[skp]

Does anybody know how to assign the pc an IP address in XP without having a network connection. I have something connecting through the serial port and it needs to connect to an IP address. "localhost" and "127.0.0.1" do not work. I have a network card in the computer but it shows no IP address when there is no cable plugged in. And no I can't just plug in the cable.

[Silver-Dagger]

Can you give more detail. What are you tring to do? You can assign your pc an IP manually but if you are trying to connect to it via a serial port then it will need to have a modem of some sort and the dialup adapter installed. Please give more info about what you are tring to do.

[sapiens74]

Do you have a network card?

[skp]

I have a program on a PDA that connects to my laptop through the serial port. I cannot make changes to the settings on the PDA because of the way the connection is made. The PDA connects to an IP address on the PC. I have tried using "localhost" and "127.0.0.1" but I'm guessing the PDA has its own IP address the way it is setup. The thing is that when I'm home the thing works fine because my laptop is connected to the network and has an IP address, but if I go on the road or somewhere with no network connection then the laptop has no IP address for the PDA to connect to.

..I already said there is a network card in the computer.

[Silver-Dagger]

OK. When you are n the road all you need to do is right click on network places and choose properties, right click on your network connection and choose properties, when a window opens up double click on TCP/IP. Next click on use the folowing IP address. This will ungrey three boxes below. Just type in an IP address say 10.10.10.10 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and a gateway address of 10.10.10.10. Click on OK and on OK again. This should get you going.

Good Luck.

PS do not forget to change the setting back to DHCP after you are done.

[skp]

I tried setting the IP and gateway to a static one but it still doesnt allow me to connect unless there is a cable connected. I need to be able to ping the IP address.

Is there someway to create a cable using Cat5 that would make the computer think it is connected to a network or another pc?

[Silver-Dagger]

Not that I am aware of. Sorry
What does this program do? A program that connects via serial but needs an IP address to connect to sounds a little funny to me.

[sapiens74]

A loopback connector I think would work but not sure.

[skp]

Thanks for the help. I just found out how to make the loopback cable and it works. I was thinking that would work but I didn't know how to make one before.

[skp]

Could you give me the info on where I could find the emulated loopback connection on the cd?

[Xiven]

Thanks APK. I've been wanting something like this for a while so that I can access locally mapped network drives when I don't have the hub turned on.

[Xiven]

Yes it does work.

[skp]

Thanx. That was the kind of thing i was looking for. Now I don't have to worry about losing the loopback cable.

[Mr.Guvernment]

your PDA should come with software to connect - but glad u got it sorted out!