As some of you may know (from previous posts).
I am a trainee accountant and work in a family run/owned firm in central Birmingham. One of the things which i introduced to the company was a centralised network and DSL broadband internet network, which works well and manages to help me occupy some free time (on forums like this!).

However, despite doing most of the hard work and installing all the wiring and the central routers and connection devices, we are having major problems with the actual desk top PC's and software installations on the actual personal PC's. Some are running 98, others are running 2000, and despite having XP working alongside for some time (and completely working) they decided to be non compatible and shut them selves out of the network and go offline... (for which there doesn't seem to be a fix!?)

We have had a couple of IT groups come in, and give us a system diagnosis and quote for updating and bringing in a complete system, but they either quote way off the scale or don't bother coming back.. ?? (why i don't know).. we are willing to spend the money, and i know in my mind what we are after, just for someone to come in, install localised new pc units, and synchronise one operating system across the board which can run all our software programmes (sage being the most important) and make sure all the online uploads etc work, and then provide remote (telephone) backup once the system is up and running.

You would think this would be easy to get sorted, as its a relatively easy job and wouldn't take all that long, but we can't find anyone reccomended to do it.. does anyone on here run or work for a firm who offers a service which may be suitable, or have a mate/relative who run a similar service?
Pretty much sick and tired of sorting out issues related to hardware/software clashes and just want it sorted out once and for all..

We have about 15 desktops in need of updating/replacing and with our new online sending inland revenue setup, we need this doing quite urgently.

Thanks in advance for any tips..

What is the speed of your broadband connection and how many routers/hubs are you using?

Are you windows 98 machines network enabled with software?

This could be a speed related issue or rather than a conflict issue etc

All the 98 machines are network enabled with the relavant network cards plugged in, and working effectively (all can be seen on the network) but the XP machines although still connected to the network, cannot access the internet (happens a lot) even when reconfiguring the connection, sometimes it works, but for three of the PC's they are not working and are sitting there not being used now.

We are running on ADSL Broadband, and have the connection on the ground floor of our reception, where there are 4 pc's networked through a router, then the cables come upstairs where the staff side of the office is networked through a large hub, and we have a seperate smaller router coming to our side of the office, where we have 7 PC's connected up. Our side seems to work ok, apart from my PC (my other one) which was one of the XP gyped up machines.

The 98 all work happily alongside one another, but its crap having such old pc's and everytime we have a software update or have to do anything online it becomes a real issue..

Have you tried 'repairing' the XP computer network connections?

Go into network connections and look for the relevant network connection icon. Right click on the icon and select repair...this will reset the network connections and should clear the problem.

It sounds like the XP computers are not able to assign themselves a 'DHCP' server and this will disable their ability to get onto the internet


You'll have to do this on all the XP machines separately

dunno if this helps:

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/wxpwin9x.html

Make sure all computers 'automatically obtain IP address' and do the same for the DHCP server....if you dont it will cause a conflict as the XP machines will be 'barking up the wrong tree'

Sending you a pm kam...

thanks for all the tips TC..
unfortunately, after (re) trying the repair job, it doesn't seem to make the internet work, and also the XP computers are automatically assigning IP Addresses. After countless hours of messing about with these pc's (with one right next to me now), they don't make any sense and are simply just being and won't connect..
Hence the need for a complete overhaul and synchronisation across the board we feel.
We have a guy who worked in IT before working with us, and even he is miffed at the above, and just puts it down to the computers not wanting to play together, and that half the network is prehistoric and we are trying to mate dinosaurs with new age robots so to speak..

kam100 wrote:

thanks for all the tips TC..
unfortunately, after (re) trying the repair job, it doesn't seem to make the internet work, and also the XP computers are automatically assigning IP Addresses. After countless hours of messing about with these pc's (with one right next to me now), they don't make any sense and are simply just being and won't connect..
Hence the need for a complete overhaul and synchronisation across the board we feel.
We have a guy who worked in IT before working with us, and even he is miffed at the above, and just puts it down to the computers not wanting to play together, and that half the network is prehistoric and we are trying to mate dinosaurs with new age robots so to speak..

Buy an Apple!  2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
2009 Alaska TDV8 - Gone and much missed.



WINNER - 2009 �Idler Of The Year� Award
Runner Up - 2009 �Just Doing What It�s Designed To Do� Award


DO NOT CLICK HERE!

or 20 apples..
never used one in my life..

Very annoyed wrote:

kam100 wrote:

thanks for all the tips TC..
unfortunately, after (re) trying the repair job, it doesn't seem to make the internet work, and also the XP computers are automatically assigning IP Addresses. After countless hours of messing about with these pc's (with one right next to me now), they don't make any sense and are simply just being and won't connect..
Hence the need for a complete overhaul and synchronisation across the board we feel.
We have a guy who worked in IT before working with us, and even he is miffed at the above, and just puts it down to the computers not wanting to play together, and that half the network is prehistoric and we are trying to mate dinosaurs with new age robots so to speak..

Buy an Apple!

In that case I suspect you have one main computer that is the 'allowed' to access the internet and all the other must 'share' the connection through the main computer.

I suggest letting all computers access the internet directly via a router which is connected directly to the modem or access point

kman wrote:

Very annoyed wrote:

kam100 wrote:

thanks for all the tips TC..
unfortunately, after (re) trying the repair job, it doesn't seem to make the internet work, and also the XP computers are automatically assigning IP Addresses. After countless hours of messing about with these pc's (with one right next to me now), they don't make any sense and are simply just being and won't connect..
Hence the need for a complete overhaul and synchronisation across the board we feel.
We have a guy who worked in IT before working with us, and even he is miffed at the above, and just puts it down to the computers not wanting to play together, and that half the network is prehistoric and we are trying to mate dinosaurs with new age robots so to speak..

Buy an Apple!

and then ur totally screwed!!

Yeah - but they look good! 2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
2009 Alaska TDV8 - Gone and much missed.



WINNER - 2009 �Idler Of The Year� Award
Runner Up - 2009 �Just Doing What It�s Designed To Do� Award


DO NOT CLICK HERE!

Can the machines inside the router see themselves? i.e. can a machine that can't get to the internet see a machine on the other side of the room? Has there ever been a time where all the machines on your network could get to the internet simultaneously? Your router may only support a limited number of outbound connections.

Your company looks like a prime target for a refresh. Bring all the hardware up to scratch, everyone on an identical platform. You'd see your IT costs drop considerably after the initial investment. When Microsoft themselves stop supporting operating systems (i.e. Win98), you know it's time to get off.

Edit: it also occurs to me you mention that you have a hub - do you mean hub or is it actually a switch? The differences are great in networking terms. 

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2009 'Tech-Head Of The Year' Award - Runner Up

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Yep.. we access through the main computer downstairs.. it itself is the one with the main access, and the others are setup to access the internet through that computer.

I have worked in various companies, and they have all had a network working well with an IT Support department.. working in this environment is a bit of a culture shock, and i am having to persuade my father to update.. but as we are going online with everything this year, it has become a necessity over my desires..

Shmoogle, yes you are right, all the computers appear on the intranet, and can 'see' each other, even the XP dudd ones, only the 98 ones (and one of them went pop the other week) can get online, page cannot be displayed appears as the IE home page of the XP ones.. Yes there was a time when they all worked well after the initial install and worked well for about 3 months, then one afternoon something happened (noone changed anything or messed about with anything) but the XP ones dropped off, and so did another couple of pcs. Its becoming increasingly difficult, as even our own software updates through sage etc, are becoming too fast for our dinosaurs, so its time for a change.

Thanks for the PM Kman, will get in touch after showing my father the Website details, and see what he thinks.

To be honest shmoogle again, i don't really know difference between hub/switch, but ive taken pics of all the major hardware devices and will upload them this evening, and maybe shed some more light on this..