Mystery WinXP Network problem
DComTalk.com Forum Index DComTalk.com
Discussion of VoIP, VPN, Video Conferencen, DSL and other data commucations.
 
 FAQFAQ   MemberlistMemberlist     RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 
 
Google
 
Web dcomtalk.com
Mystery WinXP Network problem

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    DComTalk.com Forum Index -> Modems
Author Message
Colin
Guest
Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2004 11:29 pm    Post subject: Mystery WinXP Network problem Reply with quote
Hi All

I have a network with three computers: one WinXP and two Windows ME. The
router is a Dlink DI-624. The Windows Me machines detect the network at
boot up and function normally. The WinXP machines behaves like it sees the
network and ZoneAlarm reports a Trusted zone at the IP address assigned by
the router, but it is really not connected. If I pull out the network cable
and plug it in again it reports a "Network Cable Disconnected" and than
connects to the network just fine. If I try to look at the network from one
of the Windows ME machines while the WinXP is disconnected, they take a
long time and than declare that the network is not accessible. After the
WinXP machine is connected this also works fine, except that when trying to
actuaaly access the WinXP machine it asks for a password - there is nothing
password protected on it, so this is a mystery too.

Any ideas how to solve this?

Thanks
Colin
Back to top
Ron Hunter
Guest
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2004 8:07 am    Post subject: Re: Mystery WinXP Network problem Reply with quote
Colin wrote:
Quote:
Hi All

I have a network with three computers: one WinXP and two Windows ME. The
router is a Dlink DI-624. The Windows Me machines detect the network at
boot up and function normally. The WinXP machines behaves like it sees the
network and ZoneAlarm reports a Trusted zone at the IP address assigned by
the router, but it is really not connected. If I pull out the network cable
and plug it in again it reports a "Network Cable Disconnected" and than
connects to the network just fine. If I try to look at the network from one
of the Windows ME machines while the WinXP is disconnected, they take a
long time and than declare that the network is not accessible. After the
WinXP machine is connected this also works fine, except that when trying to
actuaaly access the WinXP machine it asks for a password - there is nothing
password protected on it, so this is a mystery too.

Any ideas how to solve this?

Thanks
Colin

Well, it would work best if all the machines were WinXP. I suspect
Zonealarm may be part of the problem. Pull the internet connection and
turn off ZoneAlarm and see if the network functions properly. If so,
then contact ZA support for help. If not, then try the network setup
wizard in WinXP to generate a disk to set the WinME systems correctly.


--
Ron Hunter rphunter@charter.net
Back to top
Chuck
Guest
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:21 pm    Post subject: Re: Mystery WinXP Network problem Reply with quote
On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:29:40 GMT, Colin <*email_address_deleted*> wrote:

Quote:
Hi All

I have a network with three computers: one WinXP and two Windows ME. The
router is a Dlink DI-624. The Windows Me machines detect the network at
boot up and function normally. The WinXP machines behaves like it sees the
network and ZoneAlarm reports a Trusted zone at the IP address assigned by
the router, but it is really not connected. If I pull out the network cable
and plug it in again it reports a "Network Cable Disconnected" and than
connects to the network just fine. If I try to look at the network from one
of the Windows ME machines while the WinXP is disconnected, they take a
long time and than declare that the network is not accessible. After the
WinXP machine is connected this also works fine, except that when trying to
actuaaly access the WinXP machine it asks for a password - there is nothing
password protected on it, so this is a mystery too.

Any ideas how to solve this?

Thanks
Colin

Colin,

If you're seeing a problem between Windows ME and Windows XP systems "seeing"
each other, and the problem varies when you take one offline ("pull out the
network cable"), I'll bet the browser (I'm not talking about Internet Explorer
here) is part of the problem.

The browsers for Windows ME and Windows XP don't work well together. Since you
have 3 computers, with 2 of them running Windows ME, you need to disable the
Windows XP browser, and use the Windows ME browsers only.

Make sure the browser service is disabled on the WinXP computer. Control Panel
- Administrative Tools - Services. Verify that the Computer Browser service
shows with Status = Disabled and Stopped. Enable the browser on the WinME
computers (reverse the instructions here):
http://cms.simons-rock.edu/faq_by_subtopic/node138.html

After checking / disabling / enabling as above, power all computers off to reset
the browser settings on each. Then power the Windows ME computers on, and
finally the Windows XP computer on.

The Microsoft Browstat program will show us what browsers (I'm not talking about
Internet Explorer here) you have in your domain / workgroup, at any time. It
won't run on Windows ME. :(
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305

You can download Browstat from either:
<http://www.dynawell.com/reskit/microsoft/win2000/browstat.zip>
<http://rescomp.stanford.edu/staff/manual/rcc/tools/browstat.zip>

Browstat is very small (40K), and needs no install. Just unzip the downloaded
file, copy browstat.exe to any folder in the Path, and run it from a command
window, by "browstat status".

For more information about the browser subsystem (very intricate), see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188001
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>

If you need to access the Windows XP computer from the Windows ME computers,
remember to activate the Guest account, and make sure it has a null password.

Left click on the Start button - select Run. Enter "net user guest /active:yes"
(less the ""), and hit Enter.

Left click on the Start button - select Run, again. Enter "control
userpasswords2" (again, less the ""), and hit Enter. Select Guest, click Reset
Password, click OK without entering a new password.

And Colin, posting your email address openly will get you more unwanted email,
than wanted email. Learn to munge your email address properly, to keep yourself
a bit safer when posting to open forums. Protect yourself and the rest of the
internet - read this article.
http://www.mailmsg.com/SPAM_munging.htm

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
Back to top
Quaoar
Guest
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2004 8:39 pm    Post subject: Re: Mystery WinXP Network problem Reply with quote
Chuck wrote:
Quote:
On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:29:40 GMT, Colin <*email_address_deleted*
wrote:

Hi All

I have a network with three computers: one WinXP and two Windows ME.
The router is a Dlink DI-624. The Windows Me machines detect the
network at boot up and function normally. The WinXP machines behaves
like it sees the network and ZoneAlarm reports a Trusted zone at the
IP address assigned by the router, but it is really not connected.
If I pull out the network cable and plug it in again it reports a
"Network Cable Disconnected" and than connects to the network just
fine. If I try to look at the network from one of the Windows ME
machines while the WinXP is disconnected, they take a long time and
than declare that the network is not accessible. After the WinXP
machine is connected this also works fine, except that when trying
to actuaaly access the WinXP machine it asks for a password - there
is nothing password protected on it, so this is a mystery too.

Any ideas how to solve this?

Thanks
Colin

Colin,

If you're seeing a problem between Windows ME and Windows XP systems
"seeing" each other, and the problem varies when you take one offline
("pull out the network cable"), I'll bet the browser (I'm not talking
about Internet Explorer here) is part of the problem.

The browsers for Windows ME and Windows XP don't work well together.
Since you have 3 computers, with 2 of them running Windows ME, you
need to disable the Windows XP browser, and use the Windows ME
browsers only.

Make sure the browser service is disabled on the WinXP computer.
Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Services. Verify that the
Computer Browser service shows with Status = Disabled and Stopped.
Enable the browser on the WinME computers (reverse the instructions
here): http://cms.simons-rock.edu/faq_by_subtopic/node138.html

After checking / disabling / enabling as above, power all computers
off to reset the browser settings on each. Then power the Windows ME
computers on, and finally the Windows XP computer on.

The Microsoft Browstat program will show us what browsers (I'm not
talking about Internet Explorer here) you have in your domain /
workgroup, at any time. It won't run on Windows ME. :(
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305

You can download Browstat from either:
http://www.dynawell.com/reskit/microsoft/win2000/browstat.zip
http://rescomp.stanford.edu/staff/manual/rcc/tools/browstat.zip

Browstat is very small (40K), and needs no install. Just unzip the
downloaded file, copy browstat.exe to any folder in the Path, and run
it from a command window, by "browstat status".

For more information about the browser subsystem (very intricate),
see: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188001
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx

If you need to access the Windows XP computer from the Windows ME
computers, remember to activate the Guest account, and make sure it
has a null password.

Left click on the Start button - select Run. Enter "net user guest
/active:yes" (less the ""), and hit Enter.

Left click on the Start button - select Run, again. Enter "control
userpasswords2" (again, less the ""), and hit Enter. Select Guest,
click Reset Password, click OK without entering a new password.

And Colin, posting your email address openly will get you more
unwanted email, than wanted email. Learn to munge your email address
properly, to keep yourself a bit safer when posting to open forums.
Protect yourself and the rest of the internet - read this article.
http://www.mailmsg.com/SPAM_munging.htm

I'll add that you can disable the Windows Firewall on the XP computer,
but do not disable the Windows Firewall and Internet Connection Sharing
Service which AFIK is required to enable file sharing in XP. This site
is a great guide to handling problems with XP networking:
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxNetwork.htm

Q
Back to top
Colin
Guest
Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2004 1:21 am    Post subject: Re: Mystery WinXP Network problem Reply with quote
"Quaoar" <quaoar@tenthplanet.net> wrote in
news:huGdnT40Yd7dvEncRVn-rg@comcast.com:

Quote:
Chuck wrote:
On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:29:40 GMT, Colin <*email_address_deleted*
wrote:

Hi All

I have a network with three computers: one WinXP and two Windows ME.
The router is a Dlink DI-624. The Windows Me machines detect the
network at boot up and function normally. The WinXP machines behaves
like it sees the network and ZoneAlarm reports a Trusted zone at the
IP address assigned by the router, but it is really not connected.
If I pull out the network cable and plug it in again it reports a
"Network Cable Disconnected" and than connects to the network just
fine. If I try to look at the network from one of the Windows ME
machines while the WinXP is disconnected, they take a long time and
than declare that the network is not accessible. After the WinXP
machine is connected this also works fine, except that when trying
to actuaaly access the WinXP machine it asks for a password - there
is nothing password protected on it, so this is a mystery too.

Any ideas how to solve this?

Thanks
Colin

Thanks for the responses. My main problem is not the WinXP-ME

communication. The main irritant is that the WinXP machine does not connect
to the network and can't go to the internet after a reboot. I have to pull
out its network cable (or power off the router and power it on again) for
this computer to connect. Any ideas?

Colin
Back to top
Quaoar
Guest
Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2004 8:36 pm    Post subject: Re: Mystery WinXP Network problem Reply with quote
Colin wrote:
Quote:
"Quaoar" <quaoar@tenthplanet.net> wrote in
news:huGdnT40Yd7dvEncRVn-rg@comcast.com:

Chuck wrote:
On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:29:40 GMT, Colin <*email_address_deleted*
wrote:

Hi All

I have a network with three computers: one WinXP and two Windows
ME. The router is a Dlink DI-624. The Windows Me machines detect
the network at boot up and function normally. The WinXP machines
behaves like it sees the network and ZoneAlarm reports a Trusted
zone at the IP address assigned by the router, but it is really
not connected. If I pull out the network cable and plug it in
again it reports a "Network Cable Disconnected" and than connects
to the network just fine. If I try to look at the network from one
of the Windows ME machines while the WinXP is disconnected, they
take a long time and than declare that the network is not
accessible. After the WinXP machine is connected this also works
fine, except that when trying to actuaaly access the WinXP machine
it asks for a password - there is nothing password protected on
it, so this is a mystery too.

Any ideas how to solve this?

Thanks
Colin

Thanks for the responses. My main problem is not the WinXP-ME
communication. The main irritant is that the WinXP machine does not
connect to the network and can't go to the internet after a reboot. I
have to pull out its network cable (or power off the router and power
it on again) for this computer to connect. Any ideas?

Colin

Check TCP/IP properties, Advanced tab, TCP/IP filtering. All
ports/protocols should be "Permit All". In your TCP/IP properties, also
set the router (192.168.X.Y) as the Gateway and the first DNS server
even if using DHCP.

Q
Back to top
Colin
Guest
Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2005 1:49 am    Post subject: Re: Mystery WinXP Network problem Reply with quote
"Quaoar" <quaoar@tenthplanet.net> wrote in news:ePednSZ86r-M70jcRVn-
rw@comcast.com:

Quote:
Thanks for the responses. My main problem is not the WinXP-ME
communication. The main irritant is that the WinXP machine does not
connect to the network and can't go to the internet after a reboot. I
have to pull out its network cable (or power off the router and power
it on again) for this computer to connect. Any ideas?

Colin

Check TCP/IP properties, Advanced tab, TCP/IP filtering. All
ports/protocols should be "Permit All". In your TCP/IP properties, also
set the router (192.168.X.Y) as the Gateway and the first DNS server
even if using DHCP.

Q
Thanks. I will try that.


Colin
Back to top
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    DComTalk.com Forum Index -> Modems All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
 You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum




VoIP Solutions: Telephone Systems Electronics Satellite TV Tech & Gadgets
Powered by phpBB