Hey guys, kind of a random question that I can't seem to find a solution to anywhere. My win7 pc is connected to a home wireless network for its internet access.. But I frequently connect this main pc to a 4 port ethernet hub to transfer files with my laptop and to stream videos to a ps3 in my livingroom via an ethernet cable(using my wireless G network doesnt provide sufficient bandwidth for a smooth viewing experience). My problem is that as soon as the ethernet cable gets plugged in to my pc, I still have a perfect reception of my wifi signal but I can no longer access the internet. My only option is therefore to constantly enable/disable my ethernet adapter if I want to get online. Is there a way around this? Can I use my wifi adapter for internet access and simultaneously use my nic for a wired media server?

Does the wifi and ethernet get different IP addresses on different subnets via DHCP?

Connect both and run an IPCONFIG /all and post the results.

Hey thanks for the quick reply. Looks like each adapter is getting a different IP but on the same subnet...

Windows IP Configuration
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : Belkin

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Belkin
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Compact Wireless-G USB Network Adapter wi
th SpeedBooster
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1C-10-6B-D5-31
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::c5b6:eeeb:2bee:ff83%13(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.5(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, October 20, 2010 1:59:57 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, November 26, 2146 8:44:59 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 385883152
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-13-7F-45-1A-00-22-15-B9-AE-4F

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
68.87.69.150
68.87.85.102
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-22-15-B9-AE-4F
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::9162:369a:a854:591d%11(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, October 20, 2010 2:15:14 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, November 26, 2146 8:44:59 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 234889749
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-13-7F-45-1A-00-22-15-B9-AE-4F

they are not on the same subnet. The wireless is getting an address from the 192.168.2.X subnet and wired is from 192.168.0.X and your gateways are different. Is your wireless router the same as your wired one?

Oh yeah they are on a different subnet, my mistake. The wireless router to which I am connecting for my internet access is in a separate room. To connect to the ps3 I am using a simple ethernet hub which has no internet access.

OK

Then what you need to do is get rid of the gateway entry for the wired network because the system does not know which gateway takes priority. I would drop the DNS entries also or set them to the data from the wireless network.

Thank you very much! I am now able to use my ethernet hub to transfer files between my pc and laptop, while simultaneously using my wifi connection for internet access. My problem now though, is that I am unable to detect or make a connection to the media server from my ps3. Here are the details on my ethernet connection:

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-22-15-B9-AE-4F
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::9162:369a:a854:591d%11(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 234889749
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-13-7F-45-1A-00-22-15-B9-AE-4F

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
68.87.85.102
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

As you can see, i removed the gateway and set my dns to the same settings i had for my wifi connection. I'm wondering if this means the ps3 needs a gateway to communicate with the media server. At this point though, it's a bit beyond my scope of understanding.

Where is the media server? What is its IP? If the server is not on the same subnet as the PS3, then the PS3 will need some sort of gateway to reach it.

I take it your media server is on the PS3 network. OK add 192.168.0.1 back in to your DNS list but do not add the gateway. I think what is happening is that your media server is only registering with the DNS server on the wired network and since you are not checking the wired network for DNS (WinS in this case I will bet) you don't get a response.

The gateway tells the systems "If you want to talk to an IP outside our subnet you go out through this address."

The number of IP addresses in yur subnet is defined by your netmask (255.255.255.0) which in your case says IP addresses between 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.255 are on our subnet. You could decrease the size of the subnet from 255 addresses to 128 by using a netmask or 255.255.255.128 or to 64 using 255.255.255.192 and so on. Hope that helps.

Here is a table of netmasks just to really drive you nuts....

ID	# Bits	Number Hosts	Usable Hosts	Netmask		Note

6	/6  	67108864	67108862	 252.0.0.0  	

7	/7 	33554432	33554430	254.0.0.0 	

8	/8 	16777216	16777214	255.0.0.0 	Class A Network 

9	/9 	8388608		8388606		255.128.0.0 	

10	/10 	4194304		4194302		255.192.0.0 	

11	/11 	2097152		2097150		255.224.0.0 	

12	/12 	1048576		1048574		255.240.0.0 	

13	/13 	524288		524286		255.248.0.0 	

14	/14 	262144		262142		255.252.0.0 	

15	/15 	131072		131070		255.254.0.0 	

16	/16 	65536		65534		255.255.0.0 	Class B Network 

17	/17 	32768		32766		255.255.128.0 	

18	/18 	16384		16382		255.255.192.0 	

19	/19 	8192		8190		255.255.224.0 	

20	/20 	4096		4094		255.255.240.0 	

21	/21 	2048		2046		255.255.248.0 	

22	/22 	1024		1022		255.255.252.0 	

23	/23 	512		510		255.255.254.0 	

24	/24 	256		254		255.255.255.0 	Class C Network 

25	/25 	128		126		255.255.255.128 	

26	/26 	64		62		255.255.255.192 	

28	/28	16		14		255.255.255.240	

27	/27	32		30		255.255.255.224	

29	/29 	8		6		255.255.255.248 	

30	/30 	4		2		255.255.255.252

Hey guys, thanks a lot for the replies. Subnetting makes more sense to me now. I tried removing the gateway address for my ethernet connection and giving it a static ip address of 192.168.3.1 then I set my ps3 ip to 192.168.3.2 and used 255.255.255.0 as the mask for both. The ps3 won't let me leave the gateway address blank when entering addresses manually, so I ended up entering the default address for my hub (192.168.0.1). Problem is, they still wouldn't see each other. I tried manually setting the ip for each device in the program i am using to stream ('Ps3 Media Server'), but still no luck.

If i allow both my ps3 and pc to chose settings automatically, the gateway is 192.168.0.1 for both, the pc is given 192.168.0.2 and the ps3 is given 192.168.0.4 and the two devices communicate without any problems (but then of course, the problem remains where I can no longer access the internet through my wifi adapter). Is there something I should be doing to the ethernet hub? I can access its configuration by typing the gateway address in my browser (192.168.0.1). Thanks again guys, I really appreciate it. It's not the end of the world if I can't get it to work but I'd hate to give up on it if its something simple.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.