Networking problem

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Guest

My system is no longer able to communicate with other systems on my network by name. I am only able to connect using an IP address. This started last week. Prior to last week I could PING a system by IP address or computer name. All connections that I have that are based on \\<computername>\<sharename> are shown as "Not Connected" while the ones that are \\<IP Address>\<sharename> are functional. This is also the case for printer connections. Network printer connections based on name are giving an "RPC Server" error or a "Print Spooler Not Started" message. Print Spooler is running and has been stopped and restarted several times and this does not help

What in the world is going on? Any answers?
 
George said:
My system is no longer able to communicate with other systems on my
Click to expand...
network by name. I am only able to connect using an IP address. This
started last week. Prior to last week I could PING a system by IP address
or computer name. All connections that I have that are based on
\\<computername>\<sharename> are shown as "Not Connected" while the ones
that are \\<IP Address>\<sharename> are functional. This is also the case
for printer connections. Network printer connections based on name are
giving an "RPC Server" error or a "Print Spooler Not Started" message.
Print Spooler is running and has been stopped and restarted several times
and this does not help.
What in the world is going on? Any answers?
Click to expand...

There is a cheap kludge you could do to get around this...but it's not the
best. The idea is to add each of the hosts on your network to your hosts
file. Search C:\Windows for a file called "hosts" (no file extension). Add
an entry for each of the machines you use.

This is a kludge though, and will be a pain in the ass should any IPs
change. Especially if you are on a DHCP network. The best solution would be
to fix the "name resolution" stuff, which is what you are having problems
with.

Basically, your PC doesn't know how to map a host name to an IP. It depends
on your network where this takes place. If other machines on the network
have no problems doing this, then something specific on yours is broken.

Try using the

Fraser.
 
Try using the ... ? Your post was cut off. Yes, this is the case. my system is the only one that has this problem. I have scanned for viruses a couple of times since this problem started with negative results

Thank you for your rapid reply.
 
George said:
Try using the ... ? Your post was cut off.
Click to expand...

My bad. Was going to suggest checking to see if nslookup (command line tool)
would do anything, but I checked on my own machine and realised that it
wouldn't do anything useful in this case. It contacts the name server (DNS)
to get the name, however a windows local area network doesn't use this for
resolution. Well, I assume so, 'cos it didn't work on mine when I did
nslookup <hostname> of a host on my local network.

If you have other XP machines on the network, try compairing the network
settings. Go Start/Control Panel/Network Connections. Then, select your LAN
one and right-click, properties. Click on "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)", then
properties.

Then (yup, it's a few pages deep ;-), click on "Advanced". Check the
settings in this dialog box, especially the WINS ones. I'm not a Windows
networking expert, so I'm not too sure on how the name resolution works
here. Just compare with a known-good machine.

Good luck,

Fraser.
 
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