[OT] Wireless sile sharing
Dennis
who read this group are familiar with wireless routers and their setup.
A nearby lightning strike appears to have disabled my PC's hardwired LAN
port. But I can still access my cable modem via the Linksys WRT54G's
wireless feature.
I had several PC's wired to the router via the switched ports and was
using netbeui to share files and printers. But now that I am going
wireless, I don't seem to be able to see the other PCs on the home
network. Is this not possible with wireless? Or is there a setting
somewhere that I am missing.
I am using XP sp2.
TIA,
--
Dennis
Dennis
sharing".
$Bill
>
> What happened last evening was really strange. Lightning struck a tall
> wild cherry tree in my neighbor's back yard ... probably 150 feet from
> our house. The DirecTV HD receiver died (wouldn't even power up) but the
> other two non-HD receivers are fine. Both PCs that were hardwired to the
> router lost connectivity. At first I thought either the cable modem or
> the router got fried. But I hooked an older PC up to the router and it
> connected to the internet just fine. So it looks like both PCs that were
> connected to the router when the lightning struck have lost their NICs.
>
> Go figure...
Just out of curiosity, do you have a grounding block where your cable
enters the house ?
Dennis
wrote:
>Just out of curiosity, do you have a grounding block where your cable
>enters the house ?
I don't know. What should I look for? Something mounted on the brick
wall just before the cable goes thru the wall?
I just found it strange that if the surge did come thru the cable, it
went right thru the modem and the router without doing any damage to
them.
***
You mentioned using file sharing over TCP/IP. From the end user
perspective, what differences will I notice? Will I still be able to use
Windows Explorer to get to folders on the other PC? Will an old WinNT4.0
PC still be visible? I primarily use file sharing for backing up folders
and using the common printer. Can you provide a link that provides
details, as this is really off topic.
--
Dennis
$Bill
> On Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:52:17 -0700, "$Bill" <ne...@SPAMOLAtodbe.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Just out of curiosity, do you have a grounding block where your cable
>> enters the house ?
>
> I don't know. What should I look for? Something mounted on the brick
> wall just before the cable goes thru the wall?
Normally it would be mounted right at the entrance to the house and is
just a way to ground the shielding to your house electrical ground. It
should be the first thing that the cable connects to and is probably
a straight-thru connector that is then wired off to a ground somewhere.
Mine comes in right next to the electric panel and is just grounded to
it with a length of heavy wire. It's just inside my access panel for
the cable line which comes up from the ground to the splitter which
disseminates the signal to the various rooms (with the grounding block
just before the splitter - the first thing the cable sees).
> I just found it strange that if the surge did come thru the cable, it
> went right thru the modem and the router without doing any damage to
> them.
>
> ***
>
> You mentioned using file sharing over TCP/IP. From the end user
> perspective, what differences will I notice? Will I still be able to use
> Windows Explorer to get to folders on the other PC? Will an old WinNT4.0
> PC still be visible? I primarily use file sharing for backing up folders
> and using the common printer. Can you provide a link that provides
> details, as this is really off topic.
Try right clicking on a drive in Explorer and select Properties, then
Sharing. You can always go to the desktop and click F1 to get help
and search for sharing or click on the "Learn more about sharing and
security." on the sharing tab.
Dennis
wrote:
>Dennis wrote:
>> On Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:52:17 -0700, "$Bill" <ne...@SPAMOLAtodbe.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Just out of curiosity, do you have a grounding block where your cable
>>> enters the house ?
>>
>> I don't know. What should I look for? Something mounted on the brick
>> wall just before the cable goes thru the wall?
>
>Normally it would be mounted right at the entrance to the house and is
>just a way to ground the shielding to your house electrical ground. It
>should be the first thing that the cable connects to and is probably
>a straight-thru connector that is then wired off to a ground somewhere.
>
>Mine comes in right next to the electric panel and is just grounded to
>it with a length of heavy wire. It's just inside my access panel for
>the cable line which comes up from the ground to the splitter which
>disseminates the signal to the various rooms (with the grounding block
>just before the splitter - the first thing the cable sees).
>
Yes, it is grounded. It appears to be clamped to the same ground as the
electric.
>> I just found it strange that if the surge did come thru the cable, it
>> went right thru the modem and the router without doing any damage to
>> them.
>>
>> ***
>>
>> You mentioned using file sharing over TCP/IP. From the end user
>> perspective, what differences will I notice? Will I still be able to use
>> Windows Explorer to get to folders on the other PC? Will an old WinNT4.0
>> PC still be visible? I primarily use file sharing for backing up folders
>> and using the common printer. Can you provide a link that provides
>> details, as this is really off topic.
>
>Try right clicking on a drive in Explorer and select Properties, then
>Sharing. You can always go to the desktop and click F1 to get help
>and search for sharing or click on the "Learn more about sharing and
>security." on the sharing tab.
OK. I'll take a look. I guess I would need to delete all the existing
shares and disable netbeui on all network interfaces. Then go back and
set up the shares again.
Thanks...
--
Dennis
w_tom
> Yes, it is grounded. It appears to be clamped to the same ground as the
> electric.
Clamp to earth implies a surge was not incoming on cable. Surge
could have been outgoing on cable. First surge current flows through
everything in a path (circuit). Later only one item in that path
might be harmed.
An example to demonstrate another potential surge circuit.
Lightning struck a tree. A horse many yards away died from that
lightning strike. First follow the circuit. Lightning must form a
complete electrical circuit from cloud, through tree, and into earth
connecting to charges maybe miles away. Lightning selects the
electrically shortest path. Not miles across the sky to those
earthborne charges. Shortest distance electrically is directly down
to the tree, and then miles inside earth.
A shortest path also was up a horse's hind legs and down its fore
legs. The longer distance is an electrically shorter path that killed
the horse. Horse suffered a direct lightning strike. If any
household utility is earthed someplace else (not at same ground rod
used by AC electric and cable), then the house may have 'hind legs'
where that someplace else is; 'fore legs' where cable and AC electric
is earthed. Like the horse, household appliances were also
electrocuted by lightning earthed via a nearby tree.
Current flows through everything in that path. Later after current
is flowing in the entire circuit, then something (the weakest
component) fails. Implied is a weakest component was something on the
NIC. Best evidence is always the dead body. What NIC component was
harmed?
Some other appliances also were in a path from cloud to earthborne
charges. Appliances that did not complete that path (maybe had better
internal protection) were not damaged. Yes, surge might be incoming
on AC electric, through motherboard, out via NIC, into modem and out
to earth ground via cable. All items conducted a same current
simultaneously. But the NIC was the weak link.
Normal may be a cable modem conducting surge current to earth and
without damage. Or overstress - other components fail maybe one month
later. Just because something is undamaged does not mean a surge did
not pass through.
Did lightning only strike a tree or did it also fork off to strike
AC electric wires? Post implies two AC electric wires are not
earthed. AC is a perfect path for surges to get inside everywhere -
but only conducting through appliances that provided a better
connection to earth. Some appliances could have been acting as surge
protectors for others - earthing surge current so that other
appliances were not harmed.
Dennis
>What NIC component was harmed?
The 1394 adapter won't work anymore on either PC. The notebooks appear
to be working fine otherwise.
>Did lightning only strike a tree or did it also fork off to strike
>AC electric wires?
It could have. There is a power pole about 40 feet from the tree. But
the surge then would have had to go from my neighbor's house 200 feet
back down to the street, across the main power lines 200 hundred feet to
where my power line taps in, and 300 feet back up to my house.
I also have underground electric running from my house to the barn out
back. So I suppose the surge could have traveled thru the earth into my
house.
>Post implies two AC electric wires are not earthed.
I just checked the circuit on the HD satellite receiver with a tester
and it is grounded. I'll double check the other outlets for the 2 PCs
and the cable modem and router. But I have no reason to believe they are
not grounded.
I wonder if the telephone wiring in the house wasn't also somehow
involved. Besides being plugged in to the electrical outlet (via a surge
suppressor), the HD receiver is also plugged into a phone line. And my
phone line did act up later that evening (no dial tone for an hour). I
think the satellite receivers only use the phone line for pay-per-view,
which I never use. So maybe I should just unplug those for now.
Thanks for your comments about completing the circuit first and the
"weakest link" then failing. I hadn't thought of that but it makes
sense.
--
Dennis
w_tom
> I just checked the circuit on the HD satellite receiver with a tester
> and it is grounded. I'll double check the other outlets for the 2 PCs
> and the cable modem and router. But I have no reason to believe they are
> not grounded.
>
> I wonder if the telephone wiring in the house wasn't also somehow
> involved. Besides being plugged in to the electrical outlet (via
> And my phone line did act up later that evening (no dial tone for an hour). I
> think the satellite receivers only use the phone line for pay-per-view,
> which I never use. So maybe I should just unplug those for now.
Grounding for safety is not same as grounding for surge protection.
Grounding lightning requires a short connection (ie 'less than 10
feet'). No sharp bends, No splices. Wire not inside metallic
conduit. All ground connections separate until all meet at the single
point ground. Ground wires never bundled with other non-grounding
wires. Grounding must both meet and exceed post 1990 code
requirements. Safety grounded outlets are not sufficient earth ground
for these and other reasons.
All incoming wires must make that short (visually inspected)
connection to the same earth ground electrode - also called the single
point earth ground. Single point earthing is so important that a
utility describes how to correct it:
http://www.cinergy.com/surge/ttip08.htm
Is telephone involved? Well, the telco installs a 'whole house'
protector for free. Unfortunately, if a surge is permitted inside the
house (more often by AC electric wires), then outgoing surge path may
be that phone line. This is the most common reason (circuit) for
modem failure. Incoming on AC electric. Through modem. Outgoing to
earth via phone line. Damage is more common on the weakest link -
telephone wire side of modem. So many just assume that the surge
entered on phone line because damage was on phone line side. Too many
assume surges crash onto electronics like waves on a beach.
Electricity does not work that way.
Earthing a surge before it can enter the building is called
secondary protection. Every wire in every incoming cable must make
that 'less than 10 foot' earthing connection either directly
(satellite dish, cable TV) or via a protector (telephone, AC
electric). Primary surge protection should also be inspected:
http://www.tvtower.com/fpl.html
Do not assume a safety ground is earth ground. Critical is
something called wire impedance. Wires can have low resistance
(resistance is a function of wire diameter). But for proper earthing,
that wire must also have low impedance (impedance is more a function
of wire length, sharp bends, etc). Why does that incoming cable drop
down to earth ground before rising back up to enter the building?
Wire must first make a very short connection to earth - for surge
protection.