networking works; no-one sees my PC

W2k Server SP4
Domain Controller on own domain
Dell Latitude D600 Laptop

For some reason, I can't seem to set up this system and get it to work properly. I can do anything from this system (browse web, accesss other machines, etc..), but no other machines seem to be able to connect to my laptop. The other machines are resolving the right IP address, but still can not get connected.

I can not use a browser to access a running web server on the laptop; I can not map to the laptop, I can not netmeeting to it. Pinging the name or IP does not work either...

Anyone has ideas???!!!

 

A firewall running on the laptop would account for all the behaviors you mention.

 

No firewall software was ever installed on this laptop. Should I try and remove and reinstall the network drivers? I think I remember doing that on another system for a different problem awhile back and things got really crazy, since it's a domain controller w/ active directory.

 

The OS shipped with ICF (internet connection firewall) as a companion piece to ICS. It could have gotten turned on by mistake.

 

Have you disabled simple filesharing? It is enabled by default. Pro can be funny that way. It is a pita to network with simple filesharing unless you have a guest account.
I put a new mini pci card in mine and it went to simple filesharing!? This is my laptop and I rarely check it from the desktops so it was that way for a week. It could see everything on the other computers. Anway it was simple once I looked for a problem.

 

ICS service is already set at manual and is not running. I don't think Simple File Sharing is an option with W2k Server. In any case, I'm not using it.

Any other ideas, or should I uninstall/reinstall the network drivers. I hesitate to do this as I do not know what impact it will have on a DC.

 

It would just be a matter of going to your folder options and disabling simple filesharing on that laptop. You won't have to mess with anything else. Reboot and you will know if it will work. It shouldn't mess with anything else on your network. Also XP likes to have netbios over tcp/ip enabled .
PRO has that option to enable and disable simple filesharing, none of the 2000 OS have that. They all have it disabled.

 

AFAIK, 2K never heard of 'simple file sharing'.

should I uninstall/reinstall the network drivers. I hesitate to do this as I do not know what impact it will have on a DC

Well, nothing good although I can't say exactly what would happen. I surely would not do that though unless I intended to start from nothing and build it again.

- Has this setup ever worked?
- Do you have other DCs or is this the only one?
- Are the domain members being validated when they start up? Getting a reasonable IP assigned (unless you are using static)?

 

Yes, W2k Server.. so no simple file sharing.

I'm not sure if this setup ever worked on this laptop before. I was able to get another laptop set up to work pretty much the same way, but this is a different laptop.

I'm in my own forest and am my own domain. There are other DCs on the network, though, but should not matter.

I'm using DCHP and getting IP from corporate network. IP address looks just like all other IP addresses on my subnet, except for last part (of course).

I'm really stumped! I'll try configuring static IP to see if that works, and then go back to DHCP and see what happens.

 

The question about other DCs wasn't that they might be causing your problem but to see if it would be safe to do some work with the problem machine. Some of the software fix-up things are better done with a local logon to an admin account and since DCs don't do local logon, you'd have to set the PC back to a member server.

On the assumption that you are using the built-in NIC, I think the first thing I'd try is using a PCMCIA network card as a quick way to find out if there is a hardware issue with the laptop's NIC.

 

It's not the NIC since I have dual boot into XP and XP works fine... I'm thinking I should demote the DC and see if it works. If it does, promote it again. If it doesn't, then uninstall and reinstall network drivers...

However, consequence of this is that I have enterprise-wide software deployed on this box for testing and will probably have to uninstall/reinstall those as well. They're a pain in the a$$ to install!

I'll do that tomorrow unless I hear anyone with a better suggestion.

Thanks all.

 

If all the member PCs using that DC are powered off while you do the deed, you can probably get away without needing to reinstall anything.