Don't you absolutely hate it when you look for something that's been twisting you up on the internet and all you can find is posts/articles saying "It's simple, you just plug it in and it works . . . " it it's QUITE obvious to you that all that's nothing but pure BS?

Yah, so do I, and that's the posistion I find myself in.

Lil background info. . . .

I have a Chantech Zenith mobo with firewire and an ASROCK board without . . . I have an Audigy soundcard with firewire . . . I want to network the two pc's without taking up another port on my hub, so I put Audigy into the old pc, hoping to use the Firewire ports to network . . . Should be simple, so I make the changes needed, make sure all the appropriate dirvers are installed and updated, shut down both pc's, plug in the firewire cable, reboot and attempt to test the connections. . .

And nothing happens. I try to refresh the firewire network connections and get an error message to the effect of "TCP/IP is not enabled for this connection".

This stumps me for a bit, so I start to research the Audigy firewire just in case Creative's gone and done something 'non-standard' to the port . . . Which, of course, they have. So, the wife and I bite down and spend $25 on a new 3 port firewire pci card.

I return home, remove the audigy from the old pc and replace it into my main rig . . . do the appropriate reboots . . . Everything is jiving the way it should be . . . so I shut down the old machine and insert the firewire card. Windows does the hardware recognition and installation automatically . . .

So, I try the setup again, this time using static IP's for the firewire connections . . . reboot, plug in the cable, test . . . and get the same TCP/IP error . . . So, I head on out to the net again.

This time I find references to a proggie by Unibrain called FireNet. I download an eval copy and give it a test. The installation goes according to the manual up until I have to perform the first reboot . . . You reboot, bring everything back up (This is for both pc's so they are at the same stage in the game) and plug in the cable. The pc's are supposed to recognize the connection as 'new hardware' and move on to the next stage in the installation . . . But nothing happens. Luckily, the manual for FireNet covers this eventuality and gives some info about manually changing some drivers . . . so I follow the instructions . . . and can't find what the hell they are talking about . . .

The manual says to open your Device Manager, go to the View menu and change it to 'Show hidden devices' which is supposed to reveal an entry called "IEEE 1394 IP Network Enumerator". Nothing of the sort even exists on either of my computers. I've even tried manually installing it, in hopes that it's just something that windows may have missed, but doing the Add New Hardware - I'll pick the device - Show me a complete list process doesn't even show it.

So, my question (Yah, really, I mean it, after all this time, this is REALLY it!!) to any and all of you is this: Do any of you have a clue if this is something that is SUPPOSED to automatically install with the firewire drivers? Or is it a part of the FireNet installation that has gone wrong?

I've looked through the MS Knowledge base for that term, and came up with something about imbedded systems that was absolutely no help at all . . . and the only hits on the net are mostly in Japanese or about video dubbing.

Thanks a ton, pimps!

D

Have you tried running the network setup built into XP? Take the first PC that has a network connection already. Run the wizard. Choose your own way to the internet. Select This computer connects directly to the internet. The other computers on my network connect to the Internet through this comptuer. Select your lan or wireless card you use to connect to the internet. Select Let me Choose the connections to my network. Check the firewire box and finish the setup. Reboot the PC and then run the setup on the other setup. Hope it helps.

Yah, I did try that, three times, to boot. *laughs* Runs through the process fine. . . but still the same results. I've even disabled all of my ethernet cards in the control panel before running the setup wiz just to see if I can get simple file sharing on only the firewire network, all to no avail.

Shoulda remembered to list that in the grimiore of stuff already done . .. Jotting it all down from memory while at work.

Thanks for the suggestion, tho.

Quote: Originally Posted by drougnor Yah, I did try that, three times, to boot. *laughs* Runs through the process fine. . . but still the same results. I've even disabled all of my ethernet cards in the control panel before running the setup wiz just to see if I can get simple file sharing on only the firewire network, all to no avail. Shoulda remembered to list that in the grimiore of stuff already done . .. Jotting it all down from memory while at work. Thanks for the suggestion, tho.

what IPs and Subnet masks are you using?? (note, i did not ask for a gateway, because you should not need one, but we can talk more if you want to)

I'm using the internal set of 192.168.0.5 for the 'net connected pc and the other pc's using 192.168.0.6 for the secondary, both are using 255.255.255.0 for the mask.

As far as gateway, since I'm HOPING to use internet sharing, as well, I use a gateway of 192.168.0.5 on the secondary computer so it knows where to go with the DNS info (Which I plug in from my ISP).

If you're gettting an error that tcp/ip isn't enabled, are you sure you're assigning the IP addresses to the Firewire connections and not to the regular cards? As a secondary question, do you have the plug and play service on? If you're not getting the new hardware found wizard, that just may do the trick.

mrcracker: Both are good suggestions, but I'm sure of both, esp the PnP thing. If I uninstall the drivers for my firewire chips and reboot, the system autodetects and reinstalls those with no problem at all.

What I'm thinking the TCP/IP problem is stemming from is that missing Enumerator bit that I can't find ANYTHING on the internet about. The only thing I've EVER seen that references it in reference to this is the Firenet manual. I'm thinking I may have to step back to windows xp pro - No service packs - and try installing the network settings, then upgrade step by step. I'd hate to think that I can't network thru firewire because of SP1 or 2.

Edit: I would hate for this to be the problem, but I just read on a blog how someone was having an issue with an IEEE 1394 network up and dying on them, the got to looking at the card and found a power dongle shaped to fit the floppy molex connector. He plugged it in, and things worked fine . . . If I can get out of work early enough, I'll be giving that a try. Off to more reading . . .

drougnor
Are you comlpetely set on using Firewaire? Cause I was just wondering if after all the trouble with Firewire if you would be interested in trying a USB connection. You can buy a cheap USB hub (about $10 - 15), run the Windows XP network setup on each, and be up and running in no time. Was there a particular reason for using Firewire?

The biggest reason is that I THOUGHT I was all set already with the firewire ports on both my main pc's mobo, and the port on the SB Audigy card . . . Right now the main reason I'm going to keep fighting for this is that we just spent the $25 on that card . . . I know we can return it and get a USB hub, but I'm stubborn . . . *laughs*

Mostly now, tho, is that it's gotten my ire . . . I WILL figure this out . . . *laughs* Stubborn, as I said.


Edit: Hmmmm . . . Looking at USB Networking and it appears to be a bit more complicated than just using a hub. . . . from what I'm seeing, you have to have the USB equivilant of a Null Modem connector to do USB to USB networking, which does make sense to me.

I'll keep it open as a future option, but I'm gonna try hooking up that extra power lead and see where that gets me.

Can relate to the stubborn thing drougnor! Have a touch of that myself.

Quote: Originally Posted by Foe Can relate to the stubborn thing drougnor! Have a touch of that myself.

Alas, I seem to have been defeated by the 'easy' network connection over firewire . . . So, I am returning the card to the store and ordering a USB 2.0 to USB 2.0 data link cable which will actually give me 80 more mpbs over what Firewire would have. AND it's going to be about $12 cheaper than the card that's going back, to boot. Talk about a win-win, eh?

Anywho, thanks to all of you who offered suggestions and tried to help me figure this junk out.

My pc decided that the nForce Drivers were fubar last night, and it kept deciding to DROP any kind of video support . . . So, I did an emergency fix of both the nForce and Vid card drivers to patch it . . . With luck, by the time I get the system back to a fresh format and reinstall, the new cable will be in and I can finish crafting the house network. (PC's currently in the nursery, and with the lil lady at 7 months, we're almost completely OUT of time for finishing the moving and setting stuff up.

D

Sorry it did not work. Though it did not work it was not for lack of trying.

Damn skippy it wasn't! I think I spent a total of 36 hours futzing with it . . . *laughs* Welp, back to work for me.

Why on gods earth dont you use ethernet connections to network your PCS........thats kinda the point of them.


The only reason I can think might be bandwidth......

Quote: Originally Posted by aaronrkelly Why on gods earth dont you use ethernet connections to network your PCS........thats kinda the point of them. The only reason I can think might be bandwidth......

You got it in one, aaronkelly. Right now, due to the placement of our cable wiring (cable modem hookup, of course) and our Ethernet wire availability, the setup is going to basically go like so:

From the cable modem, there will be a 25 foot wire to the primary computer which acts as firewall and DHCP server. Secondary network line (50 footer) runs from the pc out to our hub. From there, there will be a 50 foot wire into our bedroom and another 30 footer into the living room for my wife's laptop (so she can hookup whereever she wants). We also have a line that is layed into our guest bedroom for my wife's best friend who is also a huge tech geek and travels with her lappy.

This setup eats up the extra length of ethernet that I usually use for my secondary pc to tie it into the network . . . But, that is just no longer an option. So, because I want the extra internal bandwidth, I introduced myself to this wonderful headache.

Hopefully this clarifies it . . . Yah, I know, as clear as mud . . . *laughs*

D

Edit - Also, I plan on messing with some parrallel processing once I get things set up properly . . . Gonna throw some good linux loving at folding, baby!