How to supply broadband internet with coaxial cable?

IMac, PC, networked to Dlink Router with Cable Broadband internet

• Hardware: IMac running OS8.6, PC running Win98FE, Dlink 614+ wireless router, and 3Com cable modem. Issue: IMac is currently running the internet through the cable modem with Charter Communications service. Then I insert the Dlink router into the loop. After I get it hooked up, here is how the network is set up: IMac w/intern.NIC cable internet / coming in -->3Com cable modem-->Dlink Router--/ \ PC w/wireless NIC Ok, PC with wireless NIC is able to access the router's admin panel through internal network IP (192.168.0.1)and is able to see the internet after the initial setup of the router. But the IMac is unable to even see the Dlink router(again, through 192.168.0.1). I am using IMac's internal network interface card with TCP/IP setup connecting through DHCP (which is what the DLink router is using). We originally had some issues with hardware addresses, and apparently solved that because the PC is seeing everything just fine, but IMac is not. Question: what do I need to do to get my IMac to 1)see the Dlink router, and 2)see the internet through the router? Thank you in advance for you help.

• Answer:

  Hello Bryanz, As previously noted, each machine needs to have a unique address in your local network. What I can suggest is based on the set up in my home. I have a variety of PC's and Mac's in my home with something similar to.... Toshiba Router at 192.168.0.1, connected to my ISP via ISDN. iMac at 192.168.0.2 via DHCP [but could be fixed] PC at 192.168.0.3 (ditto) another guest machine (PC or Mac laptop) at 192.168.0.4, and so on. This is a pretty typical set up and sounds similar to what you have at your home. On the Mac, I suggest TCP/IP settings such as... Connect via Ethernet Configure Using DHCP server (remaining fields blank) for the automatic settings, or for manual settings use... Connect via Ethernet Configure Manually IP Address 192.168.0.2 (or whatever you selected) Subnet Address 255.255.255.0 Router Address 192.168.0.1 (the IP address of the router) Name Server Address (the IP address of the name server) Implicit Search Path (generally the name of your ISP) Ending Domain Name (usually blank) Additional Search Domains (usually blank) In the case of automatic settings, the IP address and other values should be set for you. If not, use the values identified above. In each try, save the configuration and quit the TCP/IP control panel before running any tests. To test your connections, I suggest using application such as "MacTCP Watcher". There is a list of good TCP tools at http://www.macintoshos.com/shareware.library/internet/mactcp.utilities.shtml It allows you to check the settings of TCP/IP, ping other machines, check routs to remote servers (trace route) as well as look up host names. MacTCP Monitor is helpful if you want to see the amount of network traffic you have. If you want to use these before getting the router figured out, hook up the iMac as you had it originally to download the files and then set it up with the router to debug your set up. Now having said that, there may be some further issues to resolve. I assume the router is set up properly for Network Address Translation (NAT) and would be providing IP addresses and other settings via DHCP. In that case, I suggest the "Configure with DHCP" setting in TCP/IP first (with all other fields blank) and add fields as necessary to match the values set on your PC. If this does not work, please use a clarification request to list the settings on the iMac, PC, and router so I can check further in the product manual to give you better suggestions. For more information or reference... Toshiba DL-614+ http://www.dlink.com/products/digitalHome/wireless/11b+/di614+/ Appletalk and TCP/IP settings (for a university) http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/tvp/ars/eaglenet/mac_network_cp.shtml http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/using/computing/macethernet.html Apple Knowledge Base Setting up an Airport Base Station (and Macintosh) http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58576 (has some suggestions that may be relevant to your router settings) A search using a phrase such as Ethernet Macintosh TCP/IP Control Panel will find a large number of helpful documents, though most are relevant to colleges or universities. --Maniac