LAN Problem(s)

I just thought about another possibility.

In XP I may not be logged in properly. I may have looged off and back on and then did something there that does not show up under a normal logon.

But again one of these days I will get back to it and see what I can do.

I entertain this thought when I think about XP seing the other two all the time. But the other two may have been looking for something that is not available to them.

And we all know what can happen if Windows goes looking for something that is not there. Quite often it results in a lockup. and one machine would do that.

One thing for sure is the fact they all thre machines were not on the same wave length.

BillyBob

 

2 cents worth...

<...In XP I may not be logged in properly....>

Well, I don't have XP (my network consists of 4 PCs running ME, W98, and W98SE). One PC could not see the others in the "Network Neighborhood" even though all of the others could see it. All the PCs could ping each other, and all of the shared directories worked fine (I could even "push" a file to the "problem PC" if I set the access type to "Full" on it).

Finally, (on the "problem PC ") I went to Start --> Logoff, logged off, and then got a login window for Microsoft Networks (something like that, anyway). The window already contained a(n) [irrelevent, in my opinion] username. I just hit <Enter> at the password prompt, got my Desktop, and then that PC could see the other PCs in the Network Neighborhood.

Apparently, that PC was just not logged onto the network. Who knew? Not me (but now)

 

rlambert7

I think that is the line I will walk when I get back to checking out the problem.

I did not have a problem in SE due to USER but I did in regards to spelling of MSHOME. MHSOME did not work.

BB

 

typo

I did not mean web.. I ment your local lan... my bad...


Gobbles

 

also check..

in xp goto the tcpip properties for the network card. Goto the advanced settings. Goto the wins tab. at the bottom in the netbios section, enable netbios over tcpip and see if your machines names show back up in the my network places...

as most home lans are small, id really recommend the host file..


Gobbles

 

One of these days I will get back into XP and see if I can find what went wrong with what used to work.

In the meantime SE is doing just fine.

My Wife and I played Network games last hight that we have not been able to play for weeks.

 

Ones of these days came this evening.

I have things back working I think somewhat properly. But I am not sure.

I can get machines B & C to see all machine IF I restart this XP machine after they are booted up.

Is the right or do I still have something wrong ?

BillyBob

 

I didnt read every word of this post so firgive me if this has been discussed. Could this be a master brouser battle?
Try turning off Master Brouser on the XP box.
It's in the registry but I dont remember where.

 

NN= Network Neighborhood.

I have no idea what it is other than a big pain in the backside.

I booted B and waited about 5 minutes and then booted a ( the XP machine )

Checked NN on B and nothing showed up. Restarted Windows on A and then B showed both A & B.

Booted C. Checked NN and nothing showed until I restarted Windows on A again.

Is this telling me that A is set up as a server and not an individual machine ? ( ICS )

I am going to shut a down and see waht happens to the B & C.

BillyBob

 

OK

I shutdown A.

Nothing showed in NN on B or C.

Turned on machine A. Still nothing and B or C.

Shutdown/Restart A and all is well again.

BB

 

well...

when all machines are on can you ping each other...???

if you can dude save yourself some headaches..

1. do as ss suggested and disable master browser as it does sound like a fight between machines for control.. That will show up in the event viewer if it is.

2. create the host file. For 3 machines it will take you all of 10 min to do for all 3 machines.

if you dont want to use host file then do all your mappings by ip.

like map a drive \\ipaddress\sharename

but creating a host file works best. Now it wont fix my network places as xp has never had that right. 2000 worked perfectly but xp not so much.

Now alot of people will cringe at this but there is always netbuei. I know what ppl are thinking but on a 3 comp home lan it works perfectly. It WILL fix this problem. Try installing it, enabling it on all machines reboot them all and then disable the protocol on all machines.. Leave it installed but just disable it. Ive had this fix many a problem.

Also check to make sure that name over netbios is on in the advanced section of tcpip under the wins tab for your network card.

Gobbles

 

Gobbles

I will go over your suggestions and see what I can do.

Never did find any reference to any Master Browser.

But I do have to ask.

How do you make a Host file ?

And where is it supposed to reside ?

I do not want or need any mapped drives.

The only thing that is shared right now is the Printer. And that will not be either once I get my Newer Router with Print Server working again. Then all machines will be as I wish them to be. STANDALONE. Nobody will depend on anybody else for anything. All I will need to do is make sure the Modem, Router and Printer are on. ( as they are now ) I will not even need this machine to be on as it is now.

if you can dude save yourself some headaches..

As far as headaches go they are ( were ) easily cured too. Went back to a just as stable, easier to handle and just as ( maybe more ) reliable Win98SE. And maybe most of all be more suitable for my use.

BillyBob

 

In the registry:
Hkey_local_machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Brouser\Parameters

 

BB - disable browser service on all three machines. In your situation you don't need it.

XP - right-click My Computer then Manage~Services and Applications~Services

Right-click on the Computer Browser service and properties and then set the startup to disable. You can either stop it now or wait until next reboot when it won't start.

98 - doing this from a very rusty memory so can't give specifics but in your networking section, right-click on the connection icon, go to properties, then to whatever (maybe setup or something) for the network card and poke around. There will be a setting there dealing with browsing. Turn it off.

As to the hosts file (another good suggestion), create a text file that contains a line for each PC with IP at the left, a space, and PC name. Add a first line that is
127.0.0.1 localhost

The file MUST be named hosts with no extension. NT systems including XP require it to be in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc while 9X systems including ME want it in c:\windows

Neither of these may cure all your problems but they will certainly make things run a bit faster and more smoothly.

 

Thanks for jumping in Newt.

# Begin B9
127.98.9.1 pop-server.hvc.rr.com.b9
# End B9


The above is what I find in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc of the XP machine.

No Host files in either SE machine.

Now do I make a new file or do I edit this one so that it contains;

128.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.1.100 XXX
192.168.1.101 YYYYY
192.168.1.102 ZZZ

And should it be the same on all machines ?

On the XP machine I disabled Computer Browser Service.

Now YYYYY & ZZZ see all three but XXX ( XP machine ) sees nobody.

But the shared Printer on the XXX works for the other two. SO I take it that they are actuall connected to the LAN.

I will work on Newts' suggestion for the 98 machines tomorrow.

 

BB - edit the existing file.

It isn't required that all PCs have identical hosts files.

Basically what you are looking at is that somtehing has to translate computer names (including internet servers) into IP addresses before the PC can locate the device.

All the network-style operating systems you are likely to run across these days are programmed to look first for a hosts file and if one is found, to look within that file for a name/IP match. If one is found, it is used and the OS will never look further.

Microsoft systems are also set to look next for LMHosts, then (usually) a WINS server, and last for a DNS server. Again, the first match is used and if it happens to be bad, you never reach the destination.

As a side note, if you didn't want your grandkids to be able to surf to www.hardcore-****.com all you'd have to do is add a line to the hosts file
127.0.0.1 hardcore-****.com
and they'd never get to it.

 

# Begin B9
127.98.9.1 pop-server.hvc.rr.com.b9
127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.1.100 XXX
192.168.1.101 YYYYY
192.168.1.102 ZZZ
# End B9

The above or below

# Begin B9
127.98.9.1 pop-server.hvc.rr.com.b9 ( I know that this is my E-Mail server )
# End B9

127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.1.100 XXX
192.168.1.101 YYYYY
192.168.1.102 ZZZ

Or do I just edit, hope for the best. And most of all REMEMBER what I did so I can undo it.

BillyBob

 

As of this moment I do have some good news.

I FINALLY have my LAN working as it should again.

I got angry yesterday and made up my mind that I was either going to fix it or bust it completely.

In playing around with network settings on machine A ( XP ) and B ( 98SE) I got the LAN to work. BUT, now I have lost the Internet on B. ( can't Print my thoughts ).

So I try doing a Repair of IE from add/remove in Cntrl Panel. OOPS !!! It was not even listed there so I did an complete reinstall of IE6. Still no Internet.

While watching the screen when trying to open IE I saw at the bottom references to files such as SHDOCVW.DLL and others similiar. Hey man, those are WINDOWS SYSTEM files.

So I go to a reinstall of SE. During the install up came a message "Can't read from the A: Drive" HUH ?? What ?? and WHY ?? does it want the A: drive ? Well, after I finally got SE installed and did a reg search/find I found out why. It was being told to go there instead of to E:\OPTIONS.

After I changed/wiped out those references, left E:\Options only and restarted Windows WOW !!! did it ever go looking for files, and rebuild driver data bases etc.

So am I correct in thinking that if Windows did need to go looking for files during startup it could not find them and therefore could not make any needed repairs.

So as of this moment all is well again. No matter which order I boot the machine they see all three now.

Also now Microsoft Internet Explorer SP1 and Internet Tools is showing up in add.remove.

Another thing that pointed to a problem on machine B was the fact that if I left it off machine A & C worked together just fine.

From a Happy Camper. ( for the moment anyway )
BillyBob

 

Congratulations BillyBob! Glad to hear it's all working again.

 

Thank you.

BB