Mixed LAN Connection Failure

I have a Win98 laptop and a Win XP desktop both successfully connected to a cable modem through a router. Both have access to the net & email. After an initially successful setup of a LAN between the computers, I must have changed something, because now although the laptop sees and uses a network drive on (to) the desktop, neither computer sees a LAN. When I log on the desktop, as the only user, I enter a network password as requested. Shortly a dialog tells me there is no server to verify the password and some network services may not be available. When I log on the desktop, which has two XP "accounts," my wife's and mine, both of which are administrators, I use the same passwprd as I use on the laptop (for mine, no password for hers). Rerunning the XP wizard has seemed fruitless. Both computers use the same firewall and antivirus programs. Nothing I can find in the firewall logs point to stopping of transmissions from the other computer or the router.

What should I look for or do to re-establish a full LAN?

Many thanks for this and past advice.--Pete S.

 

XP-pro or XP-home?

Are both PCs set to be members of the same workgroup? If so, what is the workgroup name?

On the XP PC, do the following and post the entire contents of the resulting text file:

start~run~cmd
ipconfig /all > c:\ipsettings.txt

 

Newt--Thanks for responding.

The XP version is Home. The Workgroup was/is named (imaginatively) Home. Neither computer shows the workgroup on its equivalent of Network Neighborhood. They did in the past, but not in a logical manner. My Computer on the laptop seemed to show shared files as duplicates of the same files in unshared folders. This may be irrelevant?

 

Running ipconfig on the Win98 latop results:



Windows 98 IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . : LAPTOP.HOME

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

Node Type . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast

NetBIOS Scope ID. . . . . . :

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . : No

NetBIOS Resolution Uses DNS : No



0 Ethernet adapter :



Description . . . . . . . . : D-Link DFE-690TXD CardBus PC Card

Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-05-5D-52-5E-89

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.101

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

Primary WINS Server . . . . :

Secondary WINS Server . . . :

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 07 25 03 12:30:58 PM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . : 08 01 03 12:30:58 PM

Results of run on WinXP-Home desktop:

Windows IP Configuration

 

Got kicked off. To Resume:

Host Name...JANESDESKTOP
Primary DNS Suffix...
Node Type...Unknown
IP Routing Enabled..No
WINS Proxy Enabled...No

Ethernet Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix...HOME
Description...SMC CompactUSB to Ethernet Converter
Physical Address...00-10-60-C1-8F-27
DHcp Enabled...Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled...Yes
IP Address...192.168.0.100
Subnet Mask...255.255.255.0
Default Gateway...192.168.0.1
DHCP Server...192.168.0.1
DNS Servers...192.168.0.1
Lease Obtained...Friday, July 25, 2003 1:43:34 PM
Lease Expires...Friday, August 01, 2003 1:43:34 PM

I have not studied these for compatibility, but not sure I would see problems

 

Start by reading this thread over here.

The information you need could be there.

Then...

I'd take the period out of the computer name listed and just call it LAPTOP ...

It's short enough for a computer name, but I'd shorten the other one to something like JANES ...

Remove any Connection-specific DNS Suffix... You are not operating with a DNS server that recognizes your individual host nodes. Your router is the host that is recognized on the Internet and whatever name your ISP has given it is the name it uses.

With Fixed IP addresses or DHCP assigned IP addresses and using NBT, you don't need domain names (FQDN) for your LAN hosts.

Resolution of computer names will happen via NBT and not DNS.

Do make sure that the workgroup name on both machines is the same and spelled correctly.

 

Thanks, I'll try to do this and report success.