XP/W2000 Difficulty Between Two Computers, Do They Know One Anoither??

[W. Watson]

My ethernet connection to the computer with an ABIT KD7A motherboard is erratic. In
fact, in the last week it seems to have become inoperable. The computer is named
Astropc, and uses w2000. If I use MS Network Places to query computers near me, it
(astropc) sometimes shows up in the list and sometimes not. The other computer it is
hooked to, solarblast, cannot be seen from astropc. If I go to solarblast, XP is the
OS with an ASUS motherboard, it can see itself and astropc. However, when I try to
access astropc, it tells me either it can't find the path or possibly I don't have
permission.

I cannot think of a single change I've made recently to change any permissions or in
anyway modify the ethernet connections or equipment. Tonight I did apply all the ABIT
driver updates on the CD to the astropc, including one for the ethernet adapter, but
it didn't help.

Comments?

--
Wayne T. Watson (The Wizard of Obz, Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N, 2,701 feet)
-- GMT-8 hr std. time, RJ Rcvr 39° 8' 0" N, 121° 1' 0" W
(Formerly Homo habilis, erectus, heidelbergensis and now sapiens)

"One advantage of being disorderly is that
one is constantly making exciting discoveries"
-A.A. Milne
Web Page: <home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews>

 

[robert]

try here for a few suggestions
post back with your results:
www.pctechnicians.ca
Guides
workgroup troubleshooting guides
good luck

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

In

My ethernet connection to the computer with an ABIT KD7A motherboard
is erratic. In fact, in the last week it seems to have become
inoperable. The computer is named Astropc, and uses w2000. If I use
MS Network Places to query computers near me, it (astropc) sometimes
shows up in the list and sometimes not. The other computer it is
hooked to, solarblast, cannot be seen from astropc. If I go to
solarblast, XP is the OS with an ASUS motherboard, it can see itself
and astropc. However, when I try to access astropc, it tells me
either it can't find the path or possibly I don't have permission.

I cannot think of a single change I've made recently to change any
permissions or in anyway modify the ethernet connections or
equipment. Tonight I did apply all the ABIT driver updates on the CD
to the astropc, including one for the ethernet adapter, but it didn't
help.

Comments?

Not to sound too facetious, but have you tried swapping the wire? Sometimes
its could be a bad connector.

Keep in mind that Network Neighborhood may take upto 15 minutes to populate
the list. Can you manually type in a run command a UNC to get to another
computer?
Click on Start/Run, type in:
\\OtherComputerName\ShareNameYouCreatedOnTheOtherMachine

Maybe uninstalling the NIC in Add/Remove Hardware and then let Windows
re-discover it and supply the drivers if it asks for it.

You can also install another NIC into the machine and disable the onboard
adapter to see if that works. This will help determine if the problem is
with the onboard NIC or not. But it could come down to a simple driver or
wire issue.

--
Regards,
Ace

Please direct all replies to the newsgroup so all can benefit.
This posting is provided "AS-IS" with no warranties and confers no
rights.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2000, MCSE+I, MCSA, MCT, MVP
Microsoft Windows MVP - Active Directory

HAM AND EGGS: A day's work for a chicken; A lifetime commitment for a
pig. --
=================================

 

[W. Watson]

In



Not to sound too facetious, but have you tried swapping the wire? Sometimes
its could be a bad connector.

Keep in mind that Network Neighborhood may take upto 15 minutes to populate
the list. Can you manually type in a run command a UNC to get to another
computer?
Click on Start/Run, type in:
\\OtherComputerName\ShareNameYouCreatedOnTheOtherMachine

Maybe uninstalling the NIC in Add/Remove Hardware and then let Windows
re-discover it and supply the drivers if it asks for it.

You can also install another NIC into the machine and disable the onboard
adapter to see if that works. This will help determine if the problem is
with the onboard NIC or not. But it could come down to a simple driver or
wire issue.

I'll try your suggestions. Here's what's happened in the meantime. I got out an older
Pentium III and installed W2000 as astro-extra on it with SP4. After a brief tussle
with networking, it can see the other two computers on the network, but astropc gets
the same message as I get from solarblast. Astropc does not see either of the other
two computers, astro-extra and solarblast.

I just astropc directly to solarblast without going through the hub, and now neither
one sees itself or the other.

A sudden thought. Yikes! Could it be??? McAfee firewall? I'll be back.

--
Wayne T. Watson (The Wizard of Obz, Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N, 2,701 feet)
-- GMT-8 hr std. time, RJ Rcvr 39° 8' 0" N, 121° 1' 0" W
(Formerly Homo habilis, erectus, heidelbergensis and now sapiens)

"One advantage of being disorderly is that
one is constantly making exciting discoveries"
-A.A. Milne
Web Page: <home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews>

 

[W. Watson]

I'll try your suggestions. Here's what's happened in the meantime. I got
out an older Pentium III and installed W2000 as astro-extra on it with
SP4. After a brief tussle with networking, it can see the other two
computers on the network, but astropc gets the same message as I get
from solarblast. Astropc does not see either of the other two computers,
astro-extra and solarblast.

I just astropc directly to solarblast without going through the hub, and
now neither one sees itself or the other.

A sudden thought. Yikes! Could it be??? McAfee firewall? I'll be back.

Don't think it was the firewall.

In the above, "I just astropc" should read "I just connected astropc". Anyway, I
connected astropc and solarblast directly without going through the hub. I looked at
the LAN connection and the icon showed broken. When I went back to the hub, I got the
usual results. I'm beginning to suspect that maybe the ABIT adapter is broken. I'll
call them in the morning. The board failed about 6 weeks ago and I had it replaced as
of about two weeks ago. I may have another PCI ethernet card around.

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

In

Don't think it was the firewall.

In the above, "I just astropc" should read "I just connected
astropc". Anyway, I connected astropc and solarblast directly without
going through the hub. I looked at the LAN connection and the icon
showed broken. When I went back to the hub, I got the usual results.
I'm beginning to suspect that maybe the ABIT adapter is broken. I'll
call them in the morning. The board failed about 6 weeks ago and I
had it replaced as of about two weeks ago. I may have another PCI
ethernet card around.

Yes, a damaged NIC will cause all of this. I would suggest to keep your
personal firewalls turned off on all machines until you resolve this and it
all works. Then you can turn it back on to see how it affects it, if any.

Cheers!

--
Regards,
Ace

Please direct all replies to the newsgroup so all can benefit.
This posting is provided "AS-IS" with no warranties and confers no
rights.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2000, MCSE+I, MCSA, MCT, MVP
Microsoft Windows MVP - Active Directory

HAM AND EGGS: A day's work for a chicken; A lifetime commitment for a
pig. --
=================================

 

[W. Watson]

In



Yes, a damaged NIC will cause all of this. I would suggest to keep your
personal firewalls turned off on all machines until you resolve this and it
all works. Then you can turn it back on to see how it affects it, if any.

Cheers!

I turned off McAffee and it made no difference. I installed a 3Com Ethernet card and
that didn't change anything. solarblast still doesn't see the distant astropc but
does see the distant astropc-extra on the same hub as astropc. Before going to the
PCI card I uninstalled the ethernet device drvr and re-installed. Didn't do a thing.

I just pulled the cable out of astrpc-extra and put it in pcastro. Still nothing.
pcastro is just not buying anything. It cannot be seen.

It sure escapes me why pcastro is so uncooperative.

--
Wayne T. Watson (The Wizard of Obz, Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N, 2,701 feet)
-- GMT-8 hr std. time, RJ Rcvr 39° 8' 0" N, 121° 1' 0" W
(Formerly Homo habilis, erectus, heidelbergensis and now sapiens)

"One advantage of being disorderly is that
one is constantly making exciting discoveries"
-A.A. Milne
Web Page: <home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews>

 

[W. Watson]

I turned off McAffee and it made no difference. I installed a 3Com
Ethernet card and that didn't change anything. solarblast still doesn't
see the distant astropc but does see the distant astropc-extra on the
same hub as astropc. Before going to the PCI card I uninstalled the
ethernet device drvr and re-installed. Didn't do a thing.

I just pulled the cable out of astrpc-extra and put it in pcastro. Still
nothing. pcastro is just not buying anything. It cannot be seen.

It sure escapes me why pcastro is so uncooperative.

Arghh! I think I've found it. For some unexplainable reason, astropc (the delinquent
machine) no longer had an address. I'm not sure how that happened. Maybe when I
installed the pci card or uninstalled/installed the drvr for the adapter. solarblast
(xp)can finally see astropc. Well, I'll sort this out and report back. I think I need
to check all the addresses, workgroup names (one), and whatever else I can think of.

--
Wayne T. Watson (The Wizard of Obz, Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N, 2,701 feet)
-- GMT-8 hr std. time, RJ Rcvr 39° 8' 0" N, 121° 1' 0" W
(Formerly Homo habilis, erectus, heidelbergensis and now sapiens)

"One advantage of being disorderly is that
one is constantly making exciting discoveries"
-A.A. Milne
Web Page: <home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews>

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

In

Arghh! I think I've found it. For some unexplainable reason, astropc
(the delinquent machine) no longer had an address. I'm not sure how
that happened. Maybe when I installed the pci card or
uninstalled/installed the drvr for the adapter. solarblast (xp)can
finally see astropc. Well, I'll sort this out and report back. I
think I need to check all the addresses, workgroup names (one), and
whatever else I can think of.

Wow, cool. At least you're on to getting this working!


--
Regards,
Ace

Please direct all replies to the newsgroup so all can benefit.
This posting is provided "AS-IS" with no warranties and confers no
rights.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2000, MCSE+I, MCSA, MCT, MVP
Microsoft Windows MVP - Active Directory

HAM AND EGGS: A day's work for a chicken; A lifetime commitment for a
pig. --
=================================

 

[W. Watson]

.... snip
Arghh! I think I've found it. For some unexplainable reason, astropc
(the delinquent machine) no longer had an address. I'm not sure how that
happened. Maybe when I installed the pci card or uninstalled/installed
the drvr for the adapter. solarblast (xp)can finally see astropc. Well,
I'll sort this out and report back. I think I need to check all the
addresses, workgroup names (one), and whatever else I can think of.

All is well. The whole problem boiled down to inadvertently letting W2000
automatically assign the IP address. It could happen in XP too. How this happened I
do not know, but the effect is that the computer is not known to anyone on the net.
There is no warning about this condition. It's too bad there isn't some icon present
in My Network Places for the computer off the net that shows it is off the net.

--
Wayne T. Watson (The Wizard of Obz, Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N, 2,701 feet)
-- GMT-8 hr std. time, RJ Rcvr 39° 8' 0" N, 121° 1' 0" W
(Formerly Homo habilis, erectus, heidelbergensis and now sapiens)

"One advantage of being disorderly is that
one is constantly making exciting discoveries"
-A.A. Milne
Web Page: <home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews>

 

[Phillip Windell]

There is no warning about this condition. It's too bad there isn't some icon present
in My Network Places for the computer off the net that shows it is off the

net.

There is no need for a warning. If you don't explicitly give static network
settings it will try to get them via DHCP, but if it can't do that then it
defaults to a special address set that all MS OS's will default to. They
have an actual name for that address block but I don't remember at the
moment what it is called. It has been that way for years.

 

[Ace Fekay [MVP]]

In

There is no need for a warning. If you don't explicitly give static
network settings it will try to get them via DHCP, but if it can't do
that then it defaults to a special address set that all MS OS's will
default to. They have an actual name for that address block but I
don't remember at the moment what it is called. It has been that way
for years.

If DHCP is selected and a DHCP server isn't available, you'll get the APIPA
number, which is the Automatic Private IP Address, in the range
169.254.0.0/16. It can be disabled in the reg, but I wouldn't. I use it for
tech support > if it comes up, then it tells me something is up either with
the client or the DHCP server.




--
Regards,
Ace

Please direct all replies ONLY to the Microsoft public newsgroup so all
can benefit. This posting is provided "AS-IS" with no warranties and
confers no rights.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2000, MCSE+I, MCSA, MCT, MVP
Microsoft Windows MVP - Active Directory

HAM AND EGGS: A day's work for a chicken; A lifetime commitment for a
pig. --
=================================