Workgroup is not accessible

C

chud

This just recently broke, for no reason that I can tell. Please
excuse the length:

I have a peer to peer LAN with (for test) just two W2K boxes.
I have the same TCP-IP config on both machines, including
NetBios over TCP-IP, the same users and passwords on both
machines, shares on both are Everybody/Full Control, same
WORKGROUP. Only the machine names (tillie, denizen) are different,
and the IP addresses are different. I can see shares on tillie
from denizen, but browsing was basically broken. The error message
was usually "The local device name is already in use. This
connection has not been restored." Sometimes I was able to
see files in shared folders but the Explorer view took a long
time to refresh. From tillie to denizen, I couldn't see shares
at all. Error message: "Workgroup is not accessible. The
network path was not found" The same services are running on both
boxes.

Like I said, all this used to work up until a few days ago.

Here's output from nbtstat and ipconfig:

ipconfig from denizen:

C:\>ipconfig /all

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : denizen
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : D-Link DFE-550TX 10/100 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-05-5D-E5-A4-83
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 199.181.164.1
199.181.164.2

nbtstat from denizen:

C:\>nbtstat -n

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.0.2] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
DENIZEN <00> UNIQUE Registered
DENIZEN <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered
DENIZEN <03> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1E> GROUP Registered

C:\>nbtstat -a tillie

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.0.2] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
TILLIE <00> UNIQUE Registered
TILLIE <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered
TILLIE <03> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1E> GROUP Registered
ADMINISTRATOR <03> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

I can run nbtstat -a denizen from tillie and see denizen's
netbios name table.

ipconfig from tillie:

C:\>ipconfig /all

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : tillie
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139(A) PCI Fast Ethernet
Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-20-ED-2E-6C-1C
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.3
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 199.181.164.1
199.181.164.2

The gateway is a linux firewall which I unplugged. The dns
numbers are my ISP's dns. I can connect to the internet from
either box thru the linux firewall.

I installed NetBEUI pn both boxes. It fixed the browsing
problem, but still couldn't see shares from tillie to denizen.
But it used to work fine before without NetBEUI.

I noticed that the Automatic Updates service was on both machines.
Is it possible that it downloaded an "update" onto tillie (I never
connected denizen to the inet when I was booted into Win2K)
without my knowing it? Or... any other possibilities?

thanks
 
I

Ian Munroe

You are not alone. I have a home network with a W2k pc and
a WXP pc using a wireless router. A few days ago the exact
same thing happened to me and I can't figure out what is
wrong. Both pc's can connect to the inet, no problem. But
they cannot access shared files on each other. I get the
same workgroup error message that you get. Anyone out
there know a fix for this?
Ian Munroe
-----Original Message-----
This just recently broke, for no reason that I can tell. Please
excuse the length:

I have a peer to peer LAN with (for test) just two W2K boxes.
I have the same TCP-IP config on both machines, including
NetBios over TCP-IP, the same users and passwords on both
machines, shares on both are Everybody/Full Control, same
WORKGROUP. Only the machine names (tillie, denizen) are different,
and the IP addresses are different. I can see shares on tillie
from denizen, but browsing was basically broken. The error message
was usually "The local device name is already in use. This
connection has not been restored." Sometimes I was able to
see files in shared folders but the Explorer view took a long
time to refresh. From tillie to denizen, I couldn't see shares
at all. Error message: "Workgroup is not accessible. The
network path was not found" The same services are running on both
boxes.

Like I said, all this used to work up until a few days ago.

Here's output from nbtstat and ipconfig:

ipconfig from denizen:

C:\>ipconfig /all

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : denizen
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : D-Link DFE- 550TX 10/100 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-05-5D-E5- A4-83
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 199.181.164.1
199.181.164.2

nbtstat from denizen:

C:\>nbtstat -n

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.0.2] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
DENIZEN <00> UNIQUE Registered
DENIZEN <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered
DENIZEN <03> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1E> GROUP Registered

C:\>nbtstat -a tillie

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.0.2] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
TILLIE <00> UNIQUE Registered
TILLIE <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered
TILLIE <03> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1E> GROUP Registered
ADMINISTRATOR <03> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

I can run nbtstat -a denizen from tillie and see denizen's
netbios name table.

ipconfig from tillie:

C:\>ipconfig /all

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : tillie
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139(A) PCI Fast Ethernet
Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-20-ED-2E- 6C-1C
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.3
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 199.181.164.1
199.181.164.2

The gateway is a linux firewall which I unplugged. The dns
numbers are my ISP's dns. I can connect to the internet from
either box thru the linux firewall.

I installed NetBEUI pn both boxes. It fixed the browsing
problem, but still couldn't see shares from tillie to denizen.
But it used to work fine before without NetBEUI.

I noticed that the Automatic Updates service was on both machines.
Is it possible that it downloaded an "update" onto tillie (I never
connected denizen to the inet when I was booted into Win2K)
without my knowing it? Or... any other possibilities?

thanks

.
 
C

chud

You are not alone. I have a home network with a W2k pc and
a WXP pc using a wireless router. A few days ago the exact
same thing happened to me and I can't figure out what is
wrong. Both pc's can connect to the inet, no problem. But
they cannot access shared files on each other. I get the
same workgroup error message that you get. Anyone out
there know a fix for this?
Ian Munroe

Ian: I finally started suspecting bad hardware. Tried
switching cables, plugging cables into different switch
ports, tried switching NICs. It finally started working
when I moved the NIC to another PCI slot. Go figure. It had
been working in that slot for over a year.
 

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