On Thu, 8 Apr 2004 11:00:08 -0700, "EricB"
wrote:

Chuck, our ADSL modem is attached by a cable to the
Ethernet port. The Linksys Wifi apadter is connected to
a USB port. I can access the Internet no sweat from the
host and I enabled ICS on the LAN adapter, not the PPP
adapter (which appears as a dial up connection in Network
Connections for some reason!).
ICF is on the LAN adapter.
The Wifi network appears in the tool bar on noth computer
with an Excellent signal strength.
I will try and send the report in a bit, as I need to log
on remotely...
EB

Eric,

There are two possible reasons for "can't ping either PC from the other".

1) They are on a different subnet (logically). The host wireless connection
is on 192.168.0/24 because ICS was enabled on it. The client wireless
connection is on 169.254/16, because it is not getting an ip address from the
ICS DHCP server, and is self-assigning an address.

2) There is no connectivity between the host and client. The client is failing
to associate with the host in the ad-hoc wireless network. This, of course,
will cause the above condition.

If you had a wireless router and were unable to associate with it, the router
log (on some brands) might indicate an unsuccessful attempt to associate, and,
in some cases, the cause of the failure (bad WEP key, bad MAC address, ...).

Do the drivers for either wireless adapter (host or client) have a log option?
Check the Event Log on both computers (Control Panel - Administrative Tools -
Event Viewer) too.

When attempting to associate the host and client, and seeing "Excellent signal
strength", try disconnecting / disabling the adapter on the host, then on the
client, while watching the signal strength indicator on the other. Does the
"Excellent signal strength" condition still show on each adapter, when connected
and enabled, with the adaptor on the other disabled or disconnected? How far
apart are the host and client when trying to associate?

I note that the host adapter is described as "Linksys Wireless-G USB Network
Adapter", and the client adapter as "IEEE802.11B Wireless USB". Have you setup
the host adapter as "B mode only"?

Are both the host and client adapters setup on the same channel? Try a
different channel. If currently on 1, move to 11; if currently on 11, move to
1; if in middle, move to 1 then 11.

Remove all security devices for diagnosis. Disable ICF. Turn MAC filtering and
WEP / WPA off on both wireless adapters.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.