Trouble With Home Network Of XP Computers

[onesikgypo]

Hi,

i currently have this setup: 2 computers connected by ethernet cable to the router, and one laptop connected wirelessly.

For some reason, today one of my computers is inaccessible, while it was working perfectly fine and normal yesterday.

The computer that is inaccessible is "MAIN". I have pinged its internal ip address of 192.168.0.100 from the other PC and recieved a response. I have also setup the home network through XP, and restarted both PC's numerous times, however it is still unable to work.

The "MAIN" PC shows up under "workgroup" computers, on the PC that is trying to access it. However, when you try to look at the files, you recieve the following

"\\Main is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.

Access is denied."

Even though previously, i never required the same account that is trying ot access the PC to be present on the "MAIN" pc, i created one anyway, with the same username and password, and still recieve nothing.

It is worth mentioning that the other PC, is able to connect to my laptop fine, and visa versa. On The "MAIN" Pc, i am able to access the other PC.

The following is the ipconfig /all of my "MAIN" Pc.

Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : main
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-17-31-E6-B6-A3
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.100
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::217:31ff:fee6:b6a3%4
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
                                            10.1.1.1
                                            fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
                                            fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
                                            fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
        NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Help in this matter would be greatly appreciated, all my printers etc. are connected to my "MAIN" PC, and i really need it to be accessible.

Thankyou.

Edit: Sorry its also worth mentioning, ALL Firewalls are switched off and disabled on my "MAIN" pc.

[johnwill]

Well, you have ICS running on that machine, that seems wrong, since you have a router.

See this tutorial on how to Disabling Internet Connection Sharing. Reboot and post a new IPCONFIG /ALL

[onesikgypo]

i dont have the option to turn it off, as per the tutorial, only thing on my advanced tab is the firewall.

[onesikgypo]

update: just realised - printing across the network is wokring - but still files are inaccessible??

[johnwill]

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows XP with SP2.

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt:

Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ip reset reset.log

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog

Reboot the machine.

[onesikgypo]

done.

what now? - i didnt risk redoing the network.

[johnwill]

Redoing the network? Exactly what does that mean?

Let's see this for each computer on the network.

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt:

Type the following two commands:

nbtstat -n

ipconfig /all

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

[onesikgypo]

nbtstat -n

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.0.100] Scope Id: []

                NetBIOS Local Name Table

       Name               Type         Status
    ---------------------------------------------
    MAIN           <00>  UNIQUE      Registered
    MSHOME         <00>  GROUP       Registered
    MSHOME         <1E>  GROUP       Registered

ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : main
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-17-31-E6-B6-A3
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.100
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::217:31ff:fee6:b6a3%4
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
                                            10.1.1.1
                                            fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
                                            fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
                                            fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1

[johnwill]

I see that routing is disabled now.

Can I see this for a working computer in the network?

Have you disabled any firewalls on the computer main

Also, let's try this:

Create a file in notepad named FIXANON.REG with the following contents:

You should have 3 boxes on the bottom in NOTEPAD.
1)Filename : FIXANON.REG
2)Save as type: all files
3)Encoding: ANSI
If you do not change it from txt type to All files type, then the file will actually be FIXANON.REG.txt, this won't accomplish the desired result.

------------------- Use text after this line -------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa]
"restrictanonymous"=dword:00000000
------------------- Use text before this line -----------------

Double click on the file and say Yes to the merge into registry question.

Reboot the computer.

[onesikgypo]

Details from working PC

nbtstat -n

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

                NetBIOS Local Name Table

       Name               Type         Status
    ---------------------------------------------
    DAVE            <00>  UNIQUE      Registered
    MSHOME         <00>  GROUP       Registered
    DAVE            <20>  UNIQUE      Registered
    MSHOME         <1E>  GROUP       Registered

ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : dad
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SiS 900 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0D-61-77-B8-FD
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
        DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
        Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 19 December 2007 5:21:06
AM
        Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 20 December 2007 5:21:06 A
M

- file successfully added to registry

[johnwill]

Turn off any firewalls for debugging. If the firewall is the problem, you'll have to configure it to allow access to "trusted zone" addresses. Note that some firewalls must be completely uninstalled to stop them from affecting your networking.

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt for the following commands.

PING each remote computer by IP address, and if successful, PING by name. Open a command prompt as described above and type.

PING <ip address>
or
PING <computer name>

Where:
<ip address> - is the x.x.x.x IP address
<computer name> - is the computer name

A failure to PING is almost always a firewall configuration issue. Any failure to PING needs to be corrected before you go any farther.

Note: You can obtain the IP address and computer name of a computer by opening a command prompt (DOS window) and typing IPCONFIG /ALL. This should work for any Windows version. The IPCONFIG /ALL display will provide a wealth of useful information for debugging your network connection.

Check your Services are Started on all PCs:

• Computer Browser
• DHCP Client
• DNS Client
• Network Connections
• Network Location Awareness
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Server
• TCP/IP Netbios helper
• Workstation

Note: You can check the services in Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.

All of these services should be started, and their startup type should be automatic.

All computers should be in the same workgroup for computer browsing to function properly. File & Print Sharing has to be enabled on any computer you wish to share files or printers from. You also need to actually share the resource in question from My Computer, right click on the drive/printer/folder, and select sharing.

If you encounter difficulties accessing computers that are visible in Network Neighborhood, make sure the computer being accessed has an account with the same name/password as the system connecting to it uses to login.

While the default NetBIOS setting is correct for normal network configurations, it's possible for it to be altered, and it costs nothing to make sure it's correct. NETBIOS over TCP/IP must be enabled for normal network browsing.

[onesikgypo]

hi,

did all that you asked and checked those services, all is how it should be.

I can ping my other workgrouped computer, and they can ping me, but when im on the other computer --> view work group computers --> main - i still get the original "Access denied." message

this is becoming very frustrating.

please advise.

[johnwill]

Have you disabled ALL firewalls?

[onesikgypo]

yes i have,

i have absolutely no security software on this pc at this time, the only firewall that could be on in XP and i have turned that off.

thanks.

[johnwill]

On the computer you can't ping, let's see this.

Please post a HijackThis 2.00.2 Log here.

[onesikgypo]

both computers can ping the other (a --> b) & (b --> a)

[johnwill]

And you ran the previous fix I posted on both ends?