two master browsers?

[nigelc]

We have two machines on home net using US Robotics gateway to adsl that
worked fine until recently.

History is m/c A set up first IP 192.168.1.3 m/c B then with IP 192.168.1.4.
A runs XP pro ( without SP1) B runs XP Home with SP1.
Both run Outlook Express and Internet Explorer 6

A had major crash and lockup only saved by Ghost which was used to restore C
partition ( XP plus Office) from Ghost image from J partition

Since then Outlook Express works fine on A but IE fails after a short while.
Meanwhile both OE and IE work fine on B

Have tried Cmd> netsh int ip reset log.txt which seemed to work but only
gave IE access for about 10 minutes then froze, OE continued to work on A
and B is OK on both.

Checking manage >system tools >event viewer >system shows many error
messages saying
either - MSHOME ( network name) could not be registered on the interface
with IP address 192.168.1.3. The machine with IP address 192.168.1.4 did not
allow the name to be claimed by this machinor
or - the browser was unable to promote itself to master browser. the
computer that believes it is the master browser is B

I have changed local network name on A but only fixed for a while

I was advised there may be a conflict between netbios and tcp/ip and have
gone to Control Panel >Lan >properties >tcp/ip > properties >advanced >wins
and disabled NetBios over tcp/ip.
Result after reboot is IE works again for about 10 mins then dies but this
time no errors shown in event log.

My simplistic view is that A was first set up as master with B then added.
When A crashed and was out of action for a few days then B took over role as
master but then A was restored with settings that said I am the master and
they have failed to resolve this conflict with both thinking they are master
and hence conflict and A looses out.

I do not seem to be able to uninstall the network setting to allow a
reinstall although can disable and re enable but this does not fix

I am reluctant to lose full service from m/c B whilst sorting this out and
would welcome any advise and suggestions

Atb Nigel

 

[allan grossman [mvp]]

Hi, Nigel -

You've got two separate issues here, I think.

First, on the XP Pro machine - next time IE fails, open a
command prompt window and type

ipconfig /flushdns

and then smack the enter key. If this solves your
problem stop and then disable the DNS Client service on
the XP Professional machine. It's only required for
connections to a Windows 2000 or later domain - an XP
Home machine doesn't have the service available.

What happens is the DNS Client service removes a DNS
server from the list of available DNS servers if it
doesn't receive a response in what it considers a timely
manner - and if your ISP has slowish DNS servers you can
be left with no nameservers available.

On the browser issue: this should help a little - a
description of browser services -

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-
us;188001

I'd reenable NetBIOS over TCP-IP and disable the Computer
Browser service on the XP Home machine. That should get
the XP Professional machine back up as the master browser.

Hope this helps -

 

[nigelc]

Hello Allan and thanks for your detailed reply.

I have read all recommended and tried advised fixes but problem still
remains.

I think it is isolated to m/c A as I have done a number or combination
setups.

The common factor seems to be that IE stops contact after about 10 mins
which is so close to the 12 minute refresh cycle mentioned in the browser
article

I have flushed dns and disabled dns and restored netbios as advised and also
done this with m/c B connected and disconnected to allow for the extended
cycles 12+12 + etc

however I still have a freeze on IE after 10 mins use.

any other thoughts would be appreciated

BR Nigel

Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 1:52 PM
Subject: two master browsers?