Network can't see computers...

Hello. I am running a network, with active directory. Most of the computers are on the same subnet, and most of the computers are windows 2k, and only about three are XP.

Now for the problem. I have a few computers (all the XP machines, plus a handful of the win2k machines) that the network cannot see. They see the network, but when I try to access those machines remotely, it looks like they aren't connected to the network. They have valid IP addresses, and show up in active directory. This is becoming quite a problem, especially since our sales assistants need access to the sales folks' files.

I thought that at first it was just the XP machines, but it is also some Win2k machines as well.

Any suggestions on where to look next? My boss and I are perplexed.

Thanks in advance,

Kathie

 

It sounds like your users are storing files on the local machines instaed of on the server. Why not have a central storage area for files and use permissions to control access?

DRD

 

Well, that's a good question, which brings up another problem of ours. The main file storage server is having connectivity reliability problems, which kicks people out of filemaker, and outlook if they have files open on the server. So, the sales folks are saving their filemaker files on their local machines for now, until we get the server issues fixed.

And if they have a printer on them that needs to be shared, the network needs to see the computer, and at this point in time, cannot.

But even for IT maintenance purposes, I need to be able to get to other people's machines. So the original problem still remains.

What can I say? It's just a mess out here!

 

Have you tried doing a packet capture to see what is on your network. It sounds as if this problem is all over the place. You might have a network card or switch that is acting up and hogging network bandwidth. This could cause timeouts on your network.

DRD