T
Tim J.
I have a friend who has 5 computers networked. There are four Dells
with XP Home, and one eMachine (yeah, yeah, I know) running Vista
Home. All Windows updates are current. This has been his hardware
and OS configuration for the past 2+ years.
But a couple of weeks ago, they encountered a strange problem. One of
their Dells won't connect to their Dell (XP Home) server anymore. It
gives the message "This computer cannot connect to the remote
computer..." and makes reference to the computer we're trying to
connect to has reached the maximum number of inbound network
connections. The server is running QuickBooks and MS Office and
allowing access to the other computers, also running QB and MSO, via
mapped drives letters to shared folders on the server. Again, this
setup seemed to work just fine for more than 2 years.
I have since discovered that XP Home has a limit of 5 concurrent
inbound connections, but no more than 4 computers are trying to access
the server at any . So I'm trying to figure out where those other
connection(s) are coming from. Last year, I turned off wireless
networking for security reasons, and everything seem to run fine after
that.
I visited him today to try to figure out the problem, and only found
that if I reboot one connected machine, it allows the "odd man out"
machine to connect, but the rebooted computer will no longer connect
unless I reboot another machine. It's almost as if we're trying to
establish 6 connections, but I'm stumped as to where the extra
connections are coming from.
But first, a bit of background.
1. We are not utilizing Remote Desktop Connection, VPN, or any other
remote access to the network.
2. Wireless networking has been turned off through the router setup.
3. Terminal Services/Remote Desktop Service isn't being used.
4. Remote Assistance is not being used.
5. All five computers share internet access (DSL).
6. Each computer has only one NIC installed.
7. No other hardware or software changes (except for critical Windows
updates) have been made.
The obvious fix to me is to upgrade the server to Windows 7, but I
don't think that computer can handle it.
Can anyone point me to a webpage which explains how network
connections are established and maintained, or suggest ideas for
tracking down and resolving this problem?
Thanks in advance!
with XP Home, and one eMachine (yeah, yeah, I know) running Vista
Home. All Windows updates are current. This has been his hardware
and OS configuration for the past 2+ years.
But a couple of weeks ago, they encountered a strange problem. One of
their Dells won't connect to their Dell (XP Home) server anymore. It
gives the message "This computer cannot connect to the remote
computer..." and makes reference to the computer we're trying to
connect to has reached the maximum number of inbound network
connections. The server is running QuickBooks and MS Office and
allowing access to the other computers, also running QB and MSO, via
mapped drives letters to shared folders on the server. Again, this
setup seemed to work just fine for more than 2 years.
I have since discovered that XP Home has a limit of 5 concurrent
inbound connections, but no more than 4 computers are trying to access
the server at any . So I'm trying to figure out where those other
connection(s) are coming from. Last year, I turned off wireless
networking for security reasons, and everything seem to run fine after
that.
I visited him today to try to figure out the problem, and only found
that if I reboot one connected machine, it allows the "odd man out"
machine to connect, but the rebooted computer will no longer connect
unless I reboot another machine. It's almost as if we're trying to
establish 6 connections, but I'm stumped as to where the extra
connections are coming from.
But first, a bit of background.
1. We are not utilizing Remote Desktop Connection, VPN, or any other
remote access to the network.
2. Wireless networking has been turned off through the router setup.
3. Terminal Services/Remote Desktop Service isn't being used.
4. Remote Assistance is not being used.
5. All five computers share internet access (DSL).
6. Each computer has only one NIC installed.
7. No other hardware or software changes (except for critical Windows
updates) have been made.
The obvious fix to me is to upgrade the server to Windows 7, but I
don't think that computer can handle it.
Can anyone point me to a webpage which explains how network
connections are established and maintained, or suggest ideas for
tracking down and resolving this problem?
Thanks in advance!