Can't ping win 2000 Pro

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

I have 4 machines in a network, 2 windows 2000 pro and 2 windows XP Pro.
One of the windows 2000 Pro is acting as a file server. It got a problem
communicating with the other Windows 2000 Pro machine. They can't see or
ping each other either by name or IP address. But both Windows 2000 Pro
machines can see and browse to other two Windows XP Pro machines. They are
all plugged into the same network switch and tried with different switch
ports and network cables. Nothing help!! Moreover, there are no firewall on
any of the Windows 2000 Pro machines.

All machines have no problem getting Internet connection, which means that
they are all connected to the network somehow. But for some reason both
Windows 2000 Pro are not talking to each other. I have tried to uninstall
the network adapter drivers, but not helping.

Any idea will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi everyone,

I have 4 machines in a network, 2 windows 2000 pro and 2 windows XP Pro.
One of the windows 2000 Pro is acting as a file server. It got a problem
communicating with the other Windows 2000 Pro machine. They can't see or
ping each other either by name or IP address. But both Windows 2000 Pro
machines can see and browse to other two Windows XP Pro machines. They are
all plugged into the same network switch and tried with different switch
ports and network cables. Nothing help!! Moreover, there are no firewall on
any of the Windows 2000 Pro machines.

All machines have no problem getting Internet connection, which means that
they are all connected to the network somehow. But for some reason both
Windows 2000 Pro are not talking to each other. I have tried to uninstall
the network adapter drivers, but not helping.

Any idea will be greatly appreciated!

An inability to ping is almost always caused by one of the following:
a) Firewall restrictions.
b) Incorrect TCP/IP parameters
c) Incompatible network speed

About a): I have seen lots of posts in which the writer was prepared
to swear that he did not have a software firewall, only to realise
eventually that he had one. ZoneAlarm is notorious for blocking
pings, even when deactivated. It needs to be uninstalled for your
tests.

About b): You quoted no IP parameters whatsoever. Without
knowing them it's impossible to provide advice.

About c): Set all adapters to 10 MBits/s half duplex while testing.

 

[Guest]

/agree with Pegasus

Without IP params it's hard to tell. But here are some things to get the
noodle boiling.

Make sure your subnet masks match. If one of these puppies is set wrong it
can ruin your whole day.

If they do match, make sure your IP addresses are all in the same subnet.
Ex.: 192.168.5.10/24, 192.168.5.11/24 and so on.

If the server is multi-homed (more than one NIC) turn one off if possible
and use just one for testing. If it works with only one NIC and not both on
you could have a gateway issue on your cards. Also if you have a wireless
card turn it off. I ran into a situation where no matter what when I tried
to ping a device it would try to go out the wireless card. Bindings and
everything were fine on the machine it just refused to go out the hard wire
while the wireless NIC was active. This was eventually fixed from an updated
driver buy the wireless card manufacturer.

If you have routing and remote access turned on, double check your routes to
the internal LAN.

Pegasus mentioned this as well but duplexing could ruin your stuff too.

I'm just taking some shots in the dark here. These are usually the areas
that I look at first when trouble shooting network issues. Some IP params
would really help though.

Daniel