I noticed that people tend to have various problems in connecting their ps3 to a network so I though of posting this as a basic help to understand the basics of a network system. This will help them solve their issues easier.

So this is the basics.

Step 1: Understanding how a network system communicates.

For a system to be connected to a network, it needs to have its own UNIQUE address just like every house in the neighborhood.

This address is knows as the IP ADDRESS. Of course, since we are talking about devices, it only understands numbers. A typical address could be:

192.168.100.1

The above are four numbers that represent an IP address. Typically the address above means the following:

192.168.100 part is the street name so to say

.1 is the door number

That is, 192.168.100 represents your network address. Anything connected to it needs to have that initial number layout (street name).

The .1 is the device number (door number). Each device needs to have its own unique number.

Each number cannot be greater then 254 and cannot be a negative number.

But how does this work in real life you might ask.

The router will be the box that will be responsible to sort all this for you. The instruction manual will tell you the typical IP address of the router (that is the default setting).

So let’s assume that the router’s IP address is 192.168.2.1 (the router is usually the .1 device). Then any other device connected to it must have an IP address of 192.168.2.X where X must be unique per device (and cannot be 1 of course).

Typically the router will automatically set an IP address per item connected to it. This system is called DHCP. If you enable this (it is by default usually) the router will sort them automatically. Please note, that you will need to set the devices connected (example your PS3) to the router to request for an IP address automatically, which is usually so by default.

Step 2: Default Gateway.

The default gateway is the device which will connect your system to the internet. Usually the router is the gateway of your system. Meaning, the router will communicate with the modem and pass on the information between your network and internet.

If you can connect to the router via your computer/ps3, but cannot connect to the internet, you either have the incorrect gateway IP address set, or the configuration between the router and modem is not set well (or your ISP is down). The network is still working though else you would not be able to access the router.

The Default gateway is usually set automatically by the DHCP system. If your devices are set to automatically request an IP address, they should also pick this information automatically.

Step 3: DNS Server.

The DNS server is the device that works out all the web addresses you might enter. It is like sort of a map, which will guide your browsing to the appropriate location. That is, when you request yahoo.com, the DNS server will take you to it.

The DNS server is usually located at your ISP and you don’t need to worry about it. The provider will give you the DNS servers IP address just incase you need to set it up manually, but usually this is automatically set via DHCP.

Typically you will have 2 IP addresses for the DNS server a primary and a secondary.

Without a DNS server, you would not be able to access any web sites via their names, such as Yahoo!.

Step 4: How to check these settings.

Well, if you are on a pc it is very easy. If you are using Windows, go to the command prompt and type ipconfig /all and a full list of setting will be displayed.

If you have more then one network card installed it will display the info for each card.

Step 5: To conclude.

So, this is a basic guide. If you have questions about this please post here and I will try to answer. If you think something is wrong please post it, don’t edit it directly. I will then amend it myself so I get to know if there is something I was wrong about.

Please note that if you disable DHCP on your router, you will need to set all the devices up separately. All the above info needs to be entered else you won’t work well.


Regards,