Installing Cable Modem

[jerry430]

I did set both the router and the PC to obtain the IP address automatically. If it was set any other way, I would lose my internet connection from the modem.
In the past (Before Router) I would occasionally lose my MVP connection. I managed to re-setablish the connection by starting the Hauppauge software, restarting GBPVR, and then stopping Hauppauge. Of course, that was when I had disabled the DHCP and entered the IP address.
Thanks for all your help, I'll let you know how I make out.

[AOSandman]

I did set both the router and the PC to obtain the IP address automatically. If it was set any other way, I would lose my internet connection from the modem.

Bear in mind that setting your router use DHCP to obtain it's IP address is not the same thing as having it function as a DHCP server. The former applies only to your outside internet connection, the later applies only to your internal devices like your PC and MVP.

In the past (Before Router) I would occasionally lose my MVP connection. I managed to re-setablish the connection by starting the Hauppauge software, restarting GBPVR, and then stopping Hauppauge. Of course, that was when I had disabled the DHCP and entered the IP address.

Before router, that would be expected because you didn't have a DHCP server. Now with router (which contains a DHCP server) you should not need to start the Hauppauge software at all.

Thanks for all your help, I'll let you know how I make out.

Take it one step at a time, look at the screen shots I attached, and let us know where the process fails. Good luck!

[jksmurf]

wtg

There's no way that I know to manually assign an IP to the MVPs... they have to get their address from a dhcp server, either a conventional one like from your router, or a non-conventional one like
Hauppauge has with their MVP service.

I'm not sure if this works, but HyperWRT Firmware for Linksys WRT54G and GS routers (not v.5) have recently added static IP address assignment to MAC addresses WRT54G http://www.hyperwrt.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=594 and WRT54GS http://www.hyperwrt.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=588 which the MVP has, so I guess it "may" be possible. I might try it if I get bored one day :-)

AOSandman

Configure your PC so that it will get it's IP address from DHCP.

Great advice from both wtg and AOSandman, just wanted to add as a heads-up though, "IF" you want to use Webadmin from e.g. work to home, you "may" have to manually configure this as I described in section C here, for the reasons described there: http://forums.gbpvr.com/showpost.php?p=6...tcount=477
Cheers
k.

[AOSandman]

wtg I'm not sure if this works, but HyperWRT Firmware for Linksys WRT54G and GS routers (not v.5) have recently added static IP address assignment to MAC addresses

What you're referring to is a reservation, which is where a DHCP server "reserves" a particular IP address and issues it only to a specific MAC address. Quite a few routers (including jerry430's Netgear 614) support this straight out of the box. A reservation is quite different from true static addressing in that the client device is still configured to use DHCP and will only receive that reserved IP address if it connects to the DHCP server that it is reserved on. If the client connects to any other DHCP server, it will get whatever address that server feels like handing out. This is handy for mobile devices like a laptop, where you might want a specific IP address while at one location (like home) but still want DHCP for easy of use while at other locations (work, friend's house, hotel, internet cafe, etc.). Static addressing, on the other hand, is done on the client device. The device will ONLY use that address, no matter what. No DHCP server (or any other device) is involved. There are positives & negatives to each, in the end just use what works for you. A long-winded explanation, but I mention all this strictly for the sake of helping people understand what they are using. Understanding it is 90% of what's needed to get it working right!

...just wanted to add as a heads-up though, "IF" you want to use Webadmin from e.g. work to home, you "may" have to manually configure this...

You're absolutely right, I left that out so as to not overwhelm the guy too much. Get the basics working first, move on to the more advanced stuff later on.

[jksmurf]

Cheers Mr Sandman
Seriously, nice and very interesting explanation of the difference between Static IP reservation for the client vs. addressing by the client for a non-network savvy person like myself, and you're absolutely correct to keep it simple for the fellow until he gets working.

I wonder if this thread should be/could be moved to MVP?

[wtg]

wtg I'm not sure if this works, but HyperWRT Firmware for Linksys WRT54G and GS routers (not v.5) have recently added static IP address assignment to MAC addresses WRT54G http://www.hyperwrt.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=594 and WRT54GS http://www.hyperwrt.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=588 which the MVP has, so I guess it "may" be possible. I might try it if I get bored one day :-)

Lol... I thought of that when I wrote it but realized I was still accurate in saying that it had to get it's IP address from a dhcp server. Static DHCP assignment is still DHCP assignment. I also didn't want to take Jerry on a tangent that might wasn't essential and might cause more confusion.

That said, once you go to static dhcp, or reservation as the netgear router calls it, there's no going back. It's so much better than standard dhcp when you need to configure remote access, parental controls or have other non-PC devices on your network that need to be configured too, like print queue devices. I really wish the Linksys routers would support it standardly - DLink and Netgear both do. I bought a dlink just for that reason, and I've got dd-wrt firmware (http://www.dd-wrt.com) running on my WRT54g which can do the same.

We should let Jerry get his network running before we bury him in too many networking possibilities.

[LilY0da]

We should let Jerry get his network running before we bury him in too many networking possibilities.

HERETIC! There is no such thing as too many network possibilities!!!!!

[jerry430]

God, I can't believe how stupid I am!!!
I was reading Sandman's summary of all the steps I needed to take, and was sure I'd done them all. Then I read his last sentence:"All you need to do is unplug them for a minute and plug them back in". I did so and both MVPs connected immediately. WTG was correct in saying that I needed to do almost nothing to get the MVPs working.
Thanks so much to all for taking the time to help me out.

One final question:Since I connected the router and cable modem, my CPU usage averages only about 2%. It used to average around 40%. Is this normal? I have a P-4 1.6g with 640mb RAM.
Jerry

[AOSandman]

"All you need to do is unplug them for a minute and plug them back in". I did so and both MVPs connected immediately.

Yep. If you don't power cycle them they will keep trying to use the IP address they got from the Hauppauge software. Which potentially put them on a different subnet so they couldn't contact GBPVR. Glad to hear you got it working now.

One final question:Since I connected the router and cable modem, my CPU usage averages only about 2%. It used to average around 40%. Is this normal? I have a P-4 1.6g with 640mb RAM.

Certainly nothing to complain about. But seriously, I don't know about that one. Do you recall which process was using all the CPU time before?

[jerry430]

I believe it was the P2P Networking exe. whatever that is. It used to read around 40 and is now zero. My performance is now fluctuating between 0 and 2% for the whole system. Everything seems to be working very well.
Thanks again for your help with the router.