Accessing computer via its name, rather than its IP address?

Hi,

I'm not that sure what I'm asking here, which doesn't help... but

I access the internet via a proxy server, and up until now, I have used the
name of the computer (that has the proxy software running on it) to access
the services via the proxy server, instead of typing in the IP address of
the computer. Just recently this has stopped working and now I can only
access the proxy server by using its IP address. Now this isn't a problem,
but I jsut wondered if anyone on here could suggest why I cannot use the
computer's name anymore? As far as I know, nothing has changed and the
computer's name is 'SERVER'. Does anyone know why this doesn't work anymore
and how I might get it working again?

Thanks
John

"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> I'm not that sure what I'm asking here, which doesn't help... but
>
> I access the internet via a proxy server, and up until now, I have used
> the name of the computer (that has the proxy software running on it) to
> access the services via the proxy server, instead of typing in the IP
> address of the computer. Just recently this has stopped working and now I
> can only access the proxy server by using its IP address. Now this isn't
> a problem, but I jsut wondered if anyone on here could suggest why I
> cannot use the computer's name anymore? As far as I know, nothing has
> changed and the computer's name is 'SERVER'. Does anyone know why this
> doesn't work anymore and how I might get it working again?
>
> Thanks
> John

Oooppss sorry, I forgot to say the whole system is running Windows XP
throughout..

John

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, John says...
>
> "John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm not that sure what I'm asking here, which doesn't help... but
> >
> > I access the internet via a proxy server, and up until now, I have used
> > the name of the computer (that has the proxy software running on it) to
> > access the services via the proxy server, instead of typing in the IP
> > address of the computer. Just recently this has stopped working and now I
> > can only access the proxy server by using its IP address. Now this isn't
> > a problem, but I jsut wondered if anyone on here could suggest why I
> > cannot use the computer's name anymore? As far as I know, nothing has
> > changed and the computer's name is 'SERVER'. Does anyone know why this
> > doesn't work anymore and how I might get it working again?
> >
> > Thanks
> > John
>
> Oooppss sorry, I forgot to say the whole system is running Windows XP
> throughout..
>
Welcome to Windows XP. Sounds like the Computer Browser service is
borked. Basically all the computers on the LAN elect a Master Browser.
The Master Browser keeps a record of whats where. Now and again it
falls over and you end up with more than one computer as the master
browser.

To see if this is the problem open a command prompt on each and type...

nbtstat -n

The line you are looking for is

...__MSBROWSE__ (etc)

On the whole LAN there should only be one computer that has that line
at any one time. If more than one machine has the line then the Master
Browser elect process has failed.

You can solve it two ways...

1) Stop the Computer Browser service on all computers save the server.
2) Add a line to the HOSTS file....

<server IP address> SERVER

i.e

192.168.0.1 SERVER

--
Conor

An imperfect plan executed violently is far superior to a perfect plan.
-- George Patton

Conor wrote:
8><............................................
>
> To see if this is the problem open a command prompt on each and type...
>
> nbtstat -n
>
> The line you are looking for is
>
> ..__MSBROWSE__ (etc)
>
8><............................................... ........
Question:- Is this command supposed to be available in Xp or is it just
an NT or maybe XP Pro executable.
We have a couple of machines on a home "network" running XP Home SP2 and
nbstat.exe is not on either of these machines.
John doesn't say which version of XP he is running.
nbt

On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 10:11:33 +0000, NBT <(E-Mail Removed)>
strung together this:

>Question:- Is this command supposed to be available in Xp or is it just
>an NT or maybe XP Pro executable.
>We have a couple of machines on a home "network" running XP Home SP2 and
>nbstat.exe is not on either of these machines.

That's because it's nbtstat. If you try spelling it correctly and it
still doesn't work then it's probably only available in XP pro.
There's a lot of networking stuff that's dropped from XP home as it's
not designed for doing much networking with.
--

SJW
Please reply to group or use 'usenet' in email subject

Lurch wrote:

>
> That's because it's nbtstat. If you try spelling it correctly and it
> still doesn't work then it's probably only available in XP pro.
> There's a lot of networking stuff that's dropped from XP home as it's
> not designed for doing much networking with.
LOL..Shocking when I can't even recognise my own initials.It is
available in XP Home.

nbt (perhaps needing a trip to specsavers)

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Lurch says...
> On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 10:11:33 +0000, NBT <(E-Mail Removed)>
> strung together this:
>
> >Question:- Is this command supposed to be available in Xp or is it just
> >an NT or maybe XP Pro executable.
> >We have a couple of machines on a home "network" running XP Home SP2 and
> >nbstat.exe is not on either of these machines.
>
> That's because it's nbtstat. If you try spelling it correctly and it
> still doesn't work then it's probably only available in XP pro.
> There's a lot of networking stuff that's dropped from XP home as it's
> not designed for doing much networking with.
>
Its in XP Home..thats what I used to check the -n switch.

--
Conor

An imperfect plan executed violently is far superior to a perfect plan.
-- George Patton

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, NBT says...
> Conor wrote:
> 8><............................................
> >
> > To see if this is the problem open a command prompt on each and type...
> >
> > nbtstat -n
> >
> > The line you are looking for is
> >
> > ..__MSBROWSE__ (etc)
> >
> 8><............................................... ........
> Question:- Is this command supposed to be available in Xp or is it just
> an NT or maybe XP Pro executable.
> We have a couple of machines on a home "network" running XP Home SP2 and
> nbstat.exe is not on either of these machines.
> John doesn't say which version of XP he is running.
> nbt
>

nbtstat....and I tried it on XP Home SP2.


--
Conor

An imperfect plan executed violently is far superior to a perfect plan.
-- George Patton

"Lurch" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 10:11:33 +0000, NBT <(E-Mail Removed)>
> strung together this:
>
>>Question:- Is this command supposed to be available in Xp or is it just
>>an NT or maybe XP Pro executable.
>>We have a couple of machines on a home "network" running XP Home SP2 and
>>nbstat.exe is not on either of these machines.
>
> That's because it's nbtstat. If you try spelling it correctly and it
> still doesn't work then it's probably only available in XP pro.
> There's a lot of networking stuff that's dropped from XP home as it's
> not designed for doing much networking with.

I've got XP Home and it *is* there. I've been caught out by that one before
now: the "nb" stands for "NetBIOS", as used by the older WINS name service
used by Win 9x, and I presume that the "t" stands for "table".

"Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:421b2ce4$0$48129$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've got XP Home and it *is* there. I've been caught out by that one
> before now: the "nb" stands for "NetBIOS", as used by the older WINS name
> service used by Win 9x, and I presume that the "t" stands for "table".

nbtstat = N(et)B(IOS) (over) T(CP/IP) stat(us).

Alex