network neighborhood annoyance

[Guest]

I have several computers on an XP Home network. Works fine. I can
access every computer from every other computer. But when I go to "My
Network Places" and click on "View workgroup computers", there's only
one computer listed. If I do a restart on one of the other computers,
it right away shows up on the workgroup list, but later, when I look
again, it's gone. Just that same one computer is on the list. I can
still access all the computers, whether they show up on the list or
not.

Somebody told me he had that problem too, until his "computer guy" set him
up with static IP addresses. So I did that with mine, and that solved the
problem.

Why was there a problem with DHCP assigned addresses? Where is it
documented? What is going on?

 

[Mr Critter]

Dogbreath,

This is normally caused by a DHCP server's inability to forward/issue
SMB(Netbios) information. SMB is what enables machines to locate each
other on a network without IP addresses. The problem is that the
default setting within XP networking (WINS tab) is to "Use NetBIOS
setting from the DHCP server", and not all DHCP servers do this (or at
least many do not do it well). You might try changing the default
setting on each computer to "Enable NetBIOS over DHCP" and see if that
fixes your problem. The SMB protocol is not always the most reliable
protocol, so it sometimes requires a workaround.

Let me know if this works for you.

vr,

Mr. Critter

 

[Guest]

Dogbreath,

This is normally caused by a DHCP server's inability to forward/issue
SMB(Netbios) information. SMB is what enables machines to locate each
other on a network without IP addresses. The problem is that the
default setting within XP networking (WINS tab) is to "Use NetBIOS
setting from the DHCP server", and not all DHCP servers do this (or at
least many do not do it well). You might try changing the default
setting on each computer to "Enable NetBIOS over DHCP" and see if that
fixes your problem. The SMB protocol is not always the most reliable
protocol, so it sometimes requires a workaround.

Let me know if this works for you.

vr,

Mr. Critter

Thanks, Mr. C. I'm guessing the static IP address has the same effect. The
NetBIOS settings on the WINS tab are confusing at best, but it looks like the
default is to enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP (sic) "if static IP address is used".

I can't find any documentation for this problem or its solution. Can you
suggest a source of information?

 

[Mr Critter]

Technically, NetBIOS and SMB are different protocols (NetBIOS operates
at level 5 and SMB in the upper levels of the OSI stack), but they work
together. Here are some URL's that might give you some different
perspectives on NetBIOS:

NetBIOS and SMB -- http://www.phrack.org/phrack/60/p60-0x0b.txt

SMB -- http://samba.anu.edu.au/cifs/docs/what-is-smb.html

Get Familiar With SMB --
http://www.rxn.com/services/faq/smb/using_samba/html/ch01_03.htm

Hope this helps!

Mr. C.

 

[Guest]

Technically, NetBIOS and SMB are different protocols (NetBIOS operates
at level 5 and SMB in the upper levels of the OSI stack), but they work
together. Here are some URL's that might give you some different
perspectives on NetBIOS:

NetBIOS and SMB -- http://www.phrack.org/phrack/60/p60-0x0b.txt

SMB -- http://samba.anu.edu.au/cifs/docs/what-is-smb.html

Get Familiar With SMB --
http://www.rxn.com/services/faq/smb/using_samba/html/ch01_03.htm

Hope this helps!

Mr. C.

Thanks again, Mr. C. That's a lot of material to go through, but I really want to understand this.