network places not working

After plugging a mac into my lan on the weekend things starting getting screwy.

I had two switches (netgear and linksys) linked together and prior to this all was fine.

computers:

3 x win xp home including my workstation
4 x *nix (2 debian linux, fbsd, redhat linux)

Then I added an old powermac, added it to the network and confirmed that it could share my internet connection over the lan. My xp workstation shares its dialup connection on the lan, and also runs zonealarm.

Suddenly I had lost connectivity to other boxes on the lan. I ended up reverting to a simpler setup using

1 netgear switch
3 xp home workstations
1 redhat linux box
1 debian linux box

The unix boxes both run samba. All machines now have internet connectivity sharing my conn., can be pinged from my workstation, and can be found using the windows find computer dialog after which I can see their shares.

However I can no longer access the workgroup from windows explorer - it eventually tells me "the list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available ".

I've tried turning off zonealarm, seems to have no effect.

On my network card properties have

- client for MS networks
- file and printer sharing
- QoS packet scheduler
- tcpip

On cmd prompt get the following:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Dad.NOSOUP4U>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : nosoup4u
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-xxxxxxxxx
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

PPP adapter Ulsternet:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-xxxxxxx
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 216.2xxxxxx
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 216.2xxxxxxx
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 206.7xxxxxx
206.7xxxxxxx
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

C:\Documents and Settings\Dad.NOSOUP4U>

Sorry about the long posting.

Marty

 

If you have SP2, try changing boot.ini /noexecute=optin to /noexecute=alwaysoff

 

I am using SP1 though. Again the problem seems to be that I can't see my network places workgroup on Windows Explorer. I can see mapped network drives on explorer, and can find and access shares on other LAN nodes using the windows search screen.

Am at a loss on what's going on here.

 

Did you by any chance make any of your Samba boxes local master browser ?

 

Not that I know of, don't even know what that means unfortunately.

This is looking to me like a problem that only shows up with Windows Explorer. I've got shares from most of these boxes successfully mapped with no problems whatever. But the same issue happens on other computers on the network when using explorer.

Marty

 

Your NetBios over TCP/IP seems to be disabled. Go into LAN card properties & check that this is enabled.

 

Ok I check the tcp/ip properties for both the nic and modem and enabled netbios over tcpip for both, redialed my isp but here's what I get from the cmd prompt:


C:\Documents and Settings\Dad.NOSOUP4U>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : nosoup4u
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-08-xxxxxxxxxx
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 216.xxxxxxxxxx
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 206.xxxxxxxxxx
206.xxxxxxxxxx

PPP adapter Ulsternet:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-xxxxxxxxxx
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 216.xxxxxxxxxx
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 216.xxxxxxxxxx
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 206.xxxxxxxxxx
206.xxxxxxxxxx
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

C:\Documents and Settings\Dad.NOSOUP4U>

------------------------------------------

What do you think?

Marty

 

You have to enable netbios only over your LAN connection & not over modem. The output you have posted is ok as netbios cannot be enabled over modem.

 

Is there anything else I can do then? I'm thinking if the problem is with windows explorer rather than my network then maybe should consider reinstalling xp to repair it.

 

Just use DHCP addresses on LAN card & see if the problem can be solved.

 

I may be wild guessing and this may not be a place for one but;

I would suggest putting a Router into the system. The machines then can be plugged into the Router ( or a switch and the switch into the Router. )

That way each machine can be set to access the Internet without going through another machine. Sharing is nice but it can be very troublesome.

I myself tried SHARING the Internet through one machine ONCE. Nothing but trouble. And if the one machine was down NOBODY got anywhere.

I have three machines and a printer cabled to a switch. The switch is then cabled to the Router. And of course the Router is connected to the Modem.

One of the better parts is that the Router ( when setup correctly ) will handle ALL addressing. Both for the Internet and the LAN.

The 2nd good part is that no machine depends on the other for anything.

BillyBob