Selling my soul to the devil is the next step...

I have three PCs on my LAN, all running Win XP SP2 fully patched.

The problem is that PC1 can not see PC2; PC3 can see PC2; PC1 can see
PC3. To get stuff to PC2, I had to send it via PC3. It is not quite as
simple as that though. That was the case last night before I tried
some further fixes after some Googling.

The hardware seems to be okay. I can ping 127.0.0.1 on all PCs.

Running ipconfig /all shows all data matching. I have run the
Networking wizard on PCs 1&2 without it making any difference,
rebooting after each time.

TCP/IP stacks have been rebuilt using an MS tool from here
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357/.

No firewalls active on the LAN.

I have also repaired the LAN connections.

Every parameter that I can think of has been checked and seems to be
the same on each PC.

All permissions are set to full with the same username on all PCs. PC
1+3 are NTFS and PC2 is FAT32

I changed the cables around at the back of my router without changing
the affected PCs.

In fact, I cannot find anything that has changed and the LAN has
worked well for months.

On PC2 clicking on My network Places > MSoft Windows Network > Mshome
produces a dialogue box which says that the list of servers for this
workgroup is not available. There is quite a delay before Mshome
appears.

Doing the same on PC1 and PC3 shows both PC1 and PC3. However, a
shortcut to PC2 is present on PC3 (actual location C:\Documents and
Settings\<user>\NetHood) which does give full access. Transferring
this shortcut to PC1 does not give access to PC2.

Occasionally, an entry for PC2 does show under Mshome, but clicking on
it produces an error saying the network path not being found.

The diagnostic problem is that one PC is not completely borked. It
would be easier to fix than the current situation.

Thank you for reading the above ramblings and hope that they make
enough sense for somebody to point me in the right direction. I'm
completely stumped. Selling my soul to 'the horned one' is my next
step!

TIA.

--
Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.

On Wed, 09 Aug 2006 22:42:11 +0100, Dr Teeth
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Selling my soul to 'the horned one' is my next step!

I think Mr. Gates already has all the souls he needs.

--
Angus Rodgers
(twirlip@ eats spam; reply to angusrod@)
Contains mild peril

If you are absolutely sure that the Windows firewall is switched off then
the following probably won't help you!

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/mic...3208f1691dd510

This is a post I made some time ago as I had a similar problem for weeks and
it took me a whole day to sort it out. The symptoms sound identical to me.

John Steele

"Dr Teeth" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have three PCs on my LAN, all running Win XP SP2 fully patched.
>
> The problem is that PC1 can not see PC2; PC3 can see PC2; PC1 can see
> PC3. To get stuff to PC2, I had to send it via PC3. It is not quite as
> simple as that though. That was the case last night before I tried
> some further fixes after some Googling.
>
> The hardware seems to be okay. I can ping 127.0.0.1 on all PCs.
>
> Running ipconfig /all shows all data matching. I have run the
> Networking wizard on PCs 1&2 without it making any difference,
> rebooting after each time.
>
> TCP/IP stacks have been rebuilt using an MS tool from here
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357/.
>
> No firewalls active on the LAN.
>
> I have also repaired the LAN connections.
>
> Every parameter that I can think of has been checked and seems to be
> the same on each PC.
>
> All permissions are set to full with the same username on all PCs. PC
> 1+3 are NTFS and PC2 is FAT32
>
> I changed the cables around at the back of my router without changing
> the affected PCs.
>
> In fact, I cannot find anything that has changed and the LAN has
> worked well for months.
>
> On PC2 clicking on My network Places > MSoft Windows Network > Mshome
> produces a dialogue box which says that the list of servers for this
> workgroup is not available. There is quite a delay before Mshome
> appears.
>
> Doing the same on PC1 and PC3 shows both PC1 and PC3. However, a
> shortcut to PC2 is present on PC3 (actual location C:\Documents and
> Settings\<user>\NetHood) which does give full access. Transferring
> this shortcut to PC1 does not give access to PC2.
>
> Occasionally, an entry for PC2 does show under Mshome, but clicking on
> it produces an error saying the network path not being found.
>
> The diagnostic problem is that one PC is not completely borked. It
> would be easier to fix than the current situation.
>
> Thank you for reading the above ramblings and hope that they make
> enough sense for somebody to point me in the right direction. I'm
> completely stumped. Selling my soul to 'the horned one' is my next
> step!
>
> TIA.
>
> --
> Cheers,
>
> Guy
>
> ** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
> ** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
> ** out of someone who richly deserves it.

"Dr Teeth" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have three PCs on my LAN, all running Win XP SP2 fully patched.
>
> The problem is that PC1 can not see PC2; PC3 can see PC2; PC1 can see
> PC3. To get stuff to PC2, I had to send it via PC3. It is not quite as
> simple as that though. That was the case last night before I tried
> some further fixes after some Googling.

Define "see" - can each device ping the other 2.

if yes - then is this just for file shares?

if so - might be authentication. If you dont have active directory or some
other central auth service, i find the easiest way to make file sharing work
is to have the same username / password on each PC for the accounts which
you log into.
>
> The hardware seems to be okay. I can ping 127.0.0.1 on all PCs.
>
> Running ipconfig /all shows all data matching. I have run the
> Networking wizard on PCs 1&2 without it making any difference,
> rebooting after each time.
>
> TCP/IP stacks have been rebuilt using an MS tool from here
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357/.
>
> No firewalls active on the LAN.
>
> I have also repaired the LAN connections.
>
> Every parameter that I can think of has been checked and seems to be
> the same on each PC.
>
> All permissions are set to full with the same username on all PCs. PC
> 1+3 are NTFS and PC2 is FAT32
>
> I changed the cables around at the back of my router without changing
> the affected PCs.
>
> In fact, I cannot find anything that has changed and the LAN has
> worked well for months.
>
> On PC2 clicking on My network Places > MSoft Windows Network > Mshome
> produces a dialogue box which says that the list of servers for this
> workgroup is not available. There is quite a delay before Mshome
> appears.

again - sounds like auth.
>
> Doing the same on PC1 and PC3 shows both PC1 and PC3. However, a
> shortcut to PC2 is present on PC3 (actual location C:\Documents and
> Settings\<user>\NetHood) which does give full access. Transferring
> this shortcut to PC1 does not give access to PC2.
>
i vaguely remember you can store the "pretend to be this user / password" in
a shortcut to a share, which might be getting around the issue.

> Occasionally, an entry for PC2 does show under Mshome, but clicking on
> it produces an error saying the network path not being found.
>
> The diagnostic problem is that one PC is not completely borked. It
> would be easier to fix than the current situation.
>
> Thank you for reading the above ramblings and hope that they make
> enough sense for somebody to point me in the right direction. I'm
> completely stumped. Selling my soul to 'the horned one' is my next
> step!
>
> TIA.
>
> --
> Cheers,
>
> Guy
>
> ** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
> ** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
> ** out of someone who richly deserves it.
--
Regards

(E-Mail Removed) - replace xyz with ntl

I was just thinking how wonderful life was, when "stephen"
<(E-Mail Removed)> opened his gob and said:

>Define "see" - can each device ping the other 2.

Can see the PC's name but cannot browse the share. Get this
www.drteeth.co.uk/lan/LANerror.jpg. The problem looks like this
www.drteeth.co.uk/lan/LANprob.jpg.

>if so - might be authentication. If you dont have active directory or some
>other central auth service, i find the easiest way to make file sharing work
>is to have the same username / password on each PC for the accounts which
>you log into.

All accounts with this problem do have the same username and password.

At www.drteeth.co.uk/lan you will find three folders, PC?, which
contains log files of tests that I have been running

--
Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.

"Dr Teeth" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I was just thinking how wonderful life was, when "stephen"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> opened his gob and said:
>
> >Define "see" - can each device ping the other 2.
>
> Can see the PC's name but cannot browse the share. Get this
> www.drteeth.co.uk/lan/LANerror.jpg. The problem looks like this
> www.drteeth.co.uk/lan/LANprob.jpg.
>
> >if so - might be authentication. If you dont have active directory or
some
> >other central auth service, i find the easiest way to make file sharing
work
> >is to have the same username / password on each PC for the accounts which
> >you log into.

i havent had to fix w2002 servers before - but it looks like you are running
active directory. (wonderful how microsoft can add new problems to a
notionally standard protocol every time they upgrade the operating system)

given only 3 machines i expected it to be running as a workgroup.

i would be tempted to pull one of the M$oft AD guides and see if that sheds
any light on the problem.

did you start with 1 machine running AD and then add the others to the
domain?
>
> All accounts with this problem do have the same username and password.
>
> At www.drteeth.co.uk/lan you will find three folders, PC?, which
> contains log files of tests that I have been running
>
> --
> Cheers,
>
> Guy
>
> ** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
> ** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
> ** out of someone who richly deserves it.
--
Regards

(E-Mail Removed) - replace xyz with ntl

I was just thinking how wonderful life was, when "stephen"
<(E-Mail Removed)> opened his gob and said:

>i havent had to fix w2002 servers before - but it looks like you are running
>active directory. (wonderful how microsoft can add new problems to a
>notionally standard protocol every time they upgrade the operating system)
>
>given only 3 machines i expected it to be running as a workgroup.
>
>i would be tempted to pull one of the M$oft AD guides and see if that sheds
>any light on the problem.
>
>did you start with 1 machine running AD and then add the others to the
>domain?

Hi Stephen,

No active directories here. It is a simple 3 PC peer - to - peer
workgroup setup (unless you know better of course).

In fact, I have just fixed the problem...I installed NetBEUI on all
PCs. I'd love to know what was FUBAR in the first place though.

--
Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.