connect to share in "safe w/networking" mode but not in "normal" mode

[John Burnham]

On my LAN at home, I am running two Windows XP Pro
computers and a Linux server (running Samba). One XP
computer sees the shares on the server just fine. The other
computer will see the Linux server, but cannot go any
further (such as mapping a drive to a share on the server)
in "normal" mode, but can see all the shares fine in "safe
with networking" mode. I can't think of any configuration
changes that could have prompted this behavior. I am using
TCP/IP with static IPs. Because one computer has no problem
communicating with the server, I believe the conflict lies
in the other Windows box, and not the server.

In a possibly related issue, the problem computer is
clinging to a NIC which was removed a while ago. It is
hidden in "normal" mode but is still assigned an IP
address. In "Safe" mode, it shows up, but Windows won't let
me uninstall it, because it thinks it is needed to boot.

Where can I start looking for the conflict in Normal mode?

 

[John Burnham]

Problem solved, and it was stupid, like many others:

Wrong IP address assigned to the Linux server in problem
computer's Zone Alarm configuration.

Remember to make sure your firewall is set up correctly!