Nick601 0 Posted August 4, 2003 Hi A while ago i set up a small network for a friends business, at the time i did not have much knowledge of networks and i now feel that they are not very reliable and could do with an overhaul!! The situation is this... The company has 4 computers, 3 of the are running Windows 2000 Pro with SP4, the 4th one is running windows 98 The office has 2 HP Printers which im sharing accross the network Each computer has a Netgear NIC (FA311) and all of these are connected to a Netgear Hub There is NO central server so they are all Pier to pier I have set the network up as a WORKGROUP and i am finding that the network is very very slow also some computers are not recognised by others on the network and the printers frequently stop working over the network. Also some computers disappear from the network and when they are seen it takes ages to connect to them! SO! with the info above, is a Workgroup for 4 computers pier to pier a good idea? what can i do to make the network more reliable? can i setup pier to pier computer on a domain or do i need a server for that???? The people that work in the office do not have a vast amount of knowledge of computers so i need something that will allow the netowrk to be more reliable and for the computers and printers to be recognised all the time on the network! im really stuck with what to do to make this network work better and be more reliable!! Thanks for you time and sorry for the long post!! Nick Share this post Link to post
CyberGenX 0 Posted August 4, 2003 Are the computers on a DSL or Cable connection or do they all have modems and connect that way, or do they have internet at all? One thing you might try is to set all the computers statically. Use IPs between 192.168.0.2 - 192.168.0.254 and 255.255.255.0 for subnet, each computer with a different IP. With all the computers set to this series, they should see each other everytime and quickly. You also may want to consider installing the NetBEUI protocol, it is swift and makes a good compliment to some buggy TCP setups. Share this post Link to post
redxiii 0 Posted August 5, 2003 If you see the collision light on the hub often, try to set the speed of your network card to 100Mbs Half Duplex or 10Mbs Half Duplex, if you want to use full duplex you'll need a switch. Share this post Link to post
redxiii 0 Posted August 5, 2003 Another thing to check, enable your guest user in your win2k machine and make sure to have a firewall. The guest user is use when you are in workgroup mode but without a firewall, if you are connect to the internet, it's a big security hole!!! Share this post Link to post
Nick601 0 Posted August 6, 2003 in the office 3 out 0f 4 computers have 56k modems broadband isnt around our area yet i have also been told to buy a switch for the network and replace the hub this will make it faster apparently! Share this post Link to post
