Okay, here's the setup. There are 3 rooms: the basement, the toyroom, and the bedroom.

NOTE: We don't have PPPOE for our DSL, though I don't know how we connect. The connection is always there and we have dynamic IP's.

The Living Room: Gateway PC with WinME. Has a 2Wire Homeportal for SBC DSL connection. This PC has nothing to do with anything, except for the internet connection. Though the PC doesn't have to be on for other PC's to access the internet.

The Toy Room: Compaq PC with WinME, and a 2Wire Wireless USB adapter which connects to the Homeportal in the living room. There is no network there.

The Bedroom: Microsoft PC with WinXP Pro. There is a DLINK router connecting the Toy Room to the bedroom. Bedroom in port #1, and Toy Room in port #2. A simple CAT-5 cable is connecting them. There are 5 total ports for a LAN, and one for a WAN.


If the 2Wire Wireless USB adapter is not present on the PC's, then everything is fine and I have shared drives from Toy Room to Bedroom.
If the USB adapter is present, then WinME on in the Toy Room states that there is a conflict with IP: 192.168.0.1, and the interface has been disabled. I am aware that this belongs to the router as I can access it from the Bedroom. With this conflict in place, I cannot access any shared drives from either PC. I have the Toy Room's extra 20GB hard drive mapped as 'V:\' on both machines. The Bedroom states that the V:\ is disconnected, and therefore..unavailable.

Now, I have never set up a network before, beyond shared drives. What must I do to network the Toy Room and the Bedroom?

Here's a few Catch 22's:
1. The Toy Room must share it's internet connection with the Bed Room.
2. The Living Room must be completely unaffected.
3. A Linux system may be added later down the road (RedHat 7.3).


Keep in mind that I haven't set-up a network before, and therefore have little knowledge in the settings and use of Windows with them. So, if possible, let me know what I've got to do...step-by-step.

Thanks for your time.

A_T