Some more home networks problems...

[tangerine]

lo all,

Currently setup (and working) is an XP Home (SP1) Machine which connects to the internet, a 98 SE machine, and ME machine, all connected via a switch and working fine with all network machines. Except for the ME machine but I'm not bothered about that.

However I am having a real problem with connecting an XP Home (SP1) laptop to the network. Currently it is connected and can be pinged via IP address, and it can share files with the other computers by using the "\\IP address" format in run. However it is impossible to communicate with the other machines via the name format, nor will it appear in my network places on the other machines, and it won't show any of the other machines under it's network places, it also won't connect to the internet.

I have tried diabling firewalls etc. aswell as many troubleshooters but I really am having trouble getting this to work.


Cheers for any advice

[johnwill]

All machines are must be in the same subnet, i.e. 192.168.0.x where x is any number. The subnet mask should be 255.255.255.0 for most small networks.

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.

PING each computer by IP address, and if successful, PING by name. You can obtain the IP address of a computer by opening a command prompt (DOS window) and typing IPCONFIG. This should work for any Windows version.

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.

One other thing that may help is to install NEBEUI protocol on all the machines. On everything but XP, it's dirt simple, just another protocol.

To install NetBEUI on Windows XP:

Insert your Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive (close the Autorun window) and use the explore option from a right click of the drive in My Computer then go the \Valueadd\MSFT\Net\NetBEUI folder.

Copy Nbf.sys to the "Windows"\System32\Drivers folder.

Copy Netnbf.inf to the "Windows"\Inf folder (hidden: change the View Settings). (Where "Windows" is the name of the folder that windows is installed in) Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Network Connections.

Right-click the adapter you want to add NetBEUI to, and then click Properties .

On the General tab, click Install.

Click Protocol, and then click Add.

Click to select NetBEUI Protocol from the list and then click OK.

Restart your computer if you receive a prompt to complete the installation.

The NetBEUI protocol should now be installed and working.

If you have an OEM installation or don't have the XP CD, you can also download the necessary files from:

NETBEUI Install Files for XP

[tangerine]

okays cool, normal file and printer sharing is working fine. Though I am still having problems with ICS any ideas? (I haven't installed netBuei yet)

[tangerine]

I have now just tried to connect the Laptop to the internet directly via the dialup modem. It connects ok but it is impossible to view webpages or for other programs to connect, it is possible to ping the DNS servers via IP address but not things like "ping http://www.google.co.uk". I don't think this is a problem with the ISP as other computers here can connect via the same dialup settings on the same line. Firewalls have been completely disabled and the secutiry settings put at the lowest possible levels.

Unfortunately this is becoming rather urgent now

Cheers for any help

[johnwill]

You didn't mention ICS before, where is that in the mix? Are you sharing the Internet using ICS? Which machine is it supposed to be on? What version of Windows, and what hardware does the ICS machine have?

[tangerine]

ahh right sorrys I did mean to mention that. It's the XP desktop which connects to the internet and this internet connection is shared with the other computers, the 98 and ME machines can access the internet through this with no problem.

The XP Desktop connects to a DSL line via. an external USB modem.

The XP laptop is now able to share files and printers so thanks for the help with that But it can't access the internet through the LAN, but more worringly, it is now unable to connect to the internet properly via. it's 56k modem, which is something that is required.

N.B. The laptop is my dads which he uses for work, it turns out that when it comes to networking offshore he's quite happy to let someone else do the job for him... so it's quite hard to find out exactly what settings get changed from job to job.

[johnwill]

Have you looked into System Restore to a point before the difficulties occurred?

[gotissues68]

If you're able to ping via IP and not name then you're missing DNS.. I would check your ISP's website and see what their DNS IP's are and configure them appropriately in your network. If you don't know how to do this please let us know :)

[tangerine]

Unfortunately a system restore isn't really possible as a lot of new software has been setup and registered, though I realise that it could be possible to redo all of this it would be very time consuming... which is something there isn't a lot of, would be nice if we could this running in about 12 hours time.

I have checked the DNS properties of the connection and they are set to be obtained automatically. After running the command "ipconfig/all" both primary and secondary DNS server IP addresses are obtained.

[johnwill]

You might try going back to square one with this MS-KB Q299357 - Reset XP TCP/IP Stack process. If that doesn't do it, perhaps this MS-KB Q811259 - Fix WINSOCK corruption XP might help. Finally, you can run this Automated WINSOCK Fix for XP.

[tangerine]

Absolutely smashing!!!

It was a corrupted winsock thingy, I don't know what they do, but fixing that has done the trick

Thank you ever so much

[johnwill]

Glad we could help.

[gotissues68]

I hadn't even thought about the winsock Johnwill ;) good call :) Just as an after thought ... what it does..

its a layer between an application and TCP/IP

for instance

===========
internet explorer
===========
winsock
===========
TCP/IP
===========

The winsock allows programs to access the TCP/IP stack via the winsock :)