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James Stokes
05-30-2008, 2:58 PM
Can someone tell me what I need to do to have 2 network cards in my computer? I am running XP. I have 1 network card in and I am trying to install second card to run the laser. I have not been able to get the computer to install the second card.

George M. Perzel
05-30-2008, 3:51 PM
Hi jim;
Why do you need two cards? You can be on a bunch of different networks with the same card.
Best regards
George
LaserArts

Tom Cole
05-30-2008, 4:45 PM
That's true, but you need a device with ports (assuming you are going wire with cat 5) such as a hub or switch to be in the loop to afford more than 1 plug in. The most common reason to put a second NIC in a computer is to partition (divide) a network so the devices on on NIC will not see the traffic on the second or to use the computer to act as a proxy or do network address translation from an inside network to the internet so the outside network does not see the devices on the inside.

Joe Pelonio
05-30-2008, 5:23 PM
I "sort of" do that. My laser is connected with the internal network port. For online we have a home network, and I do not want the laser on it. So for going online with this computer I use a USB wireless. Sometimes it will cause problems when I send a big job to the laser so I got in the habit of unplugging it before sending such jobs over.

Scott Shepherd
05-30-2008, 5:43 PM
James, it should work. I had to do the same thing when we had the Epilog. Since your main card is usually hooked to the internet connection, there was no place to connect the one to the laser. I just bought another NIC and plugged it in, went to the new hardware wizard and set it up. Worked fine.

I'm assuming it's not showing up when you plug it in? If not, you'll have to go to the Add New Hardware Wizard and tell it what you added and load the drivers.

It should work. What kind of computer?

James Stokes
05-30-2008, 6:41 PM
I have gone to the add new hardware wizard, I can find the card, but when I try to install the software I get an error message software unable to install device not usable.


The reason I am trying to install the card is to get a direct conection from the computer to the laser. I have been using a parallel cable but have been having problems getting jobs through. Epilog told me that was the only way to do it. I finally got it hooked up through a port. Epilog told me they did not recomend doing it that way. That it was prone to losing parts of the file.

Scott Shepherd
05-30-2008, 6:48 PM
Humm...... try swapping them in the slots they are in? Or removing the original, seeing if it will find the new one. If it won't find the new one by itself, then it's that brand of card. If it does work, then try adding the other card and see if that works?????

Just guessing on my part now.

Doug Fennell
05-30-2008, 8:39 PM
James, if you're going from the new network card directly tro your Epilog, you'll neeed to use a Cat 5 crossover cable. A regular Cat 5 cable won't work unless you run it through a hub.

Here's what I'd do...

Return the card and swap it for a 4 port hub and buy 2 regular cat 5 cables. The folks at Best buy or circuit city will know what to use - I'd suggest Linksys.

The wire from the network goes into the hub port marked "network".

Plug your 2 new cables into 2 of the ports on your new hub (desen't matter which ones you use). Plug one of them to your computer, and the other one to your Epilog.

This is the end of the hardware portion - your computer will be on the network at this point.

__________

Next, go to the start menu, select run, and type cmd into the box - this will open a DOS window. At the command prompt, type in "ipconfig /all" without the quotation marks and press enter. The screen will display your network information - you're only concerned with the IP address - you can ignore the rest.

The IP address or it may be labled IPv4 address will consist of 4 sets of numbers divided by . - for example, 192.168.1.50.

Lets say you IP address is 192.168.1.50 - all you need to do to configure you Epilog is use the first 3 segments, 192.168.1 and change the last digits to something that's not currently being used on your network. Here's how you do that...


At your command prompt, type in "ping" and the first 3 segments of your computer's IP address and add digits on the end between 1 and 255 to fnd one that's not occupied... for example, if you type in ping 192.168.1.220 and it's open, the computer will reply "request timed out" - this is what you want to happen.

When you find an open address (if there's not many computers on your network, it'll be easy) configure the Epilog to use it.

Clear as mud?

James Stokes
05-31-2008, 7:42 AM
Clear as mud Doug, I allready had a hub and did hook it up that way.

Bill Morrison
05-31-2008, 8:33 AM
How old is your computer? The OS doesn't matter, it just makes it a little easier to set up things. As was mentioned, try swapping cards using the same slot as the old card. Is it in slot one? You tried a hub and that didn't work for you and neither does a cable. I know this isn't what you were asking but perhaps a second computer would be in order. You can call around a find a shop who can build a barebones system pretty reasonable. If you use the laser for business a second computer is almost necessary as a back up if, or rather, when the first one goes down. Don't go to the big box stores because they charge more and only have vista on the majority of their machines. I paid under 300 dollars for a machine, put windows 2000 on it and use it just for the computer.

Just my two cents

Bill