Problems getting local wireless to coexist with dial-up internet

  • Thread starter Thread starter The Beerslayer
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The Beerslayer

I have a laptop running Vista 32-bit (SP1). I have a small wireless network
at home, to which I have attached a print server. I use dial-up as my
primary Internet connection.

I've found that I cannot use both connections at the same time. If I am
connected to the Internet over the dial-up connection, any attempts to turn
on my wireless capability and connect to my internal network (so that I can
print to my local print server) will fail - the printer's driver cannot even
see the printer. If I am connected to the local wireless network and attempt
to connect to dial-up, I get a "local only" connection over dial-up, which of
course is completely useless to me. In order to have a successful connection
to either network, I must completely disconnect from the other one.

This doesn't seem right to me. It seems like it ought to be a fairly simple
thing to set it up so that local transactions go over the wireless network
and external transactions go over the dial-up connection, so that I don't
have to disconnect from the Internet every time I want to print something.

I have a feeling I'm doing something pretty basic wrong, but I cannot
imagine what. I've considered tinkering with the default gateway checkbox
for both networks but had to put them back to their default settings since I
cannot connect to the Internet at all when either of them is on. To further
complicate things, I sometimes use the wireless capability in locations other
than at home, so I do not want to disable Internet capability altogether over
the wireless adapter.
 
I have a laptop running Vista 32-bit (SP1). I have a small wireless network
at home, to which I have attached a print server. I use dial-up as my
primary Internet connection.

I've found that I cannot use both connections at the same time. If I am
connected to the Internet over the dial-up connection, any attempts to turn
on my wireless capability and connect to my internal network (so that I can
print to my local print server) will fail - the printer's driver cannot even
see the printer. If I am connected to the local wireless network and attempt
to connect to dial-up, I get a "local only" connection over dial-up, which of
course is completely useless to me. In order to have a successful connection
to either network, I must completely disconnect from the other one.

This doesn't seem right to me. It seems like it ought to be a fairly simple
thing to set it up so that local transactions go over the wireless network
and external transactions go over the dial-up connection, so that I don't
have to disconnect from the Internet every time I want to print something.

I have a feeling I'm doing something pretty basic wrong, but I cannot
imagine what. I've considered tinkering with the default gateway checkbox
for both networks but had to put them back to their default settings since I
cannot connect to the Internet at all when either of them is on. To further
complicate things, I sometimes use the wireless capability in locations other
than at home, so I do not want to disable Internet capability altogether over
the wireless adapter.
Click to expand...
How is the locla network set up? - with a router, hub,switch?
what is the DHCP server? - or are you using fixed IP on the network?
When you say dialup - is this a wired modem hanging off a serial port,
an internal modem, or a usb dongle or what?
can you include results of ipconfig /all for both situations in your
response, please.
(others with more knowledge than me will need this data to assist!)
 
Noel Paton said:
How is the locla network set up? - with a router, hub,switch?
Click to expand...

It's a fairly standard wireless (G) router, of the sort that can be
purchased for $30-40 at any decent electronics store (Fry's, etc.).

what is the DHCP server? - or are you using fixed IP on the network?
Click to expand...

The DHCP server is the router itself, I believe. The laptop is assigned an
IP address by the router upon startup. I have assigned a specific address to
the print server itself (192.168.1.101) which should NOT be handled by the
dial-up connection since it is not an external IP address.

When you say dialup - is this a wired modem hanging off a serial port,
an internal modem, or a usb dongle or what?
Click to expand...

Modem is built-in (internal) to my laptop. I believe the OS sees it as
"COM3".

can you include results of ipconfig /all for both situations in your
response, please.
(others with more knowledge than me will need this data to assist!)
Click to expand...

The relevant part of that file is attached below. I have obscured a few
bits that I don't think are important because I'm a paranoid git, of course.

------------------------------------------
C:\Windows\system32>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Zamboni
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

PPP adapter earthlink (multi):

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : <dial-up connection name>
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . :
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 4.246.xxx.xx (Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Ethernet adapter Internal Ethernet:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8101E Family PCI-E FE NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-xx-B8-xx-68-xx
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Internal Wireless:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : xx-1C-xx-A1-xx-55
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
 
It's a fairly standard wireless (G) router, of the sort that can be
purchased for $30-40 at any decent electronics store (Fry's, etc.).



The DHCP server is the router itself, I believe. The laptop is assigned an
IP address by the router upon startup. I have assigned a specific address to
the print server itself (192.168.1.101) which should NOT be handled by the
dial-up connection since it is not an external IP address.



Modem is built-in (internal) to my laptop. I believe the OS sees it as
"COM3".



The relevant part of that file is attached below. I have obscured a few
bits that I don't think are important because I'm a paranoid git, of course.

------------------------------------------
C:\Windows\system32>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Zamboni
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

PPP adapter earthlink (multi):

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : <dial-up connection name>
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . :
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 4.246.xxx.xx (Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Ethernet adapter Internal Ethernet:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8101E Family PCI-E FE NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-xx-B8-xx-68-xx
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Internal Wireless:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : xx-1C-xx-A1-xx-55
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Click to expand...
You didn't include the details for the case where the wireless network
is functioning. - which is kinda important :)
AFAICT everything so far looks normal.
What is the make/model of the laptop?
-and the router (although I can't see that this would make a
difference....)?
If you used the wired connection - does that work at the same time as
the modem?
I assume that you have the wireless connection set to Private in
Network & Sharing Center?
 
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