Local Area Networking Problem in XP

[Guest]

I'm trying to help my boss get her two computers to connect. The only reason
being that she uses Quicken for her billing and would like the master program
on her laptop in her office, while the seceretary opens it from her computer
in the other room through the network. The problem is that although they are
connected through the area network, the seceraty is unable to access the
file, even if she is able to access the shared folder in which the file
resides. After one unsuccessful attempt at opening the file, another try to
access the network prompts this message: "An error occurred while
reconnecting Y: to ......\sharedDocs Microsoft Windows Network : The local
device name is already in use. This connection has not been restored." We've
had some tech guy come in and try everything, which wasn't that much, and
finally blamed it on the microwave. I've had some great replies from this
forum before so if anyone has any idea on a solution to this problem, please
let me know and I would be greatly appreciative. Thanks for your time.
-Mav

 

[Malke]

I'm trying to help my boss get her two computers to connect. The only
reason being that she uses Quicken for her billing and would like the
master program on her laptop in her office, while the seceretary opens
it from her computer in the other room through the network. The
problem is that although they are connected through the area network,
the seceraty is unable to access the file, even if she is able to
access the shared folder in which the file
resides. After one unsuccessful attempt at opening the file, another
try to access the network prompts this message: "An error occurred
while reconnecting Y: to ......\sharedDocs Microsoft Windows Network :
The local device name is already in use. This connection has not been
restored." We've had some tech guy come in and try everything, which
wasn't that much, and finally blamed it on the microwave. I've had
some great replies from this forum before so if anyone has any idea on
a solution to this problem, please let me know and I would be greatly
appreciative. Thanks for your time. -Mav

Is the Quicken program running on the master computer while the
secretary is trying to access it? This could be the problem. I'm not
familiar with whether or not Quicken has a network-aware version, but I
know that QuickBooks does. If this isn't the situation, please post
back with more details. Also describe the network structure (wired,
wireless, router, switch, etc.) and tell us the Service Pack levels on
the two computers (right-click My Computer, left-click Properties and
you'll see the description of your os and sp level).

Malke

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the response Malke, however I did get the two programs mixed up in
the message. We are actually running quickbooks, so like you said it should
be able to be accessed through the network. I'm not sure if the problem is
directly related to quickbooks because the second computer has a difficult
time accessing the network. This is when I receive the "local device name is
already in use" message. Both computers are connected via router and both are
running XP SP 2. Any other thoughts as to why they're having a hard time
connecting with each other? thanks again for the help!
-Mav

 

[Malke]

Thanks for the response Malke, however I did get the two programs
mixed up in the message. We are actually running quickbooks, so like
you said it should be able to be accessed through the network. I'm not
sure if the problem is directly related to quickbooks because the
second computer has a difficult time accessing the network. This is
when I receive the "local device name is already in use" message. Both
computers are connected via router and both are
running XP SP 2. Any other thoughts as to why they're having a hard
time connecting with each other? thanks again for the help!
-Mav

OK, if you want to run QuickBooks like that, you do need the network
version. As for the other problems, here are a few things to check:

1. Both computers must have unique computer names.
2. It is better not to use the same computer name as a user. IOW, if you
have a user account named "Mav", don't name your computer "Mav".
3. It could be a hardware problem. You didn't give any details about the
hardware, so I can't be more specific. If the "difficult time accessing
the network" is random, then you may have failing hardware. To t-shoot
hardware, you generally start by swapping out:

a. the ethernet cable
b. try a different router port
c. the nic in one machine, then the other.

You always make one change at a time and test afterwards, documenting
what you've done.

Since this is a business, you may want to have a local professional come
in and take a look, too. Someone on-site can usually pick up on what's
going on far quicker and easier than people reading newsgroup posts.

Here is an excellent network troubleshooter by MVP Hans-Georg Michna.
Take the time to go through it and then if you are still having
problems, post back with your results.

http://www.michna.com/kb/wxnet.htm

Malke

 

[Guest]

Food for thought ... check this Microsoft knowledge base article. May not be
the exact cause but might give you some ideas.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;890413

JohnKr

 

[Guest]

Thank you both for the information. I will definitely go through the network
troubleshooting guide as well as the microsoft support page and bring them
both to work. I wish we had a decent on site tech, but unfortunately the
person my boss hired is a strugglin' fool. I'll let you know what the results
are. Thanks again for your help.
-Mav