Wireless ad hoc problems

[saber07]

I am trying to connect two wireless pci cards in ad hoc mode, so that I can use the internet on my other computer without having to buy a router. However, the cards can see each other and seem to connect ok, but the computer in the other room that does not have internet is not able to obtain an ip address all the time. Sometimes it will obtain an ip, but the ip of the gateway computer with internet doesn't show up and I can't use the net.

But every once and a while, they will seem to work and be fine for a few hours, but then the connection will like go dead, it still says its connected, but they dont talk back and forth. I've messed around with ipconfig, trying to /release /renew, but I get an error back saying that it couldnt resolve the the DHCP server.

I've also given both computers static ips and defined the gateway on the other comp. This seemed to work for a little bit, but then just stopped working and I havent been able to reconnect properly again.

Also, when they are connected, I can access all the files on the no internet comp, but not vice versa. I am using administrator on both comps and have configured the share rights properly I believe, allowing everyone access, but still no go.

The two cards I'm using are a US robotics turbo PCI 802.11g and an xterasys pci 802.11b. Could the two different cards have anything to do with it?

Any help would be appreciated.

edit. forgot to mention that I have also disabled WZC and I get a better chance of connecting, but still nothing solid.

 

[MChief]

Restrict your G card to B-only. Also try the connection with no encryption whatsoever just for testing purposes. If you have any "intelligent" firewalls on either end, they may arbitrarily decide that the traffic from the other system is malicious. Disable them (on the internal connections only) and see how things work.

Naturally, only use this as a process of elimination. Do one thing at a time and see if it has any affect. Once you isolate the issue you need to secure your setup.

The file sharing issue is probably permissions related. Make sure that both Share and NTFS permissions (Sharing tab and Security tab when you rt-click/properties a folder) are set appropriately.

Another thing to try is switch the computers places, and see if the "no internet" computer randomly stops connecting to the internet. Could be some malware or something else goobering things up.

Oh yeah, update drivers, etc. Thats always fun.

 

[saber07]

heh, I got the internet working a week or so ago , forgot to update the thread though. I , however, am still trying to get the sharing working properly and have started another thread on that. Thanks for the suggestions though, I think the problem was in old drivers and the WZC service, I also set static ips/gateways/dns and that seemed to work.