouse.

[Agent Smith]

Just had another thought. What IP range is the local lan on? If they are on the same 192.168.0.X, then that could be an issue.

Mr. M.

[Agent Smith]

Hi again mickboyle, sorry I had half forgotten about this thread. How did you get on?

I have done some checking, and perhaps should suggest the following. Make your local NIC the primary card, and the one for the Internet the secondary one, then insert the IP Address for the secondary card as the default gateway address for the primary card. Then the primary card will know where to route the external traffic.

Mr. M.

[fragged one]

in xp it is very simple.

you run ics as mentioned earlier, and it will create a virtual network bridge between the two nics. that allows traffic to go in one nic, and out the other in one stream.

i do it all the time, as i usually have my computer as the 'router' for my home network.