Can't get rid of phantom computer on home network

[TexasTony]

My home network (a desktop and a laptop, both running XP, connected
through a router, which is connected to the ADSL modem) has operated
well for years. Now I have replaced my laptop, and I'm having trouble
getting it onto the home network. I can access the Net from both
computers.

The old laptop's name was 'my-laptop', and the new one, 'my-new-laptop'.
When I run the home network wizard, everything seems to go smoothly, but
when (using the new laptop) I look at 'My Network Places', I see all the
old places, like 'My Documents on Pavilion (my-laptop)', etc, and I
can't seem to get rid of them. There are no network places like 'My
Documents on Presario (my-new-laptop).

I've double checked the computer names and the workgroup names, tried
re-installing the home network on both the desktop and the laptop, and
have re-booted both machines. I'm stumped!

Also: On my desktop, 'View workgroup computers' shows my-desktop and my-
new-laptop. But on my laptop, no computers show up!

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[TexasTony]

My home network (a desktop and a laptop, both running XP, connected
through a router, which is connected to the ADSL modem) has operated
well for years. Now I have replaced my laptop, and I'm having trouble
getting it onto the home network. I can access the Net from both
computers.

The old laptop's name was 'my-laptop', and the new one,
'my-new-laptop'. When I run the home network wizard, everything seems
to go smoothly, but when (using the new laptop) I look at 'My Network
Places', I see all the old places, like 'My Documents on Pavilion
(my-laptop)', etc, and I can't seem to get rid of them. There are no
network places like 'My Documents on Presario (my-new-laptop).

I've double checked the computer names and the workgroup names, tried
re-installing the home network on both the desktop and the laptop, and
have re-booted both machines. I'm stumped!

Also: On my desktop, 'View workgroup computers' shows my-desktop and
my- new-laptop. But on my laptop, no computers show up!

Any help would be much appreciated!

Dummy me! My home network communication was being blocked by Zone Alarm,
because I had not changed one of the safe-site IP addresses!

I still can't get rid of the phantom computer, however. How do I purge
all network places related to "my-laptop"? (IE, my old laptop.)

 

[TexasTony]

Dummy me! My home network communication was being blocked by Zone
Alarm, because I had not changed one of the safe-site IP addresses!

I still can't get rid of the phantom computer, however. How do I purge
all network places related to "my-laptop"? (IE, my old laptop.)

I just read a fresh post, and that advice solved my remaining problem!!
Ain't newsgroups wonderful!

Thanks for the cogent advice I know you were about to give!

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

My home network (a desktop and a laptop, both running XP, connected
through a router, which is connected to the ADSL modem) has operated
well for years. Now I have replaced my laptop, and I'm having trouble
getting it onto the home network. I can access the Net from both
computers.

The old laptop's name was 'my-laptop', and the new one, 'my-new-laptop'.
When I run the home network wizard, everything seems to go smoothly, but
when (using the new laptop) I look at 'My Network Places', I see all the
old places, like 'My Documents on Pavilion (my-laptop)', etc, and I
can't seem to get rid of them. There are no network places like 'My
Documents on Presario (my-new-laptop).

I've double checked the computer names and the workgroup names, tried
re-installing the home network on both the desktop and the laptop, and
have re-booted both machines. I'm stumped!

Also: On my desktop, 'View workgroup computers' shows my-desktop and my-
new-laptop. But on my laptop, no computers show up!

Any help would be much appreciated!

How have you tried to get rid of the old network places? You should
be able to right-click and delete them.

These tips should help get everything working:

1. Permanently disable XP's built-in Internet Connection Firewall on
local area network connections -- it's for use only on a direct modem
connection to the Internet. Disable and un-install all other
firewalls while troubleshooting. Details here:

Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/ic_firewall.htm

2. Use only one protocol for File and Printer Sharing. If the network
needs more than one protocol, unbind File and Printer Sharing from all
but one of them. Details here:

Windows XP Network Protocols
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/network_protocols.htm

3. Make sure that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled on all computers.
Details here:

Enable NetBIOS Over TCP/IP (NetBT)
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/troubleshoot/netbt.htm

4. Run "ipconfig /all" on XP and look at the "Node Type" at the
beginning of the output. If it says "Peer-to-Peer" (which should
actually be "Point-to-Point") that's the problem. It means that the
computer only uses a WINS server, which isn't available on a
peer-to-peer network for NetBIOS name resolution.

If that's the case, run the registry editor, open this key:

HLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netbt\Parameters

and delete these values if they're present:

NodeType
DhcpNodeType

Reboot, then try network access again.

If that doesn't fix it, open that registry key again, create a DWORD
value called "NodeType", and set it to 1 for "Broadcast" or 4 for
"Mixed".

For details, see these Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

Default Node Type for Microsoft Clients
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;160177

TCP/IP and NBT Configuration Parameters for Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314053
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

My home network (a desktop and a laptop, both running XP, connected
through a router, which is connected to the ADSL modem) has operated
well for years. Now I have replaced my laptop, and I'm having trouble
getting it onto the home network. I can access the Net from both
computers.

The old laptop's name was 'my-laptop', and the new one, 'my-new-laptop'.
When I run the home network wizard, everything seems to go smoothly, but
when (using the new laptop) I look at 'My Network Places', I see all the
old places, like 'My Documents on Pavilion (my-laptop)', etc, and I
can't seem to get rid of them. There are no network places like 'My
Documents on Presario (my-new-laptop).

I've double checked the computer names and the workgroup names, tried
re-installing the home network on both the desktop and the laptop, and
have re-booted both machines. I'm stumped!

Also: On my desktop, 'View workgroup computers' shows my-desktop and my-
new-laptop. But on my laptop, no computers show up!

Tony,

please have a look at http://www.michna.com/kb/WxNetwork.htm for
the access problems.

The references to the old computer usually go away after some
weeks, but you can also simply delete them, using the Del key.

Hans-Georg

p.s. Saw your other two posts later, so this one is now
superfluous, but I'll let it stand anyway, perhaps for the
benefit of other readers.