VNC IP Comes back to my Laptop

[rollingdan]

Here is a weird question which I never seen before. Have you ever VNC'd your own IP address? What happens is it opens up a whole bunch of windows...

Well I'm trying to VNC my desktop at home and that is what it does. I have verified the IP address on my desktop and it still somehow loops back to my laptop.

My laptop runs XP while my desktop is running Win 2000. I can ping my desktop no problem and I don't have zonealarm or firewalls.

Any suggestions?
Dan

[rollingdan]

Ok, it's not doing this anymore. I believe it's because my IP address for my laptop has changed.

Now when I try to VNC to my desktop from my laptop it simply times out.

Any suggestions on where to turn?

Dan

[johnwill]

Are you connecting by computer name and not IP address? This will solve the issue of local IP addresses changing.

[rollingdan]

Thanks for the reply.

I connect via IP address. From time to time it changes then I simply change the IP address when I login. Still timing out. Not getting to the password area.

Dan

[johnwill]

Like I said, just connect by computer name.

[rollingdan]

Ok. To set it up in order to login by computer name, what do I need to do?
Dan

[johnwill]

Nothing, just use the computer name instead of the local LAN IP address.

[rollingdan]

I tried to VNC the computer name and it comes back as "no such host". I tried to ping the computer name as well and it cannot be found.

I can ping the IP address no problem...

Help...

Dan

[johnwill]

If you can't ping by name, you may have a firewall blocking access. Also, I'd like to see this from the problem machine that you can't ping.


Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following command:

Note that there is a space before the /ALL, but there is NOT a space after the / in the following command.

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.

[rollingdan]

Microsoft Windows 2000 [Version 5.00.2195]
(C) Copyright 1985-2000 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ipconfig /all

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : mypc123
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com 3C918 Integrated Fast Ethernet
Controller (3C905B-TX Compatible)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-C0-4F-14-B9-93
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.101
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Monday, September 08, 2008 3:11:20 A
M
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, September 09, 2008 3:11:20

[johnwill]

You are using the name mypc123 for the ping and VNC connection by name, right? Did you disable ALL firewalls for a test?

[rollingdan]

Yes, I just tried it again. When I ping the IP address 192.168.15.101, I get a reply no problem. When I ping mypc123, I get "could not find host".

When I VNC mypc123 or the IP address I get no such host.

I have Windows 2000 so I don't see any firewall and don't have any 3rd party installed.

I do have a Linksys router (WRT54G Ver2). Would there be a firewall there?

Dan

[johnwill]

The router isn't in the picture here, we're just going through the switch section.

The fact that you can't ping sounds like a firewall issue, or perhaps NETBIOS isn't running.

Let's see this for each machine.

Open a command prompt and type.

NBTSTAT -n

Post the results here.

[rollingdan]

This is my laptop I'm trying to VNC from:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Dan>nbtstat -n

Wireless Network Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.1.102] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
NOTEBOOK <00> UNIQUE Registered
NOTEBOOK <20> UNIQUE Registered
MYNET <00> GROUP Registered
MYNET <1E> GROUP Registered
MYNET <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

C:\Documents and Settings\Dan>

This is the PC I'm trying to VNC to:

Microsoft Windows 2000 [Version 5.00.2195]
(C) Copyright 1985-2000 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>nbtstat -n

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.15.101] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
MYPC123 <00> UNIQUE Registered
MYNET <00> GROUP Registered
ADMINISTRATOR <03> UNIQUE Registered
MYNET <1E> GROUP Registered
MYPC123 <20> UNIQUE Registered
MYPC123 <03> UNIQUE Registered
MYNET <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

[johnwill]

Well, those two machines don't see each other, so now I'm really leaning to a firewall. Note the line:

..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

That's the master browser, there should only be one in a network. The fact that both machines think they're the master browser means they're not seeing each other on the network.

[rollingdan]

Sorry it took so long to reply. I didn't see your reply till now.

I looked high and low for a firewall on the win 2000 machine and can't find one. How do I go about finding it and deactivating it?

Dan

[johnwill]

Please post a HijackThis 2.00.2 Log here.

Note that the firewall can be on either end, but one of the machines is blocking the browser elections.