One computer not connecting

Question

so here is the scope and story of my issue. I am currently in a hotel that has LAN access in its rooms. I have two computers that I am attempting to connect the their network. Seeing as there is only one port on the wall I have my Five port dumb switch with me. My first computer is having no issues connecting even through the switch "tried all 5 ports" however the second computer is not connecting.

Troubleshooting completed.

• Ran network scan and found there are many unused available addresses.
• Ran Virtual machine with masked MAC of second computer within the first computer. "No issues"
• Connected second computer first and primary second and issue is caused to opposite computer.
• Ipconfig on Second computer shows APIPA
• Requested front desk restart their router. No luck there
• Ran DoS attack on front desk router to cause restart no change.

If anyone could please shoot me some more Ideas I would appreciate it.

Answer 1

They obviously are only providing ONE IP address to each LAN connection.

Find a way to insert NAT-type routing (such has a small router or internet-sharing).

Answer 2

If i were to make a guess, you just arn't getting an ip address - i suspect one solution would be to set your switch to a fixed ip address in the range they have, and turn off the DHCP server on it and plug it into the network through a regular non 'internet port' - this approach works well when daisy chaining routers. See instructions here.

Edit:

Ahh, more details - if you're running a VM on nat mode, you're running a small additional network inside your system - this in no way simulates an actual second system with its own ip address.

Iornix is right about there very likely only being a single ip address provided by the hotel, and his suggested solutions seem to make sense to me. Peter Maxwell's comment about using connectify may be an option, or you could play around with setting up a softap or ad hoc network between the systems.

Answer 3

If you have laptops (or PCs with wireless cards), you could connect one to LAN, create a wireless network and connect the other laptop to it. Since they would be located close to each other, you would have a minimal speed drop.

In the meantime, keep up the DoS attacks on the hotel for not giving you more ports! XD

Answer 4

This is a long shot, but why not add a second IP to the Nic on the working desktop and use intenet sharing via that IP?

That would look something like this:

Before:

                   (5 port Switch)
                   |  |  |   |  |
Hotel plug --------/  |
                      |
                   Desktop1
   With hotel given DHCP IP

After

                    5 port Switch)
                   |  |  |   |  |
Hotel plug --------/  |          Desktop2
                      |
                   Desktop1
   With hotel given DHCP IP & a second IP manually configured
   via 'network connections' screen
        select the NIC, open properties
        select 'internet protocol version 4'. Properties
        [Advanced]
        Add a IP outside the hotel range.
        Then enable internet sharing via this new IP.

Answer 5

Sorry for the time that it took for me to get back on this.

Unknown to the front desk they had a commercial distribution point so each room had an independent connection over Ethernet.

Resolution was to add a router into the mix. Until I asked to take a look at their equipment I was afraid to do this in fear of causing issues to everyone else.

Thank you for everyone's assistance.