Intermittent domain access from 98 clients

[Dr Zoidberg]

We have a 2000 domain running in mixed mode , predominantly with 2000 and
xp clients.
There are a few 98 and Me laptops though.

A couple of the 98 laptops have a problem where they receive an IP address
via DHCP ok and this includes all the DNS and WINS settings required. Half
the time they can browse the network just fine and connect to their mapped
network drives with no problems.
Other times they find that there are no computers shown in Network
Neighbourhood and they can't access files on a couple of the servers. A nice
helpful message says "Unable to browse the network , the network is not
accessible" yet they can ping everything both by IP and Name even when they
can't browse to them.

We have tried replacing network cards / cables just in case the hardware is
at fault but that made no difference. One of the machines is on a remote
site going through a router but the other is at our main office.
Rebooting the laptop often cures the problem but not always.
Any suggestions before I re-install windows?

--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger"

"Then I hide until it goes away"

 

[Steve Parry [MVP]]

In

We have a 2000 domain running in mixed mode , predominantly with 2000
and xp clients.
There are a few 98 and Me laptops though.

A couple of the 98 laptops have a problem where they receive an IP
address via DHCP ok and this includes all the DNS and WINS settings
required. Half the time they can browse the network just fine and
connect to their mapped network drives with no problems.
Other times they find that there are no computers shown in Network
Neighbourhood and they can't access files on a couple of the servers.
A nice helpful message says "Unable to browse the network , the
network is not accessible" yet they can ping everything both by IP
and Name even when they can't browse to them.

We have tried replacing network cards / cables just in case the
hardware is at fault but that made no difference. One of the machines
is on a remote site going through a router but the other is at our
main office.
Rebooting the laptop often cures the problem but not always.
Any suggestions before I re-install windows?

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;260214

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;238853

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;190648

http://www.petri.co.il/ad_client_for_win98_nt.htm

ensure in the TCP/IP properties (for the servers ), Advanced>
Wins that enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP is ticked

 

[Dr Zoidberg]

In

http://www.petri.co.il/ad_client_for_win98_nt.htm

Looks like the AD client had never been installed.
This seems to have fixed it.
Thanks
--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger"

"Then I hide until it goes away"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk

 

[Steve Parry [MVP]]

In

Looks like the AD client had never been installed.
This seems to have fixed it.
Thanks

glad thats done it Alex

cheers
Steve

 

[Dr Zoidberg]

In Dr Zoidberg <[email protected]> fumbled, fiddled
and typed:


glad thats done it Alex

Ah , its just started playing up again.
Time to look for another solution. :-/

--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger"

"Then I hide until it goes away"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk

 

[Steve Parry [MVP]]

In

Ah , its just started playing up again.
Time to look for another solution. :-/

damn ...

.. I'd be tempted to look down the netbios over tcp/ip route and
the wins server / master browser issues.

have you tried using the autodisconnect parameter on your servers
....

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;138365

plus I seem to recall a specific issue with Word and Win 2K but
not sure if that affects your probs