Browser service failure

Greetings All,

I have 2 computers networked together as a simple home network. One computer
is running MCE2002 and the other is MCE2005, both with SP2, as a workgroup
not a domain.
Both computers communicate with each other and are able to share files and
printers.

Recently one of the computers (MCE2002) has been showing an error in the
event log, ID#7023; "The Computer Browser service terminated with the
followinng error: This operation returned because the timeout period
expired."

I have the service set to start automatic, log on as local system account,
restart the service after first, second and subsequent failures, yet the
service stops and will not restart unless I start it manually. The Server
service and Workstation service are set to auto start and both continue to
run after Computer Browser service failure.

Is it necessary to have this service running with the home network that I
described and if so, how can I keep it running?

On this same computer, if I click on "View workgroup computers" link in
network tasks I get the hourglass for several minutes and then a window pops
up with the following: "Bigbrother (my workgroup name) 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. The
list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available."

Also, when I go to My Network Places, the window is blank. If I add a
network place and use the wizard to enter a shared folder on the other
computer it works fine. Shouldn't the My Network Places window populate
automatically with all of the shares on both computers?
Is this problem related to the error described above?

I'm not certain, but I believe that all of this started after using a
program to erase the unused portion of my HD.
I have tried SFC /scannow and chkdsk as well as defrag but to no avail. Is
there a way to fix my problems?

I apologize for the rather long-winded post, I hope that someone can help me
here.
TIA
--
Mark N

Possible SP2/Firewall issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;889320

The computer browser service enables a machine to participate in browser
elections. The winner becomes the Master Browser and maintains the server
list - the computers you see in My Network Places. Disabling this service
does not prevent a machine from viewing the list as long as some other
machine on the network has the service enabled.

Doug Sherman
MCSE, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

"M8RIX" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:#(E-Mail Removed)...
> Greetings All,
>
> I have 2 computers networked together as a simple home network. One
computer
> is running MCE2002 and the other is MCE2005, both with SP2, as a workgroup
> not a domain.
> Both computers communicate with each other and are able to share files and
> printers.
>
> Recently one of the computers (MCE2002) has been showing an error in the
> event log, ID#7023; "The Computer Browser service terminated with the
> followinng error: This operation returned because the timeout period
> expired."
>
> I have the service set to start automatic, log on as local system account,
> restart the service after first, second and subsequent failures, yet the
> service stops and will not restart unless I start it manually. The Server
> service and Workstation service are set to auto start and both continue to
> run after Computer Browser service failure.
>
> Is it necessary to have this service running with the home network that I
> described and if so, how can I keep it running?
>
> On this same computer, if I click on "View workgroup computers" link in
> network tasks I get the hourglass for several minutes and then a window
pops
> up with the following: "Bigbrother (my workgroup name) 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.
The
> list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available."
>
> Also, when I go to My Network Places, the window is blank. If I add a
> network place and use the wizard to enter a shared folder on the other
> computer it works fine. Shouldn't the My Network Places window populate
> automatically with all of the shares on both computers?
> Is this problem related to the error described above?
>
> I'm not certain, but I believe that all of this started after using a
> program to erase the unused portion of my HD.
> I have tried SFC /scannow and chkdsk as well as defrag but to no avail. Is
> there a way to fix my problems?
>
> I apologize for the rather long-winded post, I hope that someone can help
me
> here.
> TIA
> --
> Mark N
>
>
>