Unable to connect two computers.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Thomas L. Goodson
  • Start date Start date
T

Thomas L. Goodson

Here is the configuration:

Dell Laptop with wireless card
Dell Access point (and router) connected to DSL (static address)
A Desktop computer

Both computer can see the internet without a problem. Neither can connect
to the other for file / printer sharing.

Both computers are running XP Pro

What I've tried / checked:
The computer browser is started on all machines
NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled on all machines
Uninstalled / reinstalled all network components (with a reboot after each
step)

At various time either computer could be the master browser, which ever one
is will have a list of both computers, the other one will not have a list of
computers and trying to get the list results in the message "Workgroup is
not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network
resource."

This is driving me nuts, and I suspect that I'm forgetting something simple.
Any ideas what?
 
A couple of thoughts, well more than a couple. I had a similar problem with
setting up my wireless network. The following worked for me.

Make sure no firewalls are running on either computer. If so, turn them off.
Make sure File and Print sharing is turned on for both computers.
If WEP is turned on, turn it off, at least initially. Once things are
running smoothly, you can then turn WEP back on.
Insure you have the current drivers for the wireless card and NIC. In
addition, insure the most current firmware is installed on the router.
Make sure you use the same workgroup name on both computers.

Post back how it went.
 
Workgroup names are set the same (I have just a little experience in
networking--about 20 years). WEP is off and firewalls are off on both
computers. (at least Microsoft's stuff, I'll check on an third party
software). I'll double check the router firmware, but I'm pretty sure that
it is up to date.

The KB suggest that this could be caused by the router's firewall and I'll
be checking on that on Tuesday. Wish me luck. And if anybody has any other
ideas, feel free to post them before 10AM tomorrow.

** Tom **
 
Ok, me again. I checked out the configurations and:
The workgroups are set the same
I can ping from/to any combination of machines on the network including the
router and external address.
I ran the netsh int ip reset command
I replaced the network adapter
ICS and firewall are off, there is no third party firewall installed. AV is
disabled.
NetBIOS over tcp/ip is enabled (all machines)
browser is started (all machines)
server is started (all machines)
I connected my own desktop system to this network and was able to access
network resources on the client's laptop without any problems, but not their
desktop system.

all machines are receiving a valid ip address from dhcp on the router. The
only thing that I have been able to find that is the least bit funny in the
configuration is from ipconfig/all on the desktop machine (sorry I have to
type this so forgive any typos)

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . .: CBHMAIN
Primary Dns Suffix. . . .:
Node Type . . . . . . . . .: Peer-Peer
IP Routing Enabled . . . .: NO
WINS Proxy Enabled . .: NO

I still can't connect from one computer to another, but I can connect to
shared resources (a folder in this case) on my own machine. I can see a
valid list of machines on ONE computer at a time (which ever one happens to
be the browse master at the time). I'm starting to get really upset about
this whole thing.

So, any more ideas??

** Tom **
 
"Thomas L. said:
[snip]
all machines are receiving a valid ip address from dhcp on the router. The
only thing that I have been able to find that is the least bit funny in the
configuration is from ipconfig/all on the desktop machine (sorry I have to
type this so forgive any typos)

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . .: CBHMAIN
Primary Dns Suffix. . . .:
Node Type . . . . . . . . .: Peer-Peer
IP Routing Enabled . . . .: NO
WINS Proxy Enabled . .: NO

I still can't connect from one computer to another, but I can connect to
shared resources (a folder in this case) on my own machine. I can see a
valid list of machines on ONE computer at a time (which ever one happens to
be the browse master at the time). I'm starting to get really upset about
this whole thing.

So, any more ideas??
Click to expand...

Congratulations, Thomas: you've found the problem!

A node type of "Peer-to-Peer" means that the computer only uses a WINS
server (which, paradoxically, isn't available in a peer-to-peer
network) for NetBIOS name resolution.

To solve the problem, run the registry editor, open this key:

HLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netbt\Parameters

and delete these values if they're present:

NodeType
DhcpNodeType

Reboot, then try network access again.

If that doesn't fix it, open that registry key again, create a DWORD
value called "NodeType", and set it to 1 for "Broadcast" or 4 for
"Mixed".

For details, see the section on "NodeType" in this Microsoft Knowledge
Base article:

TCP/IP and NBT Configuration Parameters for Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314053
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
 
That's what I thought it was, I just couldn't remember the location of the
entry in the registry. Thanks for the confirmation and the location.

** Tom **
 
Well, first let me say that killing the DHCPNodeType did the trick. I had
noticed this before, but couldn't figure out where it was coming from since
the dhcp server (the router in this case) doesn't assign a node type (and
therefore it should default to Hybrid mode) After questioning the customer
in light of this information I'm still in the dark as to how this value got
into the registry in the first place. Just goes to prove that no matter how
long you are in this business, there is always something that you don't
know. Thanks for the help on the road to this solution.
 
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