[BTPH]

okay i need help from anyone who has ever set up a homeplug network

i have 2 powerline PLB1401A devices connected to 2 different computers, one in my room and one in my fathers office, they arte both connected through the ethernet port with (not the USB), ive installed the software correctly but have still had someroblems setting up the system, fristly it tells me that windows should detect the device in when u plug it in where it says found new hardware, it hasnt. ive used add enw hardware but it couldnt detect it. furthermore when trying to runm the powerline program i neter in the device passwords and it tells me that devices with that password cannot be detected, even though ive entered in the device password of the device plugged into the computer, ive also tried the other device password, the one plugged into my dads computer but that too failed, is there something im neglecting to do?

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I will start by saying that I have never set up that type of network. But as it sounds to me, normally, if you had plugged up the devices using USB, it more than likely would detect and install the new hardware. That is one of the features of USB. It's kind of like using a cable modem, the modem itself has a USB option, and you get a disk for drivers for the USB. But if you connect directly using CAT5 (ethernet cable), then you don't need those drivers. The device should have a default IP set up on the ethernet port. The documentation that comes with the devices should show that IP information. If you are connected directly via CAT5, then you should be able to access the device configuration by typing in it's IP address into an internet explorer window(given you have a like IP address). From there, you should be able to set up the device to work. If that doesn't work, try plugging in using USB and see if it detects and installs the device drivers. If it does, and it works, try hooking back up with CAT5 and see if it will detect it.

Hope this helps.

Greazy Mcgeezy

[Greazy]

I will start by saying that I have never set up that type of network. But as it sounds to me, normally, if you had plugged up the devices using USB, it more than likely would detect and install the new hardware. That is one of the features of USB. It's kind of like using a cable modem, the modem itself has a USB option, and you get a disk for drivers for the USB. But if you connect directly using CAT5 (ethernet cable), then you don't need those drivers. The device should have a default IP set up on the ethernet port. The documentation that comes with the devices should show that IP information. If you are connected directly via CAT5, then you should be able to access the device configuration by typing in it's IP address into an internet explorer window(given you have a like IP address). From there, you should be able to set up the device to work. If that doesn't work, try plugging in using USB and see if it detects and installs the device drivers. If it does, and it works, try hooking back up with CAT5 and see if it will detect it.

Hope this helps.

Greazy Mcgeezy

[BTPH]

i cant do that, the reason i mentioned the USB is becayse there is a similar device made by the same company that uses a USB instead of the network Cat-5 cables,

however i finally managed to get a reply from one of the companys ive emailed and i do not understand what im menat to do (im kind of an idiot when it comes to networking)
<Quote>
Dear Customer,

You must fix the IP address on each computer if you do not have DHCP server.
Otherwise it will not connected to each other. You can check it out by type
in the command prompt with :\> ipconfig /all to know your IP address.

Thanks.

Lim
SATO Technology
</Quote>

ive typed into the command prompt but how do i 'fix' the ip? (her words) am i meant to change the addresses so they are the same or....(cant really think of nething else)

thanks again,
ben

Edited by BTPH, 04 July 2005 - 03:55 AM.

[Hutchy]

Hi BTPH

Like Greazy I've never set up one of these device networks specifically, but I assume from your post and what they are called that they are adaptors to use normal electrical wiring to create a normal home network?

If as you say they are not USB it should just be a case of plugging the units in connecting your CAT5 cable from each of the PC's to the unit, and thats pretty much it....what you will have to do and (what the email you received means) is that each of the PC's connected to the units have to have what are called fixed ip addresses which are used to uniquely identify computers on any type of network; they usually take the form on home networks as ranges of numbers such as 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.254 etc.

What you will need to do is go the the network connection settings on each of the computers (if using Win XP or Win2K) go to Start/Control Panel/Network Connections right click on your LAN connection and select properties, highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and again select properties and tick the 'use the following ip address' box and put in a local address such as 192.168.0.1 on one machine and 192.168.0.2 on the other; they must be different addresses for it to work! You will also need to make sure that both machines are in the same Workgroup, which you can confirm by right clicking on 'My Computer' select properties again and then choose the computer name tab and you will see the workgroup which may be called just WORKGROUP or maybe MSHOME, but again this must be the same name on both machines for them to see each other.

Bit of a lengthy explanation I'm afraid and it does only scratch the surface of 'home networking' but it may nudge you back in the right direction.

Simon

[BTPH]

hey thanks, i think i can figure it out from here, just one thing i dont understand, when inputtingn the ip address in the LAN it only has space for 1 ip address then afterwards it syas subnet mask, so what do i do, say im on computer A would i put computer B's ip in and then put A's in B or should i put computer B's ip in subnet mask?

[Greazy]

Ok, the IP address field is the field that you enter the IP address for THAT computer. The subnet mask only defines what part of your IP address is the network portion, and what part is the host portion. Here is what I recommend:

The devices that you use for the homeplug system, did they come with documentation? If so, does it give you an IP address that the device defaults to? It will more than likely be a 192.168.?.? but it is very possible for that not to be the case. We will use the example that the device has an IP address of 192.168.1.1, subnet mask 255.255.255.0. The PC that you are configuring, should have an IP address of 192.168.1.100 (doesn't have to be, but this isn't a bad number to use), and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 (crucial, leave that alone), default gateway of 192.168.1.1, and DNS of 192.168.1.1. Using those settings, the computer should now be able to communicate with the device.

I will start by saying, that since I haven't had experience with this sort of network, there are a lot of uncertainties about my previous statements. I do not know how the device gets its IP assignments, or whether they are supposed to give out addresses. Depending on how this is done, you may have more configuration to do, especially if your dad's device also is set to 192.168.1.1, this would cause an IP conflict and drop connections. If you change the IP addresses for that scenario, in order for the machines to communicate, you would have to use a router or two.

This may take several more posts to get correct, but we will work with you as long as you can stand it.

Greazy Mcgeezy

[Hutchy]

Hi again

Firstly I'd like to say whoops! I forgot to mention subnet masks! I agree with Greazy again though, don't change the default subnet mask, but what you will find in configuring networks, is that after you input the ip address in the top field if you then press tab on the keyboard it will populate the subnet mask field automatically, usually with 255.255.255.0 which is fine 'as is'.

The only thing that I would query is whether the default gateway field needs to be completed, you may find that as both PC's are going to be on the same subnet (255.255.255.0) that it doesn't need to be filled in, if one of the PC's was on a seperate subnet you would need to input a default gateway for it to be forwarded on. So for the purposes of your two machines I wouldn't fill it it in!

Again, having no experience of these units it's difficult to visualise the actual mechanics of the things, so I will do a bit of guessing which again may help you with setting them up. The units that are plugged into the power sockets would I assume have their own ip addresses assigned to them (as Greazy mentioned) these addresses should be changeable by you but the default ip address should be in your documentation. What would be a good idea at this point though is to go to your start menu then click on run and in the window that comes up type in cmd.exe and then type in ping and after this put in the ip address of the powerline device, what should happen is that your machine will send a request out to this ip address asking if something there can hear it! Your powerline unit should then reply by sending a response back e.g type in ping 192.168.1.1 press enter and you should get something back like this :

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=255

If it comes back as above, this is a good thing!!

When you get to this stage I would be inclined to again check the documentation about how you change the powerline devices ip address and move to your Dad's machine, change his powerline ip address away from the default (you must have unique ip addresses for every item on a network) change his PC's ip address to a fixed number as per my previous post, and do the same test as above by trying to ping his powerline device from his machine, then the ultimate test would be to try and ping the ip address of your machine from your dad's.

You must also bear in mind with any network that you have to physically choose areas of a PC to share, for example if you right click on the hard disk or C drive in your 'My computer' folder you will see an item called 'Sharing and Security' selecting this will give you options on whether you want to share this drive and who has access etc. This technique can be used on pretty much any folder, though obviously care needs to be exercised and I wouldn't advise sharing your C drive, its more useful and secure, to only share areas such as a shared mp3 folder or shared pictures folder.

Hope you have some success with this, networking PC's can be incredibly frustrating but when it works, its fantastically useful and you won't regret going through the trauma!!

Simon