Help setting up home office network

[Dragonsi]

Hi all,

I am currently trying to set-up my home office network to share my adsl but I am having a few problems.

Here's what I had working before the adsl:
3 PC's (2 running XP, 1 running W98se)
Lanart fast ethernet switch
All PC's had a fixed IP and the main desktop connect to my ISP and had a proxy server installed, which all other units then shared connectivity.

What I have now:
As above but I now have a Zoom X4 adsl modem (that supports static IP).
ADSL with fixed IP
I also have an old D-Link ISDN router (thinking I can just use the router part of it).

The problem is - the adsl modem only has 1 ethernet connector, so I need to use another switch/router/hub in order for the other PC's to share the connection. However, I would like all my office PC's to have a static IP and not use DCHP - this makes it easier to set my firewall rules for sharing files on my network.
Both the Zoom adsl modem and D-Link router use DCHP and I am having problems getting them to talk to each other.

Can someone advise me on how to set-up the system so that all PC's can have a static IP (192.168.xxx.xxx) and for all adapters to communicate correctly. Should I be using DCHP on any of the equipment and if not, how on earth do I let everything know what IP's, submasks and gateways to be using?????

If I have not explained myself well enough, please feel free to ask some questions, cos setting up networks just gives me a headache... :(

[nottheusual1]

There are some very inexpensive dsl router/switch combinations available that will let you easily share your DSL connection. Something like this:

Linksys Basic Wired Router (http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?childpagename=US%2FLayout&packedargs=c%3DL_Product_C2%26cid%3D1122062340941&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper)

is not at all expensive (most "wired" equipment is cheap) and can be easily configured to do either DHCP or static IP's, and you can take a look at the user guide PDF at the above link to see if it is too daunting before leaping.

It really is pretty easy for someone with your grasp of the situation - it explains subnets and everything else you need to know.

BTW - this isn't the only one of these available. This is just one of the easier ones. You can also get them with firewalls, etc. Some do not like Linksys products since Cisco bought them - we use them successfully.

The time you save may more than pay for the short $$ these things cost now - there are one's available in US Walmart stores for $39.00 or less - and that usually is a sign.

[Dragonsi]

After an email to Zoom techie boys, my problem has been solved and it was a very simple solution...

The ethernet cable between the modem and the switch has to be a cross-over type and not a normal straight through cable.

Once I installed the cross-over cable, everything worked and after several hours playing about with static IP numbers and firewalls, I was back to were I was before but with a 1Mb adsl...

Thanks for the help though... :)