Mapping drive and local device name is already in use

[Ya Ya]

I have a workgroup network with Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server (and 2
other computers).
I have mapped a drive on Windows XP that belongs to Windows 2003 machine.
The map drive in working but after a few hours I get "An error occured while
reconnecting drive, The local device name is already in use". After that, I
can not access the map drive until I boot the Windows 2003 machine.
How can I solve this problem ?

Thanks

(e-mail address removed)

 

[Herb Martin]

I have a workgroup network with Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server (and 2
other computers).
I have mapped a drive on Windows XP that belongs to Windows 2003 machine.
The map drive in working but after a few hours I get "An error occured while
reconnecting drive, The local device name is already in use". After that, I
can not access the map drive until I boot the Windows 2003 machine.

You leave out a lot between "in use" and "boot Windows".

Like what did you try?

Did you try going to the command line and removing
the mapping to the other system explicitly?

net use M: /d

or...

net use * /d

(to unmap everything)

How can I solve this problem ?

Be methodical and very explitic about all messages
and symptoms you encounter.

 

[Ya Ya]

When running from command "net use S: /d", I get a warning that something
is active on this connection. When I press "Yes", the mapping is gone.
I can not ping the server or remap the drive again until I boot.

Any idea ?

(e-mail address removed)

 

[Herb Martin]

When running from command "net use S: /d", I get a warning that something
is active on this connection. When I press "Yes", the mapping is gone.
I can not ping the server or remap the drive again until I boot.

Any idea ?

First, mapping drives is dependent on IP (tested
by ping) and never the other way around.

If you cannot ping, something has gone wrong with
your NIC or IP and that would cause the problems
with mapping drives etc, so we want to deak with
the network (IP and NIC) problems....

Ok, some ideas:

1) Flaky network cable
2) Sick NIC
3) Duplicate IP address on some other machine
(but you aren't seeing the typical warnings)
4) Some sort of other network devices (hub etc)
that is flaky.

Normally the first two are pretty unlikely but you
are experiencing some sort of intermittent problem.

Usually NIC's die completely or work.

Cable problems are a LOT more common than most
people realize.

My first try with what you have reported would be
a new cable (they are cheap, but I even have some
extras available though.)

Get in the habit of keeping a command prompt open
(always) and pinging every so often to see if there
is a pattern.