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!
