Another Super hub problem

bushiee · 24-02-2011, 18:32

I have had my super hub for 3 days now and todays problem is I cant see any other pc/laptop on my network.

Before the "superhub" I had a normal virgin modem and a linksys wireless router.

Both PC's and 3 laptops were all visable to each other (all on win7) and able to share music,videos,photos ect, But lo and behold along comes the "superhub" and nothing is visable anymore.
Anybody have any idea or why this has happened?

I have tried turning off the "superhub" firewall (which coincidntally my linksys had a firewall which was on all the time and never caused a problem) but that didnt help. So is there some other setting I need to change so all the pc's and laptops can once again see each other and share files.

cheers

---------- Post added at 19:32 ---------- Previous post was at 19:08 ----------

Just to let you know I can actually see the pc's on each pc but its the laptops on the wireless network that cant be seen

Mick Fisher · 24-02-2011, 20:45

Wierd! Happened to me too.

I found my software firewalls (Private Firewall) on both machines were blocking each other. I could ping the superhub and my NAS from both machines but not PC to PC.?

I've been through the firewall settings with a fine tooth comb and no way can I unblock the PC's.

I have had to set 'allow' system instead of 'filter' on both firewalls to get back to the status quo.

Strangely I had the same set up using the ordinary Hub for ages and it was quite stable. Swap the ordinary hub with the Superhub and I seem to spend most of my time trying to sort out inexplicable glitches like this.

Various firewalls I have used over time, have detected the IP address of the gateway as the IP address of my network. This includes the ordinary hub. However on installing the Superhub the network address detected is 192.168.0.0. From the firewall logs the IP of the computer being blocked had changed from 192.168.0.3 to 192.168.0.255. I have both PC's set to staic addresses and DHCP is switched off.

I have to admit I really have no idea what is going on with this. Maybe the Superhub is just an innocent bystander?

foddy · 24-02-2011, 21:29

A lot of gateways have a "guest" network which gives Internet access, but not access to your network. I believe the superhub is capable of doing this - if so, make sure you're connected to the right SSID!

bushiee · 25-02-2011, 16:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by foddy

A lot of gateways have a "guest" network which gives Internet access, but not access to your network. I believe the superhub is capable of doing this - if so, make sure you're connected to the right SSID!

Just checked in the settings and as far as I can see "guest network" isn't enabled.

As for firewalls I have the "superhub" firewall and the windows 7 firewalls enabled on all machines 2 x PC and 3 x laptop and the PC's can see each other but the lappy's (on wireless) cant.

Tried turning all firewalls off but Still no change.

When I do RUN the \\ellie-laptop I get the message "Windows cannot access \\ellie-laptop"
Then the trouble shooting box says "problems found" "windows canot find a computer or device named ellie-laptop" then at the side it says "detected" with a little yellow tringle with ! in the middle.

I am begining to wonder if I should just send the so called "superhub" back and revert to what worked before hand.

foddy · 25-02-2011, 20:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by bushiee

Just checked in the settings and as far as I can see "guest network" isn't enabled.

As for firewalls I have the "superhub" firewall and the windows 7 firewalls enabled on all machines 2 x PC and 3 x laptop and the PC's can see each other but the lappy's (on wireless) cant.

Tried turning all firewalls off but Still no change.

When I do RUN the \\ellie-laptop I get the message "Windows cannot access \\ellie-laptop"
Then the trouble shooting box says "problems found" "windows canot find a computer or device named ellie-laptop" then at the side it says "detected" with a little yellow tringle with ! in the middle.

I am begining to wonder if I should just send the so called "superhub" back and revert to what worked before hand.

Again, I should say that I've not got a superhub, so if it's a superhub-related problem this may not help.

Check that the two computers which can't see each other are on the same subnet. You can see the IP address with ipconfig (run it in a command prompt).
See if you can ping the IP addresses from the other PC. If you can't, then it looks like your networks are isolated.
If you can, then it sounds like you have a name resolution problem, you would then be able to access the PC with the IP address, e.g. \\192.168.1.24

It's a little tricky - there are two potential problems - that you can't connect to the other computer, or you could, but can't resolve its name.

If it's the latter, then take a look on the superhub for broadcast settings. Make sure that your netmasks are the same on both computers (they'd normally be 255.255.255.0).

If the former, check you're connecting to your own superhub! ;-)

Mick Fisher · 25-02-2011, 20:31

Try switching off your software firewalls and see what you've got.

This same problem started on my machines a couple of days ago. I really haven't figured out what's going on but I think the superhub is involved somehow.

Although I have assigned static IP's to both computers and the NAS, the firewall logs show blocked pings from 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.255, of course 192.168.0.255 should be 192.168.0.3. Strangely the NAS on 192.168.0.4 is not affected. Other wierdity is firewall auto-detects the network on 192.168.0.0 using the Superhub. Using other routers it is detected with the same IP as the gateway. Seems the Hub might have it's knickers in a twist.

In the meantime I have had to manually 'Allow' all system services on the firewalls on both machines to get my network up and running.

I think a pin-hole reset and then set-up everything again from scratch may be the only way to sort this mess out.

I'm getting really fed up tinkering with it. I've had nothing but problems of one kind or another since I installed it.

I had an ordinary Hub before and it was quite stable.

foddy · 25-02-2011, 20:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

Although I have assigned static IP's to both computers and the NAS, the firewall logs show blocked pings from 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.255, of course 192.168.0.255 should be 192.168.0.3. Strangely the NAS on 192.168.0.4 is not affected. Other wierdity is firewall auto-detects the network on 192.168.0.0 using the Superhub. Using other routers it is detected with the same IP as the gateway. Seems the Hub might have it's knickers in a twist.

192.168.0.255 will be your network's broadcast address. You shouldn't be pinging that directly (although broadcast ping is possible). What you might be seeing is netbios name lookups being blocked which will be broadcast.

With Windows 7, make sure you designate your network as "home" rather than public or work.

Mick Fisher · 25-02-2011, 21:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by foddy

192.168.0.255 will be your network's broadcast address. You shouldn't be pinging that directly (although broadcast ping is possible). What you might be seeing is netbios name lookups being blocked which will be broadcast.

I am not pinging it directly. 192.168.0.2 is unsuccessfully pinging 192.168.0.3 or vice versa. Firewall log reports: blocked 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.255 or 192.168.0.3 to 192.168.0.255 blocked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by foddy

With Windows 7, make sure you designate your network as "home" rather than public or work.

It's wired XP and wireless Vista. Network is designated Home.

Take the software firewalls out of the equation and all is well which kind of points to the hub as an innocent party but I had the same set-up using a wrt54g2 and then the ordinary hub and it was perfectly stable.

foddy · 26-02-2011, 07:36

If your firewall is blocking broadcast, then that will be a problem. NetBIOS name lookups broadcast on your LAN to discover the IP address of the name you're trying to access.

Unless you have a HOSTS/LMHOSTS entry for the name, you then wouldn't be able to resolve it to an IP address and so couldn't access it by name.

Chrysalis · 26-02-2011, 10:59

was your old lan on the same subnet?

Mick Fisher · 26-02-2011, 14:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

was your old lan on the same subnet?

Yes but was detected as 192.168.0.1/255.255.255.0

After introducing SuperHub it's detected as 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0

Ipconfig still shows the gateway as 192.168.0.1

Pings are returned from 192.168.0.1

Pings are not returned from 192.168.0.0

---------- Post added at 15:22 ---------- Previous post was at 15:16 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by foddy

If your firewall is blocking broadcast, then that will be a problem. NetBIOS name lookups broadcast on your LAN to discover the IP address of the name you're trying to access.

Unless you have a HOSTS/LMHOSTS entry for the name, you then wouldn't be able to resolve it to an IP address and so couldn't access it by name.

Thanks for the help but I will have to do a bit of research into HOSTS/LMHOSTS and NetBIOS before I am able to make a sensible reply. It's starting to get a bit out of my depth.

Mick Fisher · 27-02-2011, 16:39

Update:

Early days I know but I just re-installed Private Firewall on both machines and it seems to be working properly on default settings. These are fresh installs with no settings carried over.

After thinking about it I can think of three things that could have upset the apple cart.

1) I upgraded Version 7.0.22.8 to the latest 7.0.23.3 on my xp desktop but never got round to doing the same on my vista laptop.
2) The Introduction of Virgin Media Superhub to my set-up.
3) For some reason the Pingtest.net test will not complete the packet loss section on my desktop. I experimented by opening some ports in PF. Didn't work so I put things back as they were and stopped trying to run the packet loss test.

It could be a combination of all three but I only discovered it after 3) so maybe the new settings I made screwed it up royally. The problem with that explanation is that issue occurred at the same time on BOTH machines. That also makes 1) unlikely so I am back to 2).

Anyway I didn't like the current version of PF so have gone back to Version 7.0.22.8 on both machines.

My network is still being detected on 192.168.0.0 when the Gateway IP is 192.168.0.1. All the routers I've used before have detected the network on the same address as the Gateway.

Does the Modem of the Superhub have a different IP to the router section. I note, in the Block Ports section 192.168.0.0 or 192.168.0.1 cannot be selected. So you cannot block ports to your network but only to individule machines. If you have a lot of machines and want to block a port on your network that makes for a somewhat tedious
job.

I also note I never get any entries in the Superhub log section. Is that something else on it that doesn't work or is it because I have firewall services disabled?

Still not happy but will see what occurs.