Maximum PC

Hello,

I work for a small business of five computers. We have a wireless network for internet traffic, and a wired network for file sharing. The wireless network works great for using the internet, but we are having trouble with the wired network.

The issue is being able to communicate with all of the computers on the wired network. The ability to speak with all of the computers on the network is hit or miss. Generally, computer A can speak with computer B, C, and D, but D can only speak with A. All of the letters are interchangeable; the computers are inconsistent in their ability to speak with each other.

Our network is a 100Mbit, circular set up, (at least I think it would be called a circular, or ring setup.)
To be clear, all of our computers are linked by switches, with no defined “master” computer. So, computer A is connected to a switch that connects to computers B and C, and the first switch connects to a second switch that connects more computers. There are no more than two switches between computers. Computers on the network are mostly Windows XP based, but we also have one Vista box, and one Windows 7 box.

I don’t know if this will help, but might as well throw it out there.

Thanks in advance,

Emmet,

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\****>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Conference-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NETGEAR WNA1100 Wireless-N 150 USB Adapte
r
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : E0-91-F5-56-49-80
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::7594:e64:3fa7:cf27%13(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.105(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, June 03, 2011 7:12:11 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, June 04, 2011 7:12:14 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 333484533
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-14-D6-31-8A-F8-0F-41-0B-1F-39

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 12.127.17.83
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) 82579V Gigabit Network Connectio
n #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : F8-0F-41-13-61-AA
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::6d94:e973:5ee7:4e4a%12(Preferred)
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.78.74(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 234360641
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-14-D6-31-8A-F8-0F-41-0B-1F-39

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{A2F44348-8C59-497B-98D9-D8F046B04CE9}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{2C03109E-5898-4362-A555-DD5723572D8C}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

From the ipconfig output you posted, it looks to me that the wired ethernet adapter on that machine is not receiving an IP address from DHCP. Are any of the switches on the wired network connected to a port on the router? If it is not feasible to connect at least one of the switches to the router directly, you will probably need to set static IP addresses on the wired interface for all of the machines in order for them to communicate with each other.

If you can get all of the machines wired to the router (through any number of switches), that should negate your need for the wireless access, as well (unless some of the machines are laptops that may or may not be plugged into ethernet)

If you have any questions, or if I am misunderstanding some part of your setup, please let me know!