Besides the adapter and network testing utilities which should have been included with your network adapters, Windows has two useful tools for testing TCP/IP networks: winipcfg and ping.  You can run winipcfg by clicking , selecting , and entering winipcfg.  Here we have the resulting winipcfg window from the computer we just installed the ICS client on and we can see that the ICS host has assigned (leased) it a temporary IP address of 192.168.0.2.  You can renew the IP assignment (the lease) with the Renew button, etc.  If we were to run winipcfg on the ICS host we would see that the ICS installation assigned it a static (permanent) IP address of 192.168.0.1.  You would also see an IP address assigned to the Dial-Up Adapter (called a PPP Adapter in the winipcfg display) if the computer is connected to the Internet via dial-up.  This IP is usually temporarily assigned to the Dial-Up Adapter by a computer on the Internet. 

Armed with this information, you can send packs from one TCP/IP computer to another (and over the Internet).  Like a destroyer pinging on a submarine with sonar, you send out a packet and "listen" for an echo (response) from the designated target.  Ping is best run from a DOS window in Windows.   Click , select , click , and type ping and the desired IP address at the DOS prompt as shown below.  Here we are pinging the ICS host from the newly installed client.  If you can't ping the host and the host can't ping the client, ICS won't work between the two.  You can learn more about ping by typing ping /? at the prompt.

MicroSoft has recently published an article in their Knowledge Base on trouble-shooting ICS problems.  Click HERE to read it.  Also, as of 10/6/99, if you search the the data base under "Windows 98 Second Edition" with the keyword "ICS" (without the quotes) you will find 58 articles on ICS.

< Previous Page | Contents | Top | Next - Notes >