So today I decide that I'll be nice and go into the print shop where my mom works. Her and our friend and this other kid run a small print shop in Youngstown, Ohio. They do pretty good business but their g3 PowerMac was getting a little behind the times, what with running OS 8.6 and all. So I volunteer to install OSX Panther on it, little did I know this would be the biggest networking/computer job I've ever had.
I got there around maybe 11:30 and didn't end up leaving until 3:00 only because I HAD to leave. Ok so here's what went on
1. They had about 3GB of art files that needed to be backed up to some external source. No problem right? I brought my 15" Powerbook so I ran a CAT5 between the G3 and the Pbook. Both of the machines fail to recognize the other. I figure this has something to do with the G3 running OS 8.6. Alright no problem, maybe it can detect other computers on the network, right? Nope. I spent a TON of time trying to figure out ways to get these files off of the drive and somewhere else. It wouldn't recognize flash drives, it would freeze trying to burn CDs and for some reason, refused to connect to the internet when the damn thing was plugged directly into the cable modem!
2. I decide that ok hey, they only have this small 4 port hub. Two of the cat5 cables running to giant Ricoh printers, one color and one b/w. So maybe the hub is the problem. I go out and (with their money of course) grab a 5 port linksys to hook into the 4 port, giving them a ton more space for stuff. I hook up the hub and get internet access on the windows PC that does most the editing and well, that's about all I get. Access to the printers is now dead and the G3 STILL HAS NOTHING GOING ON.
3. I notice that the network is setup really strangely. The one part that really got me was that the network, aside from the main WinPC, ran from the network hub to the windows PC. From the windows PC, a second cat5 cable was hooked into the modem via a PCI Ethernet card. Now this doesn't seem right...at all. But strangely enough if I try to hook both printers, and all the machines into a correct network (Modem to Hub, Hub to all machines) It can't connect to either of the main printers and the G3 Still has no internet access.
I've taken the time to supply an incredible photoshop of this network...
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So my questions are:
1. How the hell does this damn network work?
2. Why can't the G3 get ANYTHING? I've considered that maybe the ethernet port on the logic board went but I guess that the thing is still able to connect to the color printer and print things using that same ethernet port.
Is there something I'm missing? Or is this entire network just so bizarre a rigged that it's actually impossible to fix it unless you completely rewired and reconfigured everything?
I got there around maybe 11:30 and didn't end up leaving until 3:00 only because I HAD to leave. Ok so here's what went on
1. They had about 3GB of art files that needed to be backed up to some external source. No problem right? I brought my 15" Powerbook so I ran a CAT5 between the G3 and the Pbook. Both of the machines fail to recognize the other. I figure this has something to do with the G3 running OS 8.6. Alright no problem, maybe it can detect other computers on the network, right? Nope. I spent a TON of time trying to figure out ways to get these files off of the drive and somewhere else. It wouldn't recognize flash drives, it would freeze trying to burn CDs and for some reason, refused to connect to the internet when the damn thing was plugged directly into the cable modem!
2. I decide that ok hey, they only have this small 4 port hub. Two of the cat5 cables running to giant Ricoh printers, one color and one b/w. So maybe the hub is the problem. I go out and (with their money of course) grab a 5 port linksys to hook into the 4 port, giving them a ton more space for stuff. I hook up the hub and get internet access on the windows PC that does most the editing and well, that's about all I get. Access to the printers is now dead and the G3 STILL HAS NOTHING GOING ON.
3. I notice that the network is setup really strangely. The one part that really got me was that the network, aside from the main WinPC, ran from the network hub to the windows PC. From the windows PC, a second cat5 cable was hooked into the modem via a PCI Ethernet card. Now this doesn't seem right...at all. But strangely enough if I try to hook both printers, and all the machines into a correct network (Modem to Hub, Hub to all machines) It can't connect to either of the main printers and the G3 Still has no internet access.
I've taken the time to supply an incredible photoshop of this network...
So my questions are:
1. How the hell does this damn network work?
2. Why can't the G3 get ANYTHING? I've considered that maybe the ethernet port on the logic board went but I guess that the thing is still able to connect to the color printer and print things using that same ethernet port.
Is there something I'm missing? Or is this entire network just so bizarre a rigged that it's actually impossible to fix it unless you completely rewired and reconfigured everything?
