Re: XP-sp2/98SE network problems

From: Chuck (none_at_example.net)
Date: 11/20/04 

Date: 19 Nov 2004 18:47:15 -0600

On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 15:09:06 -0800, "Ronsbuslaptop"
<Ronsbuslaptop@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>The browsers work fine on all three computers. It is the two 98 pcs seeing
>each other on the network when the laptop is not connected that is the
>problem.
>
>I have not run the network autoconfigure on this new laptop nor have I
>hooked it up to the network yet. My two 98 pcs are working properly and I
>don't want to run the autoconfig on this new XP laptop and it cause the same
>problems that were caused before.
>
>I was hoping that there is a method to setup the network on the XP pro sp2
>laptop manually which will keep it from causing the problems that happend
>with the last laptop.

Ron,

The browser (NOT Internet Explorer) keeps track of what computers are on the
network, and what file shares each is offering to the other computers.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188001
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>

Your problem is that the Win98 computers don't see each other when the WinXP
computers is offline. I'll bet that is because the WinXP computer is the master
browser. A WinXP browser gets elected as the master browser normally, when its
opponent is a Win98 browser.

So you need to disable the WinXP browser, and enable the Win98 browsers.
http://cms.simons-rock.edu/faq_by_subtopic/node138.html

Then power all 3 computers off. Power each back on again.

The Microsoft Browstat program will show us what browsers you have in your
domain / workgroup, at any time.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305

You can download Browstat from either:
<http://www.dynawell.com/reskit/microsoft/win2000/browstat.zip>
<http://rescomp.stanford.edu/staff/manual/rcc/tools/browstat.zip>

Browstat is very small (40K), and needs no install. Just unzip the downloaded
file, copy browstat.exe to any folder in the Path, and run it from a command
window, by "browstat status". Make sure all 3 computers give the same result. 

-- 
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

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