Networking problems. Please help!

[yourbeliefs]

I'm ready to kill someone...

So my old WMP54g died on my Windows 7 64-bit desktop so I have been trying to replace its network access. I tried a USB device that worked well for about a day and then the slow speeds frustrated me to the point that I threw it against the wall and broke off its casing, and for some reason, installing a later version WMP54g just plain didn't want to work. So I tried to hook up a Cat-6 wire directly to the computer that was connected to a WRT54g converted to a switch (setup to do DirecTV MRV) and even THAT doesn't work. The problem is that when i hook up my Windows 7 32-bit netbook to the EXACT SAME wire, it works fine, but on my desktop it does not. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this is? I'm beyond lost patience at this point. TIA

 

[diogen]

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this is?

First guess: wrong/flaky x64 ethernet driver...

Diogen.

 

[mike123abc]

You could have bad settings on your ethernet device like a static ip address instead of DHCP.

Check control panel->network & internet->Network & Sharing Center->Change adapter settings

right click on your connection and select properties

pick internet protocol version 4 then pick properties

Make sure Obtain automatically on both places is selected then check alternate config tab and be sure Automatic is selected

Then try diagnose and repair if needed to see what windows says.

 

[yourbeliefs]

There seems to be something wrong with the computer itself (as opposed to my network setup.) I dragged my computer all the way down to the basement, which in retrospect was very stupid considering I had 2 ports in my house to work with and I dragged my Alienware PC (which is like carrying a sack of pumpkins around) to hook up directly to the router and I had the same results. I ran the Windows 7 diagnosis and they complained that my card didn't have a valid IP configuration. Haven't found much online about this that was actually helpful...

 

[diogen]

Few things:
- you limited the number of IPs your router can issue (default - 100, I keep them always under 15);
- your LAN jack in the router is in DMZ and the modem doesn't allow more than one IP;
- MAC address got blacklisted on the ISP side (this can happen for many different reasons);
- DHCP is off;
- bad CAT5/6 cable.

Reset to factory defaults your router and use known good cable. Try Mirror MAC with the working PC.
Try to bypass the router and connect to the modem directly.
If you have around a spare NIC, try it.

But start with turning off the modem and disconnecting the telecom/cable line from it for a few minutes.

Diogen.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Few things:
- you limited the number of IPs your router can issue (default - 100, I keep them always under 15);
- your LAN jack in the router is in DMZ and the modem doesn't allow more than one IP;
- MAC address got blacklisted on the ISP side (this can happen for many different reasons);
- DHCP is off;
- bad CAT5/6 cable.

Reset to factory defaults your router and use known good cable. Try Mirror MAC with the working PC.
Try to bypass the router and connect to the modem directly.
If you have around a spare NIC, try it.

But start with turning off the modem and disconnecting the telecom/cable line from it for a few minutes.

Diogen.

I think it has to be a computer issue. Wireless cards and NICs aren't working, and other devices are working under the same conditions. I'm not sure what happened. Hopefully I have a system restore point that can resolve things.

 

[TheForce]

I have a weird problem too. I have one computer that can't see any other computers in the workgroup. However, other computers can see it and share it's files. The troubled computer keeps saying it doesn't have permission to see other computers in the group. It also has no problem getting on the internet with web browser. I have everything shared but only other computers can see it. It's windows XP Home. Oh, and it used to work a few weeks ago.

 

[diogen]

Is everything XP? Or some Vista/7?
Are they all in the same workgroup?
Are they all on the same subnet?
How many router/switches in between?

Diogen.

 

[TheForce]

Computers are a mix of one Vista and rest XP. All on the same switch, all have same workgroup name, all have same subnet. All can see other computers except the troubled XP computer can't see others or even it's own drives in Network Places. Others can see all shared drives on the troubled computer. I've tried two different workgroup names, the default MSHOME and my special one used by all computers in the house. Same problem. No wifi for troubled computer, just ethernet cat 5 to the switch. Must be some place where "permissions" are set for this computer but I don't know where. That is the error message I get when trying to view Network Places.

 

[LonghornXP]

My first suggestion on the XP machine would be to verify that Simple File Sharing is turned on.

Open up My Computer. Next click the Tools Menu and select Options. Next click the View Tab. In the scroll box look at the very last option which is Simple File Sharing. If this is unchecked please check it and apply changes. Check to see if this fixed the issue.

You can also try unchecking this option if you want to setup specific shares. To setup specific shares you can right click on the folder you want to share and select Sharing and Management or similiar option. I can't remember the specific name as I haven't used XP in ages. After that configure your settings in the dialog box and pay close attention to permission settings.

If the above doesn't work I will need more time to help you troubleshoot this issue which I cannot give you until the weekend (Friday late afternoon and on).

 

[diogen]

All can see other computers except the troubled XP computer can't see others or even it's own drives in Network Places.
Others can see all shared drives on the troubled computer....It also has no problem getting on the internet with web browser.

That excludes having a faulty TCP/IP stack.

NetBIOS (most of the time using WINS) is in charge of populating the My Network Places window.

The fact that a PC can share but can't see others' shares most likely has to do with the Computer Browser service not running.
This service depends on others and may fail to start due to dependencies...

Start with making sure SP3 is installed. Check services running.
What happens if you run \\<IP address>\<Share Name> on the troubled PC (accessing another PC share)?

Diogen.

 

[TheForce]

Well this is indeed strange!

Ever have one of those problems with your car for weeks and you finally take it into the mechanic and the problem just goes away? Guess what. I got ready to test your suggestions and I click on My Network Places and all 19 hard drives show up from my workgroup. I have no idea what made it work but as mysteriously as it disappeared about 10 days ago, it returns on it's own today. Seven hours ago it did not work and I didn't even reboot.

Anyway, yes on SP3 and network services running. Yes on the box Simple sharing checked. I went through all this stuff several times but thanks for you being thorough.

 

[mike123abc]

Going away then coming back, makes me think a DHCP issue. But, usually windows complains when another computer has the same ip address.

 

[TheForce]

I thought of that too but when I checked, I couldn't find any conflicts and, yes, there wasn't a notice. I have had this on my ipad when I tried to use static IP as experiment, but that's it.

 

[LonghornXP]

That is classic Windows XP and that specific issue has always been a problem. I've always felt it was some type of naming resolution issue like a few others have said. I've seen NetBIOS and WINS resolution issues and I've seen cases when ARP refused to work and anytime your unable to complete IP>MAC address resolution your in deep trouble.

By the way if a server is involved in this such as WHS and your setup to connect remotely this could be a DNS issue and flushing DNS could help. Without knowing your specific setup I doubt I could troubleshoot much further.

The only other issue I've seen with mine own eyes is with wideband internet such as Road Runner Lightning. If power went out my modem would assign my router an IP address "before" the modem kicked into bridge mode. This caused my own router to try and use the same Network ID etc which it wouldn't do. This caused my router to default to a Class B private IP address (172.16.x.x-172.31.x.x).

This caused my shares to now show up as my computer was put onto a different subnet compared to my sharing computer which was assigned statically onto a Class C subnet. Simply put my sharing computer (host or server etc) was setup with a static 192.x.x.x IP and a 255.255.255.0 subnet mask while all my other computers setup with DHCP were assigned a 172.16.x.x address and a 255.255.0.0 subnet mask.

So all the computers using DHCP could see each others shares as they were on the same subnet (255.255.0.0) however none of these computers could see the host computers shares nor could the host see the other computers shares as the host was on a 255.255.255.0 subnet.

My host also couldn't reach the internet either as it couldn't connect with the default gateway as it was looking for 192.168.1.1 but my new default gateway was 172.16.1.1 instead.

I'm telling you this was a complete and total nightmare. In your case this "could" have been your issue and once your DHCP lease ran out on your router it obtained another IP address from your wideband modem which wasn't a 192.x.x.x address. Once this occured your router renewed the leases on all of your DHCP clients with its default 192.x.x.x network ID. Once this happened everything would be back as it was and it would appear as if networking browsing just magically fixed itself.

Sorry for such a long post but this has been happening quite a bit from what I hear and is something anyone on these forums could benefit from at least reading once.

 

[diogen]

I believe this one of the simple cases because everything is working one way and doesn't - the other way, partially.

All the ideas about DHCP, IPs, MACs, DNS, expired leases, etc. don't apply since they would affect networking both ways.

Diogen.

 

[mike123abc]

I gave up on DHCP a long time ago. I make a static entry for everything on my network. I do have DHCP on my router, but I have the expiration set to never. There is just too much going on with all the stuff that goes to sleep and wakes up later with the old IP address.

 

[diogen]

I use mostly static DHCP, IP assigned based on MAC. Even stock router firmware now supports it.

Diogen.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I ended up solving my computer network problems. Basically I uninstalled all the wireless drivers that were on my machine for the 3 cards I tried and then enabled DHCP on my NIC,(which was for some reason DISabled.) Now my computer is back online, albeit with a wired connection. But I don't really mind considering I get a slight boost with the wired connection and now I don't have to worry about all the hassles that come with wireless.

 

[TheForce]

I use mostly static DHCP, IP assigned based on MAC. Even stock router firmware now supports it.

Diogen.

I don't understand what a static-dynamic is. How do you set that up? It sounds like an oxymoron.

If I have 10 ip to be assigned, where not all are present at all times, then some get assigned to what ever IPs are left when they show up. If one of those is set to static, it is important to "reserve" that address in the router so it isn't assigned to another, dynamically creating an ip conflict. I usually have my printers and security cameras set to static and reserved using high ip numbers with computers and set top boxes in my HT set to dynamic. Not everything supports DHCP and when those don't it is my duty to be sure to "reserve" the ip for them in the router. Is this not the proper way to set it up?