Can any one help me with ethernet connection

[Greolt]

Lasergoodies

I have only just now seen your post.

Thank you for taking the time.

The NIC talks just fine with the router as connected. As long as the wireless adaptor is not connected to wifi.

Should this not mean that the non crossover cable connection is good?

As for the metrics suggestion, I wil try that tomorrow.

Thanks

Greolt

[Maverick]

I'm curious if LaserGoodies post solved your problem. As I was reading the thread a voice in my head was shouting "crossover cable!" I'm glad someone finally mentioned it. A crossover cable is an old method of connecting similar devices (NIC_PC to NIC_DSP) without a networking device in between. The problem with a standard cable was the Tx and Rx were not crossed and both sides would connect Tx to Tx and Rx to Rx. Kind of hard to get anything moving, so a crossover cable flips Tx to Rx and Rx to Tx connections. That way they can receive what the other is sending.

This works when you disable your wireless because your NIC is modern and has Auto-MDIX functionality - meaning if it receives as signal on it's Tx pin, it will logically switch and transmit on Rx and listen on Tx.

The Auto-MDIX function is only required on one side of the connection, so your computer can manage this even if the DSP does not have Auto-MDIX capability.


The use of metrix as LaserGoodies suggested makes a lot of sense coming from a CCNA type (just a little good fun from another IT guy with a more server admin than Cisco background) Cisco products are built for networking... shoot they ARE networking, but sometimes you just need to go old school with a windows machine. Windows 7 is just the latest version of Windows NT after all... so you might try adding a static route. (kind of shocked a CCNA didn't head straight for the command line

Please let us know how things are going for you, LaserGoodies had some great info for you.

If you're trying this after LaserGoodies advice, then I'll assume your network card is now on a 192.168.200.x /24 subnet with your laser. If not, adjust the numbers to match:

click start > Programs > Accessories
right-click the command prompt icon and select Run as Administrator
in the command prompt window, type: route print

it will likely have a good bit of stuff listed and you may have to scroll up to see it all (especially if your WiFi is connected at the time, I'm guessing it will be so you can read this while you do this)

The first thing you should see is the Interface List. If this is a Windows 7 machine especially, you will see many listings here, most of them soft connections. Look for one that is your NIC, such as Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

make note of the first number in that row - this is your interface number
make note of the largest Metric (we want the highest for the laser so we don't look there for anything else)

next you will see a list IPv4 Route Table - Active Routes:
Look for the IP address of your laser. If it is in the list, take note of the interface listed in the route - it should match your wired connection on the PC, not your WiFi

Now we need to manually enter the route for your laser. The Syntax is:
C:\> route add <target> mask <netmask> <gateway IP> metric <metric cost> if <interface>

note: if there is more than one Network Interface and the interface is not mentioned in the routing statement, the interface is selected based on the gateway IP this means when you don't have a gateway configured on your wired NIC, it can not default there and will ask your WiFi gateway where to find it (this can and does happen even though it is on the same LAN... it's Microsoft, not Cisco... )

This is a dynamic route (and good for testing) but it will be removed when your laptop reboots. In order to make this permanent, you must make it a persistent route by adding the -P argument. The Syntax is:
C:\> route -p add <target> mask <netmask> <gateway IP> metric <metric cost> if <interface>

yours may look something like this:
assumes: (replace with actual values)
laser: 192.168.200.28
highest Metric in Active Routes: 300
interface number: 11

C:\> route add 192.168.200.28 mask 255.255.255.0 192.168.200.28 metric 350 if 11

if you typed it correctly, you'll get OK!

now this (assuming the laser is on)

C:\> ping 192.168.200.28

you should get a reply.

****************
Additional Info:
You'll set the gateway for this route as the IP address of the laser - this is not a typo. Since there is no router or networking device in the direct connection between you and the laser, the laser IP address is the only device that can respond. The Gateway is where your computer will go to, to find a path to your destination... we're sending it directly to the source. (also, a gateway is required in order to add a static route)
This will not affect your network card settings by assigning multiple default gateways to your machine, something the good advice you've been given so far was intentionally careful to avoid. This gateway will only be used when the destination matches the routing statement and therefore will not stop you from browsing LO for new parts.

if you goof it up, don't worry! you can always check what it did with C:\> route print
to remove a route
route delete 192.168.200.28 (where the IP is the IP address of the destination)

other options - let the system auto assign the Metric

C:\> route add 192.168.200.28 mask 255.255.255.0 192.168.200.28 if 11

and when it works make it permanent
C:\> route -p add 192.168.200.28 mask 255.255.255.0 192.168.200.28 metric 350 if 11

the persistent routes are stored in the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\PersistentRoutes



I would love to add a list of sites and references here, but I'm afraid it's cold in my workshop and my fingers are a bit stiff... that and I didn't use any. Feel free to Google it for more information on adding static routes in Windows.
Oh and hello, new here... just purchased my upgrade kit for my worthless K40 today and can hardly sit still waiting on the new parts.

Happy burning!

[Greolt]

I wanted to thank Maverick and LaserGoodies for their posts. Taking their time to try and help me out. I appreciate it.

Unfortunately I have been swamped with laser work (maybe that should be fortunately) and had no time to fiddle.

To add to that I have ugraded the controller. That had its own lot of issues. Mostly sorted now.

The new controller has NOT got rid of the Ethernet issues described above. Unlike the older one it does have two LED indicators on the Ethernet socket.

So I have printed out both posts and will attempt to work through their recommendations/suggestions just as soon as I can.

Thanks again

Greolt

[Greolt]

I have followed Maverick's instructions as well as I can.

Unfortunately the problem is the same. Most likely I have stuffed up somewhere.

Here is a screen grab from a "route print" which shows the result of the "route add"

The Laser IP is 192.168.2.30 and does not show up in the list. However a ping does return a result.

Does this give any clues as to what I am doing wrong?

EDIT: Looking at it again I can see that the metric of the persistent route is not the highest. 350 as against 356

When I did the first route print the highest metric was 306. Perhaps I need to set it as high as 400

It is late. I'll have another go tomorrow.

EDIT 2:

No luck. I can assign a persistent route OK. Seems no matter what value metric I assign it gets trumped when I "route print"

Any way I can't seem to get around having to disconnect wifi for communication with the laser to work.

I am going back to USB connection.

[andyseubert]

I am curious: what is the problem with the USB connection?

I would agree with Marco in that your networking would work better with a hub or switch between the dsp and your computer.

You may be right about not needing a crossover cable, but in case you're wrong, a switch can be had for under $20
http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-SF1005 ... rds=switch
and would eliminate that issue.

If you add a switch, then I think you should not need to mess with the routes as long as your DSP + ethernet are on one subnet and your wireless network is on a different one (I think two commenters also suggested this solution)

good luck!