okay i have two computers in my house and they are both connected to the internet..they both share a connection...they are hooked up to an "Actiontec" "Wirless-Ready DSL Gateway" well my problem is thati can't share any files on either computer... and my question is shouldn't the DSL Gateway act as a hub? and another question is that if it doesn't then do i hafta go get a hub? and is that all i need? thanks a bunch inadvanced (both computers use XP home)

Hello RavenousDespair.

This should be acting as a router using DHCP of some sort as well. If you go to the command prompt and type in ipconfig, does it give you an address on your computers like 192.168.0.1?

Also, have you enabled file sharing on your computers? Then did you make the folders shareable that you want to share? Do you have the same logons/passwords on both computers?

If you aren't sure on any of these, let us know and we will give you more detailed instructions.

Cheers,
d

yes it did give me an ip..and also i did a "Run->'command'->'ping (ip address of the other computer)" and it said timed out...um i did share the folders (the ones that i want) BUT i didn't do that login thing...(accounts)

Lets work on the ping first of all because if it is timing out, the computers aren't seeing each other. These should be private IP addresses, so what are the two addresses that you are getting?

well ya see networking..is my worst subject on computers bc i've never setup a network before..everything else i'm generally good at..well first off at the command prompt i typed in "ipconfig" and got 3 different numbers..Ip Address, Subnet mask, default gateway..the number that i pinged was the Ip address....two different addresses? hmm well i'm getting three but i'm not exactly sure what you are asking...

I would like to add one thing here whenever I redo my home PC's I have this same problem. I always forget to disable XP build-in firewall. If you go to My Network Places and right click then go to properties then right click over local Area Connection and properties again a box will pop up called Local Area Connection Properties at the top will be three tabs click on the advanced you will see a check box that says "Protect my computer and network by limiting and preventing access to this computer from the Internet." make sure this box is unchecked. I always forget to do that and I have the same problem the computer can't see my network.

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If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.

LOL oh yeah let me do that real quicky here..

OMG it worked lol thanks man...but i'll reply if i still can't share folders and stuff again thanks

yepppppp it work again i must thank you for reminding to check that little box

I can't tell you HOW many times that I have forgotten to uncheck that stupid little box. I have spent hours trying to think of what can be wrong only to see that after all my problems that little box is still checked. Well I glad that was the problem and that you got it fixed.

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If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.