TO THE TECH GURUS

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10-03-2009, 06:21 PM
Bretsky

TO THE TECH GURUS

I last did this 6 years ago and now it's time to redo the wirless setup. I have a stupid question that I want to verify.

I bought a new PC for our main office

The PC in the mind office (that is linked to the wireless router) is going up to my daughter's room. The goal is for that PC to be able to access the Internet.

The new PC has an internal modem, network card, and will be connected to a new wireless router.

A FEW QUESTIONS

1. Does my daughter's PC upstairs have to have modem on it ? I'm pretty sure it does not but want to make sure. I think it just needs a network card (I bought this today too) that sees the network.

2. On the current setup I used an external modem with the five year old PC. The new PC has an internal modem and a wireless card in it. Does it make sense to connect the new wirelss router to the internal modem (I think this makes the most sense) ...........or it is more advantageous to use an external modem with the new PC as well.
10-03-2009, 06:51 PM
red

MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what have you done???????????????
10-03-2009, 07:20 PM
retailguy

Re: TO THE TECH GURUS

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bretsky

I last did this 6 years ago and now it's time to redo the wirless setup. I have a stupid question that I want to verify.

I bought a new PC for our main office

The PC in the mind office (that is linked to the wireless router) is going up to my daughter's room. The goal is for that PC to be able to access the Internet.

The new PC has an internal modem, network card, and will be connected to a new wireless router.

A FEW QUESTIONS

1. Does my daughter's PC upstairs have to have modem on it ? I'm pretty sure it does not but want to make sure. I think it just needs a network card (I bought this today too) that sees the network.

2. On the current setup I used an external modem with the five year old PC. The new PC has an internal modem and a wireless card in it. Does it make sense to connect the new wirelss router to the internal modem (I think this makes the most sense) ...........or it is more advantageous to use an external modem with the new PC as well.

You need a wireless network card for the PC going to your daughters room.
10-03-2009, 07:35 PM
superfan

Re: TO THE TECH GURUS

Are you on high speed internet (dsl or cable) or wireless? Cable modems and dsl modems are different animals than internal modems - an internal modem is only good for dial up internet access and phone/fax capabilities, not high speed.

I'm going to assume you have high speed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bretsky

1. Does my daughter's PC upstairs have to have modem on it ? I'm pretty sure it does not but want to make sure. I think it just needs a network card (I bought this today too) that sees the network.

A network card is fine as long as you have a cable you can plug into it that connects with the rest of your home network. Otherwise you will need a wireless card for your daughter's PC to connect to the new wireless router.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bretsky

2. On the current setup I used an external modem with the five year old PC. The new PC has an internal modem and a wireless card in it. Does it make sense to connect the new wirelss router to the internal modem (I think this makes the most sense) ...........or it is more advantageous to use an external modem with the new PC as well.

Shouldn't need to connect anything to the new PC since it came with a wireless card - you can configure the wireless card to connect to the wireless router - no cables necessary.

If the new PC has separate network and wireless adapters, and you don't have any means of plugging the old PC into a network cable, you can take the wireless card out of the new PC and put it in the old one, and plug the new PC directly into your wireless router. The internal modem won't do anything for you unless you have dial up internet, so be sure to plug the cable from the router into the network adapter, not the internal modem. The internal modem has a smaller jack, like a traditional phone line connector, and the network adapter has a wider jack.

If you do move the wireless card from one computer to another, you will need to install drivers on the old computer to get it to work.

Ahem - don't forget to clear out your browser history before giving the PC to your daughter. :wink:
10-03-2009, 08:22 PM
Bretsky

Re: TO THE TECH GURUS

Quote:

Originally Posted by retailguy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bretsky

I last did this 6 years ago and now it's time to redo the wirless setup. I have a stupid question that I want to verify.

I bought a new PC for our main office

The PC in the mind office (that is linked to the wireless router) is going up to my daughter's room. The goal is for that PC to be able to access the Internet.

The new PC has an internal modem, network card, and will be connected to a new wireless router.

A FEW QUESTIONS

1. Does my daughter's PC upstairs have to have modem on it ? I'm pretty sure it does not but want to make sure. I think it just needs a network card (I bought this today too) that sees the network.

2. On the current setup I used an external modem with the five year old PC. The new PC has an internal modem and a wireless card in it. Does it make sense to connect the new wirelss router to the internal modem (I think this makes the most sense) ...........or it is more advantageous to use an external modem with the new PC as well.

You need a wireless network card for the PC going to your daughters room.

Yup, I got that I think; bought a Belkin Card today for $39 that plugs into a slot on the back of her PC. Thanks,
10-03-2009, 08:26 PM
Bretsky

Re: TO THE TECH GURUS

Quote:

Originally Posted by superfan

Are you on high speed internet (dsl or cable) or wireless? Cable modems and dsl modems are different animals than internal modems - an internal modem is only good for dial up internet access and phone/fax capabilities, not high speed.

I'm going to assume you have high speed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bretsky

1. Does my daughter's PC upstairs have to have modem on it ? I'm pretty sure it does not but want to make sure. I think it just needs a network card (I bought this today too) that sees the network.

A network card is fine as long as you have a cable you can plug into it that connects with the rest of your home network. Otherwise you will need a wireless card for your daughter's PC to connect to the new wireless router.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bretsky

2. On the current setup I used an external modem with the five year old PC. The new PC has an internal modem and a wireless card in it. Does it make sense to connect the new wirelss router to the internal modem (I think this makes the most sense) ...........or it is more advantageous to use an external modem with the new PC as well.

Shouldn't need to connect anything to the new PC since it came with a wireless card - you can configure the wireless card to connect to the wireless router - no cables necessary.

If the new PC has separate network and wireless adapters, and you don't have any means of plugging the old PC into a network cable, you can take the wireless card out of the new PC and put it in the old one, and plug the new PC directly into your wireless router. The internal modem won't do anything for you unless you have dial up internet, so be sure to plug the cable from the router into the network adapter, not the internal modem. The internal modem has a smaller jack, like a traditional phone line connector, and the network adapter has a wider jack.

If you do move the wireless card from one computer to another, you will need to install drivers on the old computer to get it to work.

Ahem - don't forget to clear out your browser history before giving the PC to your daughter. :wink:

OK; this all makes sense and it DID remind me of one thing I completely forgot.

YES, I do have Cable Internet.

So if I'm not mistaken, like it is now I need to use the cable modem with the new PC and then connect that to the new Router as well.

Is this correct ?

I did buy a new wireless card to install into my daughters computer upstairs so I should be OK there.

The 6 year old is unhappy now that she won't have her own PC in her room. Gosh kids are spoiled these days :!:
10-03-2009, 08:29 PM
Bretsky

Quote:

Originally Posted by red

MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what have you done???????????????

I'm not sure; but if you don't hear from me in a week you'll know exactly why :!:
10-03-2009, 10:51 PM
superfan

Re: TO THE TECH GURUS

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bretsky

OK; this all makes sense and it DID remind me of one thing I completely forgot.

YES, I do have Cable Internet.

So if I'm not mistaken, like it is now I need to use the cable modem with the new PC and then connect that to the new Router as well.

Is this correct ?

I did buy a new wireless card to install into my daughters computer upstairs so I should be OK there.

The 6 year old is unhappy now that she won't have her own PC in her room. Gosh kids are spoiled these days :!:

Sounds right to me. If you need help, I'll set it up for you for $500 plus beer and travel expenses. 8-)
10-03-2009, 10:56 PM
Bretsky

Re: TO THE TECH GURUS

Quote:

Originally Posted by superfan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bretsky

OK; this all makes sense and it DID remind me of one thing I completely forgot.

YES, I do have Cable Internet.

So if I'm not mistaken, like it is now I need to use the cable modem with the new PC and then connect that to the new Router as well.

Is this correct ?

I did buy a new wireless card to install into my daughters computer upstairs so I should be OK there.

The 6 year old is unhappy now that she won't have her own PC in her room. Gosh kids are spoiled these days :!:

Sounds right to me. If you need help, I'll set it up for you for $500 plus beer and travel expenses. 8-)

ONE HOUR LATER; most seems to be working.

Since I'm a PC dummy I just put the PC's side by side and plugged and unplugged spots in.

It automatically detected the old Linksyss Router and connected to the Net.

Now I have to try to get my daughter to log up from upstairs as well.

In the past three months I've had a lot of drops with the old Linksyss Router. I always blamed the router but I guess there was a chance it was the PC. I think I'll give it a couple days to see if I have the same issues.

I bought a new router but I'm a cheapie so I must might return the thingie if it stays connected with the new setup
10-04-2009, 02:50 PM
Scott Campbell

I finally paid to have my house retrofitted with Cat5 network cable. I got tired of intermittent wireless reliability, and I get a lot better throughput on wired setup.

I'll know better on new construction.
10-07-2009, 11:21 AM
Guiness

Mmm. I agree SC.

Wireless, IMO, is temporary until you can lay nice, reliable and secure wires. And for friends that drop by with laptops.

Once you've figured out where you want that pc to live, put a GD network drop there.