Networking issue with XP Home

  • Thread starter Thread starter Don
  • Start date Start date
D

Don

Greetings All,
I'm having trouble with my Network and I need some help.
I have a 4 node lan. All nodes are connected to a router
then to a cable modem for internet access. 1 computer is
running XP Home, 2 are running ME & 1 is running 2000 Pro.
The 2 running ME can see themselves and the XP box. The
XP box can only see itself. The 2000 Pro box can see can
only see and find itself. If I try to print to the XP box
from either of the ME boxes I get an error message and it
will not print. If I try to read any of the files from
either of the ME boxes which both have 128MB of memory in
them they tell me that there is not enough memory in them.
I am at my witts end. I have enabled Netbios over TCP/IP
as someone has suggested and it did not help.
Can anyone give me any pointers. I thought XP was suppost
to solve all these networking problems. My network ran
better when I was using thinnet and a regular modem.
Thanks for the time and Help in advance.
Don
 
Greetings All,
I'm having trouble with my Network and I need some help.
I have a 4 node lan. All nodes are connected to a router
then to a cable modem for internet access. 1 computer is
running XP Home, 2 are running ME & 1 is running 2000 Pro.
The 2 running ME can see themselves and the XP box. The
XP box can only see itself. The 2000 Pro box can see can
only see and find itself. If I try to print to the XP box
from either of the ME boxes I get an error message and it
will not print. If I try to read any of the files from
either of the ME boxes which both have 128MB of memory in
them they tell me that there is not enough memory in them.
I am at my witts end. I have enabled Netbios over TCP/IP
as someone has suggested and it did not help.
Can anyone give me any pointers. I thought XP was suppost
to solve all these networking problems. My network ran
better when I was using thinnet and a regular modem.
Thanks for the time and Help in advance.
Don
Click to expand...

Don,

Let's look at two separate problems:
1) Lack of communication.
2) Memory depletion on the Windows ME boxes.

Do you have any software firewalls on any of the boxes? ICF?

Is NBT then enabled on all boxes?

Can you ping each box from each other? By name and by ip address?

I hate ME - 128M is not a lot of RAM, and it would be very useful to
know what's using up the RAM on the ME boxes. :( You should consider
adding RAM anyway.

Spyware on the ME boxes? Get HijackThis
<http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3155> and Spybot S&D
<http://security.kolla.de/index.php?lang=en&page=download>.
1) Install and run Spybot. First update it ("Search for updates"),
then run a scan ("Check for problems"). Trust Spybot, and make all
recommended deletions.
2) Install and run HijackThis. Do NOT make any changes immediately.
3) Have your HJT log interpreted by experts at one or more of the
following forums (and post it here):
<http://forums.tomcoyote.org/>
<http://63.247.79.145/~coyote/forums/index.php?act=idx>
<http://www.wilderssecurity.com/index.php?board=17>
<http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?s=8a1e9d7c1978cff54ca06a3210c7c1b0&showforum=32>
<http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/index.php?s=68ddc23721b063d5411ece09e5ac93f9&showforum=11>
(The latter may or may not respond for you as I have read reports that
the SWI site is currently under DoS attack). All of these forums
appear to be rather busy right now, so be patient.

Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
 
Chuck,
Thanks for responding :)!
Let me see if I understand all your instructions and
questions.
1. Yes two of the boxes have firewall software on them,
the XP box and 1 of the ME boxes. It Norton.
2. I don't know what NBT is so I don't know if it is
enabled.
3. I'm not sure how to ping the other boxes. They don't
have an IP address because the Road Runner has it set
them dynamicly. Each computer does have a name.
4. Don't know what Spyware or Hijack this Are.
Are they shareware, freeware of What?
Thanks Again
Don
 
Chuck,
Thanks for responding :)!
Let me see if I understand all your instructions and
questions.
1. Yes two of the boxes have firewall software on them,
the XP box and 1 of the ME boxes. It Norton.
2. I don't know what NBT is so I don't know if it is
enabled.
3. I'm not sure how to ping the other boxes. They don't
have an IP address because the Road Runner has it set
them dynamicly. Each computer does have a name.
4. Don't know what Spyware or Hijack this Are.
Are they shareware, freeware of What?
Thanks Again
Don
Click to expand...

Don,

1) There's your problem. NIS (the Norton firewall) is known to cause
problems with file sharing (printing, and seeing each other) unless
properly configured. To start, please un install all software
firewalls, carefully and completely, using all procedures from vendor.
You probably ought to do this while disconnected from Road Runner - RR
is probably in the top 10 list of most security experts regarding
domains with infected computers constantly infecting others.

Before reconnecting to RR service, you really should install NIS on
all computers, and learn to configure it properly. If you have a
bunch of computers on a LAN, and all connected to internet, any NOT
protected by a firewall is a possibility for combined threat
infections to the others, firewall or no. Four computers on a LAN,
just 2 firewalled? That's a security hole.

Windows ME with 128M RAM and a software firewall, considering the
trash infection traffic especially with RR - I'm not surprised that it
would run a little lean on available memory. Please add memory if
possible.

2) NBT is NetBIOS over TCP/IP - the default resource sharing protocol
used in Windows 98/ME/NT/2K/XP. If you're having problems sharing
resources, make sure it's working on all computers.

3) That's OK. Since we've identified the firewalls as a problem,
we'll start there.

4) Spybot S&D and HijackThis are two well known authoritative tools
for detecting and removing spyware. They are shareware - free, and
reliable. Multiple security experts use and recommend them. You need
spyware protection just as badly as virus protection.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
 
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