XP Home computer can't ping itself

[John B]

I use a Linksys wired BEFSX41 firewall cable router, to afford internet
access to computers on my LAN. This device also facilitates DHCP IP address
assignment to my computers. Computers are supposed to see each other, on
the LAN, by looking through the router.

There is nothing wrong with the router. It assigns IP addresses though its
DHCP-server capabilities. Any computer can view the table of these IP
assignments, by using a browser to view the configuration of the router.
Even the problematic computer can do this.

Thus, I am encountering a baffling problem whereby one of my computers
("MARS"), running XP Home, is LAN-impaired. MARS IS internet-capable, as it
CAN view the internet and exchange email. As I said, MARS communicates with
the router, which is in "hub position" for my LAN.

I have another computer on the LAN, named MERCURY, which works fine. It's
O/S is Win2K Pro + sp4.

Consider these facts:
MARS sees the router, through its browser, correctly revealing ip addresses
of MERCURY at 192.168.1.101 and MARS at 192.168.1.100.
MARS can ping the router, at 192.168.1.1.
MARS responds to "ipconfig /all" properly, revealing its IP address as
192.168.1.100.
MARS cannot ping MERCURY, by its NetBIOS name, but it CAN ping MERCURY by
its IP address.
MARS cannot ping itself, at all.
MARS reveals the workgroup name, when browsed for Microsoft networks, but
any attempt by the user to look within that workgroup results in a long,
long, fruitless wait.
MERCURY can see the workgroup, from its browser, and within the workgroup
are icons for MERCURY and MARS. If I click within MARS, the browse goes
nowhere. A click within MERCURY, of course, reveals its inner shares.

MARS has been carefully set up for network capability. It's internal
firewall has been disabled. It has the usual defaults: Microsoft file and
print sharing enabled, Microsoft networking enabled. I disabled "QoS Packet
Switching" out of suspicion, but that setting makes no difference. Usernames
and passwords are common, between computers.

TCP/IP, of course, is enabled. I tried TCP version 6, but un-installed it,
as it didn't solve my problem with MARS.

This same XP computer USED TO WORK. It's my son's, and nobody knows what
happened to render its LAN ability to be useless.

To make matters more interesting, the computer embodying MARS is
dual-booted. When running under W2K Pro, the computer, subsequently known
as MARS2K, has no problem pinging itself or being pinged or viewed by
MERCURY, on the local area network.

This is not a hardware problem, then. It's all in the XP Home setup,
somehow.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
John

 

[Ron Lowe]

[..]

MARS cannot ping MERCURY, by its NetBIOS name, but it CAN ping MERCURY by
its IP address.
MARS cannot ping itself, at all.

[..]

Hmm,
the first issue is often node type.

->Do an ipconfig /all and report the node type.

However, the second issue is more worrysome.

It can't ping its own IP address?
That's usually a firewall problem.

->What exact error do you get when you attempt to ping its own IP address?
->How about when you attempt to ping 127.0.0.1?

->Has there *ever* been any 3-rd party firewall / internet security software
on the machine ( like ZoneAlarm, for example )?

 

[John B]

Thanks for your reply, Ron. This problem is solved, with your help.

"Ron Lowe" wrote

MARS cannot ping MERCURY, by its NetBIOS name, but it CAN ping MERCURY by
its IP address.
MARS cannot ping itself, at all.

[..]

Hmm,
the first issue is often node type.

->Do an ipconfig /all and report the node type.

It says, "Hybrid"
BTW, MERCURY, under W2K Pro, says "Broadcast"

However, the second issue is more worrysome.

It can't ping its own IP address?
That's usually a firewall problem.

->What exact error do you get when you attempt to ping its own IP address? "Request Timed Out"
->How about when you attempt to ping 127.0.0.1?

This worked. "time < 1ms...0% loss"

->Has there *ever* been any 3-rd party firewall / internet security software
on the machine ( like ZoneAlarm, for example )?

Funny you should ask.
It turns out Junior had Norton Internet Security operating on MARS, a recent
change.
Disabling "Personal Firewall" solves the PING problem! (Thanks!)
I also disabled the "Intruder Protection," for good measure.
I rely on my router as a firewall, so these software protections are
unwanted.

Now, everyone is happy. We can ping each other with abandon. MARS' browser
works as it should, and its LAN capabilities are restored.
Thanks for asking the right questions!

And MARS' node type is still, "Hybrid."
John

 

[John]

I think I may have stumbled across THE solution to this problem. From
the DOS Command line, type IPCONFIG and obtain the IP Address, Subnet
Mask, and Default Gateway settings. Then go to Network Connections,
right click on Local Area Connection, click on Properties, click on
Internet Protocol, click on Properties, click "Use the folloing IP
address" and enter the settings from IPCONFIG. Finally click OK. I
have Windows XP and this worked for me. Now I can ping my own
computer and set up a local network. What's really crazy is when I
went back to the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties page, the
system had re-set itself back to "Obtain an IP address automatically".
I guesss the bloody system just needs a "jump start" to get it to
recognize its own computer. Hope this helps.