Some tricky networking issues

G

Guest

Here's my setup:

Small office w/ 5 desktop machines, all running Windows XP.
Netgear wireless router w/ 4 ethernet ports.
D-Link 8 port switch.
Cable modem connected to the wan port on the Netgear box.
Fileserver (Linux w/ Samba installed) connected to Netgear wireless router.
All desktop machines are connected to the D-Link switch.
D-Link switch is in turn connected to the Netgear box.
Netgear box is acting as dhcp server and all 5 desktop machines get tcp/ip
info configuration via dhcp (ie. no static ip addresses)

Ok, so, that's my network topology, in a nutshell.

Here's the problem:

4 out of 5 desktop machines have no problems at all (ie. they can get dhcp,
connect to the 'net, connect to the fileserver, ping each other, etc.)

The problem is with the fifth desktop machine. So, some background on this
machine:

When I was first called about this issue, the machine had two network
interfaces: a regular wired ethernet and an 802.11b adapter. There was no
connectivity at all on the wired nic (they had just had a power surge, so I
figured that it was fried), but the wireless nic worked. However, the
wireless nic was too slow for their needs, so I installed another wired nic
(known to be working) and took the wireless one out. Which brings me to where
I am now:

The machine will not retrieve dhcp on either nic (it tries for a while then
self assigns). If I assign static ip addresses, the icons in the system tray
indicate that there is full connectivity, but I cannot ping or otherwise
connect to anything. So, I think that I've basically ruled out any problems
with hardware. Any thoughts on what this issue might be?

-Richard Jones
 
G

Guest

Was reading some other posts and realized that I should probably specify that
I do not have both nics connected at the same time. I only have two nics
because I was trying to determine if I had a hardware problem with the
original nic.

-Richard
 
S

Steve Winograd [MVP]

Here's my setup:

Small office w/ 5 desktop machines, all running Windows XP.
Netgear wireless router w/ 4 ethernet ports.
D-Link 8 port switch.
Cable modem connected to the wan port on the Netgear box.
Fileserver (Linux w/ Samba installed) connected to Netgear wireless router.
All desktop machines are connected to the D-Link switch.
D-Link switch is in turn connected to the Netgear box.
Netgear box is acting as dhcp server and all 5 desktop machines get tcp/ip
info configuration via dhcp (ie. no static ip addresses)

Ok, so, that's my network topology, in a nutshell.

Here's the problem:

4 out of 5 desktop machines have no problems at all (ie. they can get dhcp,
connect to the 'net, connect to the fileserver, ping each other, etc.)

The problem is with the fifth desktop machine. So, some background on this
machine:

When I was first called about this issue, the machine had two network
interfaces: a regular wired ethernet and an 802.11b adapter. There was no
connectivity at all on the wired nic (they had just had a power surge, so I
figured that it was fried), but the wireless nic worked. However, the
wireless nic was too slow for their needs, so I installed another wired nic
(known to be working) and took the wireless one out. Which brings me to where
I am now:

The machine will not retrieve dhcp on either nic (it tries for a while then
self assigns). If I assign static ip addresses, the icons in the system tray
indicate that there is full connectivity, but I cannot ping or otherwise
connect to anything. So, I think that I've basically ruled out any problems
with hardware. Any thoughts on what this issue might be?

-Richard Jones

Are there any relevant messages in Event Viewer? To run it, click
Start | Control Panel | Performance and Maintenance | Administrative
Tools | Event Viewer. For more information, see:

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308427

Look particularly for messages about DHCP and TCP/IP.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
 

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