Intermittent Network Neighborhood problems

I have a LAN with many W98 systems along with a W2K Pro
system, a WinXP Home system, a WinME system and a W2003
Server.
I have a shared folder on the W2003 Server that all PC's
have access to via mapped Network Drive.
When I click on Network Neighborhood on any W98 system, I
sometimes see all other PC's and sometimes I don't. I
always see the Entire Network icon and sometimes when I
click on it shows me the entire network. Other times it
says it can't access the network and asks me to
troubleshoot which doesn't do anything. Sometimes I see
all other computers and see all their shared folders and
printers and other times it tells me that it can't.
Sometimes this is also the case with ME but never with W2K
Pro. Rarely this happens with XP Home. Also, sometimes
the mapped networked drive on a W98 system becomes
unreachable and then I have to reboot after which the
network drive is definitely there but the other problems
are either there or not.
I need some hints as to what could be causing this.
Does NetBEUI need to be installed on all/any W98 systems?
Do I need it at all?
Does WINS have anything to do with this on W2003 Server?
Do I need it configured at all?
The biggest concern I have is why does the problem go away
sometimes and then reappear some time later.

Try removing TCP/IP and then adding it back in.
Had a similar problem and that cured it.

"Pete K" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:2472701c45f99$febcd640$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a LAN with many W98 systems along with a W2K Pro
> system, a WinXP Home system, a WinME system and a W2003
> Server.
> I have a shared folder on the W2003 Server that all PC's
> have access to via mapped Network Drive.
> When I click on Network Neighborhood on any W98 system, I
> sometimes see all other PC's and sometimes I don't. I
> always see the Entire Network icon and sometimes when I
> click on it shows me the entire network. Other times it
> says it can't access the network and asks me to
> troubleshoot which doesn't do anything. Sometimes I see
> all other computers and see all their shared folders and
> printers and other times it tells me that it can't.
> Sometimes this is also the case with ME but never with W2K
> Pro. Rarely this happens with XP Home. Also, sometimes
> the mapped networked drive on a W98 system becomes
> unreachable and then I have to reboot after which the
> network drive is definitely there but the other problems
> are either there or not.
> I need some hints as to what could be causing this.
> Does NetBEUI need to be installed on all/any W98 systems?
> Do I need it at all?
> Does WINS have anything to do with this on W2003 Server?
> Do I need it configured at all?
> The biggest concern I have is why does the problem go away
> sometimes and then reappear some time later.

Pete K wrote:
> I have a LAN with many W98 systems along with a W2K Pro
> system, a WinXP Home system, a WinME system and a W2003
> Server.
> I have a shared folder on the W2003 Server that all PC's
> have access to via mapped Network Drive.
> When I click on Network Neighborhood on any W98 system, I
> sometimes see all other PC's and sometimes I don't. I
> always see the Entire Network icon and sometimes when I
> click on it shows me the entire network. Other times it

I have a similar trouble in a similar network (server 2003, client xp
and 98). I've not yet solved, but it seems that it is caused by a bad
announcement of a master browser.

Read this:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;188001

and

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;188305


May be that disabling master announcement on all 98 machines can solve
the trouble, but I don't have yet tried this.

Please let we know if this solve.