two computers ping each other OK, but W-Explorer on one does not see another

[Guest]

I have Desktop(DT) and Laptop(LT), both w2k sp2, networked via VIGOR2600x
router.

In general it works, yet inconsistently

I use network mainly for accessing/transferring files between the computers
using WindowsExplorer (WE).
Sometimes WE on DT doea not see LT, but LT sees DT. Sometimes it is the
other way round.

On both occations the computers ping each other successfully.

I have a feeling (but not sure) that the order in which I turn the computer
on has some influence.

How can I fix it?

 

[David Robbins]

I have Desktop(DT) and Laptop(LT), both w2k sp2, networked via VIGOR2600x
router.

In general it works, yet inconsistently

I use network mainly for accessing/transferring files between the computers
using WindowsExplorer (WE).
Sometimes WE on DT doea not see LT, but LT sees DT. Sometimes it is the
other way round.

On both occations the computers ping each other successfully.

I have a feeling (but not sure) that the order in which I turn the computer
on has some influence.

How can I fix it?

there is sometimes a delay between turning on a computer and when it shows
up in the network browser on other machines on the network. it has to do
with name broadcasts and selections of master browsers and such. if the
network is really working properly as soon as a machine finishes booting you
should be able to access shares on it. the easiest way is to just open
windows explorer and type '\\computername' in the address bar and hit
return. that forces explorer to go find that computer on the network and
display it for browsing. if that doesn't work then you may have other
issues with your network setup.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, David
Sometimes the other computer does not show up after an hour, so I have to
re-boot.
Even whe it works, to open a folder on the other computer takes about a
minite.
You say
" if the network is really working properly as soon as a machine finishes
booting"

Where should I strat looking at to see what exactly might not be working
properly?

 

[David Robbins]

i would start with a basic test of connectivity. do a continuous ping and
it should be consistant and very fast with only the one router in the way.
if there is any delay or packet loss you should find the weak link and fix
it. an intermittant could cause loss of name broadcasts and connection
delays... don't ignore this thinking your network is perfectly fine, most
network functions will do just fine with intermittant packet loss, but it
can cause slow connections and missing machines on the network as you see
now.

after that i would just double check settings for dns lookups, enabling
netbios over tcp/ip, and registering the computer name with dns. you may
also be able to bypass lots of that stuff if you create your own hosts file.
my problems have always been the physical connection though so i don't have
much more than those general things to go on.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, David

How do I do a continuous ping?

i would start with a basic test of connectivity. do a continuous ping and
it should be consistant and very fast with only the one router in the way.
if there is any delay or packet loss you should find the weak link and fix
it. an intermittant could cause loss of name broadcasts and connection
delays... don't ignore this thinking your network is perfectly fine, most
network functions will do just fine with intermittant packet loss, but it
can cause slow connections and missing machines on the network as you see
now.

after that i would just double check settings for dns lookups, enabling
netbios over tcp/ip, and registering the computer name with dns. you may
also be able to bypass lots of that stuff if you create your own hosts file.
my problems have always been the physical connection though so i don't have
much more than those general things to go on.

 

[David Robbins]

ping /t target_name

there are other useful options on ping... use ping /? for a list of options.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, David

I pinged it for a couple of minutes and got several screens of pings, all
<10 ms

How long should I run it to get a meaninful conclusion?
Also how do I stop it?

 

[David Robbins]

a few minutes of perfect pings is probably enough. ctrl-c stops it and
gives summary report.

 

[Guest]

Thanks
I sent 3684 packets. Received 3682; lost 2 - is this acceptable?
Although they all are <10ms the min, max and average was reported as 0 ms -
does this mean that they all are below 0.5ms and rounded down to 0?

If it's OK should I go to intermittant?
BTW, what it is?

 

[David Robbins]

thats an old bug in windows ping, i think they finally fixed it in xp.. the
<10ms message is missing a decimal point, it should be <1.0ms or as they use
in xp <1ms. then when they round it off it can come out to 0ms which looks
rather odd.

i would be curious about the dropped ones but not overly concerned at this
point. in a wired setup you shouldn't drop anything unless something is
happening. even in my setup i can ping my win2k pro 'server' through a
wireless access point and router/switch for hours and never lose a packet.
as far as their impact, at that percentage i would not expect major
problems, maybe an occasional hiccup but nothing that would stop the network
from working. in my experience at 1% or more loss you would really start to
see delays in windows, web browsing, and other stuff, at 10% the network
would pretty well fall apart with big delays in file transfers and web
access timing out.