Win XP -> Win98 over LAN

[Guest]

I'm running Win XP pro and an unable to connect to other machines on the
network running Win98. The machines all run novell client over the university
network. Each machine has its own unique name and IP and all are assigned in
the same workgroup.

On the XP machine: If I click view computers in my workgroup I only see the
machines running XP.

On the Win98 machines: If I open the network neighborhood I can see the XP
machines and access the shared files.

Even if I disable the windows firewall on the XP machines I still cannot see
the Win98 machines. Additionally, if I ping the IP address of the Win98
machines I get an instant reply.

What have I got to do to Win XP to get the Win98 machines to appear in my
workgroup PC list, would be very helpful as the networked printers also run
off the Win98 machines. Which are setup for file and print sharing, there is
no problem printing over the network from other Win98 machines.

Please help,
V. frustrated.

 

[Chuck]

I'm running Win XP pro and an unable to connect to other machines on the
network running Win98. The machines all run novell client over the university
network. Each machine has its own unique name and IP and all are assigned in
the same workgroup.

On the XP machine: If I click view computers in my workgroup I only see the
machines running XP.

On the Win98 machines: If I open the network neighborhood I can see the XP
machines and access the shared files.

Even if I disable the windows firewall on the XP machines I still cannot see
the Win98 machines. Additionally, if I ping the IP address of the Win98
machines I get an instant reply.

What have I got to do to Win XP to get the Win98 machines to appear in my
workgroup PC list, would be very helpful as the networked printers also run
off the Win98 machines. Which are setup for file and print sharing, there is
no problem printing over the network from other Win98 machines.

Please help,
V. frustrated.

Steve,

Check for a browser conflict between the WinXP computer and the Win98 computers.
I"m not talking about Internet Explorer here. The browser is the program that
allows any computer to see any other computer on the LAN. The browsers for
WinXP (WinNT/2K/XP) and Win98 (Win95/98/ME) don't work well together on the same
LAN.

Disable the browser service on the WinXP computer. Control Panel -
Administrative Tools - Services. Stop, then Disable the browser service. Wait
patiently, or restart the Windows XP computer.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188001
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=231312
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/win95/w95brows.mspx>

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.

 

[Guest]

Hi Chuck,

thax for the reply.

I've actually browsed thru some of your earlier post and had already tried
that. Had an unusual response. Firstly it didn't work, as in still couldn't
see the win98 machines, but when I ran browstat before disabling the browse
master, the \\computername of all the xp machines where found and the name of
1 of the 2 Win98 machines. Then after disabling the browse master on the
Win98 machine that was in the list and running browstat again, all the Xp
machines and the other Win98 machine appeared!

When the Win98 machines did appear browstat returned a 'error 53' message.

Stevemanc

XP - Though this was meant to be progress, instead it feels like I'm going
back in time!

 

[Chuck]

Hi Chuck,

thax for the reply.

I've actually browsed thru some of your earlier post and had already tried
that. Had an unusual response. Firstly it didn't work, as in still couldn't
see the win98 machines, but when I ran browstat before disabling the browse
master, the \\computername of all the xp machines where found and the name of
1 of the 2 Win98 machines. Then after disabling the browse master on the
Win98 machine that was in the list and running browstat again, all the Xp
machines and the other Win98 machine appeared!

When the Win98 machines did appear browstat returned a 'error 53' message.

Stevemanc

XP - Though this was meant to be progress, instead it feels like I'm going
back in time!

Steve,

The browser subsystem is a peer-to-peer server inventory. It's pretty complex,
when you consider all that it does.
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/win95/w95brows.mspx>

The problem with the browser subsystem is that it is not instantaneous. When
you make any change (stop or start any browser), you could wait as long as 48
minutes before seeing a change reflected by all of the other computers.

That's why I usually recommend that all computers be powered off then powered on
again (so that all will be offline simultaneously). The first browser powered
on should elect itself the master browser, and all computers following should
reflect that.

The browser subsystem is pretty complex, and has to deal with computers being
online or offline at any time (dynamic fail over), with different operating
systems, and with peer-peer decision making (ie there's no single recognised
authority on the LAN).

When you stopped the browser, did you stop it on all the XP computers? Did you
wait until the other computers had a chance to identify a browser to replace
each one you stopped?

In a LAN with n (n > 2) number of computers, the recommendation is to have n/6
(minimum of 2) computers running the browser service. Since the browser service
is pretty chatty (sending datagrams back and forth), you shouldn't have much
more than n/6.

For maximum stability, the browsers should be the ones online most consistently,
and able to handle the load. And you can't have some browsers running Windows
9x and others running Windows NT - they have to be one or the other.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=246489

The error 53 is name or resource not found. Check the Node Type ("ipconfig
/all") for each computer, make sure all computers are either using WINS
(Peer-Peer) or not (Broadcast, Hybrid, Mixed, Unknown).
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=160177

If that's not it, then you still have a browser problem.

Browstat would be a great tool to diagnose your problem. Unfortunately, it
doesn't run on Windows 9x, just NT/2K/XP, so you can run it only on your XP
computers.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Thax again. The problem has mysteriously been solved.

I'm guessing as you said its refresh time for the browsers. Both machines
where powered off at the same time but I guess running on such a huge server
(1000's of PC's) something took a while to change within the server. It may
also have been something to do with the bindings, with running so many
protocols due to the vast number of operating systems, I got fed-up trying
each one individually to see if that was the problem one, and binded all
protocols on the Win98 machine to novell and windows (if not already
selected). And to complete the belt-n-braces job, enabled IPX protocol on the
Win98 machine to connect to any detected connection, just in case.

Never-the-less the info you provided has been very useful. I've very very
quickly learned that XP isn't as user friendly when it comes to setting up.
Have now been unwittingly appointed as the person to talk to in the office
with regard to PC prob's. DOH!

Thax again,
Steve

 

[Chuck]

Hi,

Thax again. The problem has mysteriously been solved.

I'm guessing as you said its refresh time for the browsers. Both machines
where powered off at the same time but I guess running on such a huge server
(1000's of PC's) something took a while to change within the server. It may
also have been something to do with the bindings, with running so many
protocols due to the vast number of operating systems, I got fed-up trying
each one individually to see if that was the problem one, and binded all
protocols on the Win98 machine to novell and windows (if not already
selected). And to complete the belt-n-braces job, enabled IPX protocol on the
Win98 machine to connect to any detected connection, just in case.

Never-the-less the info you provided has been very useful. I've very very
quickly learned that XP isn't as user friendly when it comes to setting up.
Have now been unwittingly appointed as the person to talk to in the office
with regard to PC prob's. DOH!

Thax again,
Steve

Thanks for the update, Steve. Yeah, I'd bet the final problem was the "48
minutes..." "give or take a few".

I do hope you can normalise your protocols on your network, too. Browser
performance isn't the only thing hampered by a complex protocol stack.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.