Weird networking problem Help me please

[Sue Henderson]

Hi.

I am trying to manage a small network of three computers all running XP Pro.
Each PC has a Dlink G520 wireless network card which talks to a Dlink 624
wireless router which in turn is connected via cat5 cable to an ADSL modem.

The problem is that since I reformatted one of the PC's and reinstalled
everything that PC can no longer see any other PC on the Workgroup.
Additionally no other PC can see the newly formatted PC either.

Here is the weird bit. The reformatted PC has access to the Internet. It can
successfully ping any IP address on the workgroup or the Internet.

If I click on the "View workgroup computers" link it times out after about
30 or so seconds with a popup window saying that "the workgroupname is not
accessible and that I might not have permission to use the network resource.
Contact the Administrator.....yada yada yada"

If however I click on the Start button and then run and type in \\IPAddress
(of the PC I want to connect to) up comes the window with all the shared
recourses visible. I can then go and map drives and reconnect anytime I
like.

While this is acceptable to a degree, I still need to be able to browse for
other PC's and their resources via "View workgroup computers etc".

All computers have their IP's assigned via DHCP on the router (I think. Or
at least I don't assign them. I have found that things run much smoother
when they are assigned automatically).

I have thoroughly checked what I think is the obvious such as Workgroup
name, computer name and have even changed them just to be sure.

I suspect that it is going to be some little obscure checkbox somewhere that
either needs to be ticked or unticked.

If anyone has experienced similar behaviour such as the above and can
suggest something to try, I would be most obliged.

Thanks in advance,

Sue Henderson

 

[Ron Lowe]

Hi.

I am trying to manage a small network of three computers all running XP Pro.
Each PC has a Dlink G520 wireless network card which talks to a Dlink 624
wireless router which in turn is connected via cat5 cable to an ADSL modem.

The problem is that since I reformatted one of the PC's and reinstalled
everything that PC can no longer see any other PC on the Workgroup.
Additionally no other PC can see the newly formatted PC either.

Here is the weird bit. The reformatted PC has access to the Internet. It can
successfully ping any IP address on the workgroup or the Internet.

If I click on the "View workgroup computers" link it times out after about
30 or so seconds with a popup window saying that "the workgroupname is not
accessible and that I might not have permission to use the network resource.
Contact the Administrator.....yada yada yada"

If however I click on the Start button and then run and type in \\IPAddress
(of the PC I want to connect to) up comes the window with all the shared
recourses visible. I can then go and map drives and reconnect anytime I
like.

While this is acceptable to a degree, I still need to be able to browse for
other PC's and their resources via "View workgroup computers etc".

All computers have their IP's assigned via DHCP on the router (I think. Or
at least I don't assign them. I have found that things run much smoother
when they are assigned automatically).

I have thoroughly checked what I think is the obvious such as Workgroup
name, computer name and have even changed them just to be sure.

I suspect that it is going to be some little obscure checkbox somewhere that
either needs to be ticked or unticked.

If anyone has experienced similar behaviour such as the above and can
suggest something to try, I would be most obliged.

Thanks in advance,

Sue Henderson

This sounds like NetBIOS Name Resolution failure.
There's a lot of it about.
( NetBIOS Name Resolution failure, that is. )

Just to go over some basics again:

From the broken machine, go to a command prompt and try to ping
another machine by IP address and then by name.
Eg:

ping 192.168.0.10
ping otherpc

If the first works, but the second fails then this indicates
NetBIOS name resolution failure.

1) Ensure all firewalls are disabled or preferably un-installed
as per the mfr's instructions prior to any fault-finding.

2) Go to TCP/IP properties, advanced button, WINS tab
and ensure NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP is enabled;

3) Go to a command prompt, and issue the command:
IPCONFIG /ALL.
Look at the Node Type.
If it's P-to-P, that's a problem.

In this case, go to Start | Run | regedit.
Go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netbt\Parameters

If either of the following values are present, delete them:

NodeType;
DhcpNodeType.

This should cause the node type to default correctly.
( the node type will report as 'Unknown' in the default case. )

For futher details, see this article:
Default Node Type for Microsoft Clients
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;160177


Post back with what you find...

 

[Sue Henderson]

WOW!

You know your stuff. Thank you very much for the time you have taken to
respond to my problem.

I performed all the checks and pings and stuff you suggested and all was as
it should be. What fixed the problem was removing Norton Internet Security.
As soon as that was removed all worked perfectly.

As an experiment, I tried to reinstall it again and straight away the
problem was evident.

You pointed me in the right direction with regard turning off the firewall.
Is the "Internet Connection Firewall" built into Windows XP good enough for
general use?

As a point of interest however, it might be worth noting that "Norton
Internet Security" is installed on the other PC's on the network and they
function fine.

If you have any further comments, I would be most appreciative and thank you
again for your time.

Regards,

Sue

 

[Sue Henderson]

Again, thank you for your time, you have certainly enlightened me
considerably.

Regards,

Sue