Replies

All the best solutions are simple ones. Many thanks, Mr Scher.

My only remaining worry is to worry about why I didn’t think of that solution myself!

I don’t thinkl I want to know that!

I don’t thinkl I want to know that!

Many thanks jscher. I tested it on my own laptop and it works. I will do it on the subject PCs tomorrow because I have packed up the kit ready for delivery in the morning.

Many thanks jscher. I tested it on my own laptop and it works. I will do it on the subject PCs tomorrow because I have packed up the kit ready for delivery in the morning.

I have two profiles on my laptop and I don’t actually lose the connection when my son takes over from me, although the connection icon in the notification area now has a red X through it! Even though the network is apparently lost, it still works. This is a definite bug in XP, acknowledged by Microsoft. The bug also shows if I hibernate. The network connection is apparently missing when I wake up. However, this is a fake error and the network works perfectly.

There is an article (number 810020) on the web site “support.microsoft.com” that describes the problem. It is not an exact fit to my case, but it’s close enough for jazz.

One other thing: I use the ‘fast user switching’ feature of XP. I would expect your son to use this as well because it is turned on by default. However, if it is off then I have no idea whether or not this affects the network connection when switching profiles. However, as an ex-programmer of too may years of experience to mention, it is not unlikely.

Go to Control Panel. Select ‘User Accounts’. Select ‘Change the way users log on and off.’ You will see a check box that lets you turn on or off fast user switching.
Turn it on.

Your son corrects his problem by turning off power to the cable modem/router. Has he tried going into the Connections (from the control panel) and first disabling then enabling the connection? This might be sufficient to fix the problem and the rest of the family won’t be disturbed.

I have two profiles on my laptop and I don’t actually lose the connection when my son takes over from me, although the connection icon in the notification area now has a red X through it! Even though the network is apparently lost, it still works. This is a definite bug in XP, acknowledged by Microsoft. The bug also shows if I hibernate. The network connection is apparently missing when I wake up. However, this is a fake error and the network works perfectly.

There is an article (number 810020) on the web site “support.microsoft.com” that describes the problem. It is not an exact fit to my case, but it’s close enough for jazz.

One other thing: I use the ‘fast user switching’ feature of XP. I would expect your son to use this as well because it is turned on by default. However, if it is off then I have no idea whether or not this affects the network connection when switching profiles. However, as an ex-programmer of too may years of experience to mention, it is not unlikely.

Go to Control Panel. Select ‘User Accounts’. Select ‘Change the way users log on and off.’ You will see a check box that lets you turn on or off fast user switching.
Turn it on.

Your son corrects his problem by turning off power to the cable modem/router. Has he tried going into the Connections (from the control panel) and first disabling then enabling the connection? This might be sufficient to fix the problem and the rest of the family won’t be disturbed.

No-one can translate your MAC address into an IP address. There is no permanent relationship between the MAC address and the IP address. The MAC address is burned in to the ethernet chip on your PC by the manufacturer. It is unique, globally. I am still amazed at this fact even though I learned it many years ago. Your IP address can come from one of several sources. Having said that, and being sure of my facts so far, I’m not an expert in the allocation of IP addresses so I’ll stop at this point.

My home network has a modem/router connected to the ISP and a short length of ethernet cable joins it to the Access Point. I believe that If your home network is similar, read on. Note that I don’t use software like DHCP that automatically allocates IP addresses. Mine were allocated manually. If you are using DHCP, then my answer won’t work for you at all.

My Taiwanese modem/router came with a default IP address of 192.168.7.1. I therefore allocated 192.168.7.2 and 192.168.7.3 to the two laptops we have at home. Did you do something similar?

I seem to recall that 192.168.x.y is reserved for things like home networks. It would only take a few minutes to run through most of the likely values of x and y in IE. Try values for x of 0 through 9 with 0 and 1 for y. (I wouldn’t be surprised if someone told me that zero wasn’t allowed. However, my memory is very rusty on this level of detail.)

No-one can translate your MAC address into an IP address. There is no permanent relationship between the MAC address and the IP address. The MAC address is burned in to the ethernet chip on your PC by the manufacturer. It is unique, globally. I am still amazed at this fact even though I learned it many years ago. Your IP address can come from one of several sources. Having said that, and being sure of my facts so far, I’m not an expert in the allocation of IP addresses so I’ll stop at this point.

My home network has a modem/router connected to the ISP and a short length of ethernet cable joins it to the Access Point. I believe that If your home network is similar, read on. Note that I don’t use software like DHCP that automatically allocates IP addresses. Mine were allocated manually. If you are using DHCP, then my answer won’t work for you at all.

My Taiwanese modem/router came with a default IP address of 192.168.7.1. I therefore allocated 192.168.7.2 and 192.168.7.3 to the two laptops we have at home. Did you do something similar?

I seem to recall that 192.168.x.y is reserved for things like home networks. It would only take a few minutes to run through most of the likely values of x and y in IE. Try values for x of 0 through 9 with 0 and 1 for y. (I wouldn’t be surprised if someone told me that zero wasn’t allowed. However, my memory is very rusty on this level of detail.)

This addresses your question about the indexing service:

1. Bring up the Properties of the hard disk (eg run Windows Explorer and right click on the drive letter).
2. Look for the box labelled “Allow Indexing Service on this disk for fast file searching”
3. Uncheck it.
4. Click on OK or Apply
5. Expect to see another window asking if you want to apply this setting to all sub-folders. Click on Yes. You may have to wait longer for this to complete than you had expected.

I have no idea if FASTFIND will still be invoked at boot-up time, but it certainly won’t have so much work to do!

Now let me offer a suggestion for your original problem which is probably not relevant. I re-installed Windows on my laptop and I was inundated by slow screen refreshes every time I scrolled down. This was immediately and completely solved by installing the correct driver for my screen.

I hope some of this helps.

This addresses your question about the indexing service:

1. Bring up the Properties of the hard disk (eg run Windows Explorer and right click on the drive letter).
2. Look for the box labelled “Allow Indexing Service on this disk for fast file searching”
3. Uncheck it.
4. Click on OK or Apply
5. Expect to see another window asking if you want to apply this setting to all sub-folders. Click on Yes. You may have to wait longer for this to complete than you had expected.

I have no idea if FASTFIND will still be invoked at boot-up time, but it certainly won’t have so much work to do!

Now let me offer a suggestion for your original problem which is probably not relevant. I re-installed Windows on my laptop and I was inundated by slow screen refreshes every time I scrolled down. This was immediately and completely solved by installing the correct driver for my screen.

I hope some of this helps.

Thanks for your reply, StuartR.

I have documentation for my Wireless Access Point (model WL008 from Solwise who have quite an educational and informative site at http://www.solwise.co.uk). I cannot see any reference in it to wireless network encryption. However, one of the screen shots shows the Bridge Manager screen and this has a prompt for Wireless Security. A quick phone call to Solwise a few seconds ago told me that this is where I type the encryption key.

So, apart from actually doing it, I think I know what to do. Many thanks for your help. You have given me the confidence to try it.

By the way, I am short of literature or links to sites explaining WiFi although I have read and mostly understood whatever I’ve found so far. Do you happen to know a site that explains what is the purpose of the switch on the back of my Access Point (or do you know the answer yourself). It has two positions: WiFi and Multimedia (Whitecap). The documentation mentions its existence, but it was trial and error on my part that led to my selecting the WiFi position.

Thanks for your reply, StuartR.

I have documentation for my Wireless Access Point (model WL008 from Solwise who have quite an educational and informative site at http://www.solwise.co.uk). I cannot see any reference in it to wireless network encryption. However, one of the screen shots shows the Bridge Manager screen and this has a prompt for Wireless Security. A quick phone call to Solwise a few seconds ago told me that this is where I type the encryption key.

So, apart from actually doing it, I think I know what to do. Many thanks for your help. You have given me the confidence to try it.

By the way, I am short of literature or links to sites explaining WiFi although I have read and mostly understood whatever I’ve found so far. Do you happen to know a site that explains what is the purpose of the switch on the back of my Access Point (or do you know the answer yourself). It has two positions: WiFi and Multimedia (Whitecap). The documentation mentions its existence, but it was trial and error on my part that led to my selecting the WiFi position.

Thanks SMBP. In fact I did mention in an earlier post answering Bruce Krymow that I actually had a copy of Dart CD recorder and I was merely too lazy to instal it just for this one recording session.

Thanks again for your interest and iput.

Thanks SMBP. In fact I did mention in an earlier post answering Bruce Krymow that I actually had a copy of Dart CD recorder and I was merely too lazy to instal it just for this one recording session.

Thanks again for your interest and iput.