Home network issues

[Peter]

Have set up a home network on 2 XP Pro SP1 and a Win 98
machines through a Linksys DSL Router. Upon boot up I get
the same common problem I have read on just about every
newsgroup and web site pertaining to home networking
problems. I have checked and rechecked everything over
and over for days. I have read everyones pet solution and
tried quite a few but none really solve the problem. So
here's my simple but effective workaround that never
seems to be mentioned. Disable your network adapter on
your XP Pro machine that's giving you the network
inaccesible crap and then enable it again and by magic
the network will come on line with everything accessible.
It's a little bit of a hassle at the start of your work
day, but hey, it works in the end.

It would be really interesting to know why this happens
and why no-one else has mentioned it so far as I have
seen.
This problem seems so common and simple to fix and why
hasn't an expert given the simple reason for it
happenening.

 

[Doug Sherman [MVP]]

Sometimes this problem results from master browser conflicts. Among other
things, disabling and re-enabling the Local Area Connection will force a
master browser election. Win98 machines are notorious for failing to accept
election results when they lose - which they should always do when there are
XP machines on the network. This is why this problem can sometimes be fixed
by turning off 'maintain browser list' on Win98 machines.

Doug Sherman
MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

 

[dchandler]

Where would one turn off 'maintain browser list' on the Win98 machine?

 

[Doug Sherman [MVP]]

Use regedit and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\Vnetsetup

Set the value for MaintainServerList to NO

Or, in File and Printer Sharing configuration, I think you can set Master
Browser to disabled.

Doug Sherman
MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

 

[dchandler]

Thank you very much Doug.

Use regedit and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\Vnetsetup

Set the value for MaintainServerList to NO

Or, in File and Printer Sharing configuration, I think you can set Master
Browser to disabled.

Doug Sherman
MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP