Re: Networking XP to Win2K

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 04:13:01 -0700, "BethM" <BethM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>Let me preface this by saying that this network connection worked fine until
>a few months ago and nothing was changed by me to make it stop working.
>
>I have a desktop running Win2K and a laptop running WinXP sp2. The desktop
>can see the laptop just fine. The laptop suddenly stopped being able to see
>the workgroup. Saw I was getting a browser event error8021 and thought that
>might be it. Gave up after a week of messing with it.
>
>Today. ..In my network places the laptop can see the workgroup including the
>desktop sometimes. Other times I get an error that either the workgroup or
>the laptop is not accessible and that I might night have permissions, etc.
>(Username and pw are the same on both machines and always has been). The
>drive on the desktop computer is shared correctly with the $ behind the drive
>name. When I try to add a network place (when it is seeing the workgroup)
>the utility hangs and stops responding. When I try to browse to the
>desktop through Windows Explorer, it takes forever to open the directory for
>the workgroup and then for the desktop, but goes no further. It stops
>responding also. I can close everything and start trying again and then the
>workgroup is suddenly not accessible from the laptop (workgroup is named the
>same on both computers). This happens with both wired and wireless
>connections on the laptop. I have made sure that the firewall isn't on.
>
>I can ping the desktop from the laptop by IP and by name.
>
>I'm at a loss.

Beth,

Check for a browser conflict between the computers. I"m not talking about
Internet Explorer here. The browser is the program that allows any computer to
see any other computer on the LAN.

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 computers list the same master
browser.
For more information about the browser subsystem (very intricate), see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188001
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=231312
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/win95/w95brows.mspx>

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.
.

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