XP Pro won't act like a server

[Josh]

I've carefully search microsoft.com, google, this newsgroup and
others, and I've been unable to find anyone with a similar problem. I
hope someone can help.

In order to solve this problem, I have drastically simplified my home
network - it's down to an XP Pro SP2 desktop, a WinME notebook, and a
Buffalo WBR-G54 router. It's the XP desktop that's having difficulty -
it's able to connect to the router and get an IP address, and is able
to connect to any local LAN or Internet resource.

It's not working, anymore, as a server, though. When pinging it (using
the correct local IP) from the notebook or from the router's ping
utility I get a Destination Host Unreachable message. I believe that
this is indicative of the greater problem - file and printer sharing,
web server-ing, RDC, etc., no longer work from the XP desktop, either.
I've checked tracert and netdiag, and nothing unusual shows up (I'd be
happy to provide the results if they'd be helpful), I have no firewall
running, I've reset the router...

What is so strange is that as a client the computer seems to work
fine. If anyone has any ideas, I'd be very grateful.

Thanks,

Josh

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

I've carefully search microsoft.com, google, this newsgroup and
others, and I've been unable to find anyone with a similar problem. I
hope someone can help.

In order to solve this problem, I have drastically simplified my home
network - it's down to an XP Pro SP2 desktop, a WinME notebook, and a
Buffalo WBR-G54 router. It's the XP desktop that's having difficulty -
it's able to connect to the router and get an IP address, and is able
to connect to any local LAN or Internet resource.

It's not working, anymore, as a server, though. When pinging it (using
the correct local IP) from the notebook or from the router's ping
utility I get a Destination Host Unreachable message. I believe that
this is indicative of the greater problem - file and printer sharing,
web server-ing, RDC, etc., no longer work from the XP desktop, either.
I've checked tracert and netdiag, and nothing unusual shows up (I'd be
happy to provide the results if they'd be helpful), I have no firewall
running, I've reset the router...

What is so strange is that as a client the computer seems to work
fine. If anyone has any ideas, I'd be very grateful.

Thanks,

Josh

The "Destination Host Unreachable" message indicates that the notebook
doesn't know how to send packets to the desktop's IP address, so the
ping never reaches the desktop. Solving the problem requires knowing:

1. The IP addresses and subnet masks assigned to the notebook and
laptop.

2. The contents of the TCP?IP route table on the notebook. Run this
command on the notebook to write the route table to a file named
"route.txt":

route print >route.txt

If you'll post a news group reply with that information, I'm sure that
someone can help.
--
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

 

[Jack]

Hi

A shoot in the dark.

Since you have a Wireless Cable/DSL Router, Win98ME, and WinXP Pro, I assume
that both computers are connected to the Router and you have a regular peer
to peer Network, thus terms like server or Client are not really part of the
equation.

If both computers are capable to connect to the Internet but not between
them, you have the "Classical" I can Not Share File Syndrome.

So look over all your Computer's sharing settings:
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/index.htm

http://www.wown.info/articles_tutorials/wxpwin9x.html

If your system is connected differently please explain you Network in a more
precise way.

Jack (MVP-Networking).

 

[Josh]

Thanks for following up so quickly. I was ultimately able to resolve
the issue when I realized that removing a VPN network adapter was not
the same as uninstalling the Cisco VPN software. Uninstalling the
software fixed the problem -- when I'm feeling more energetic, I'll
try installing it properly.

Thanks again,

Josh