I have a rather extensive home network which began to lose internet connectivity about a month ago, once or twice a day. I have resolved that problem as being due to radio interference on the household wiring I have been using for wired ethernet connectivity; but, while troubleshooting, ran into a different issue I'd love to find solution to..... (P.S. This is not an easy one, folks, and I have been fixing PC's for 32 years) If I use a Belkin router, it acts as the DNS forwarder and properly routes WORKGROUP file sharing requests back to the local compters. I can also ping by both IP Address and Computer Name. If I simply replace the router with a Netgear (I have also seen this with others in the past), I suddenly lose the ability to browse the local network. I can ping IP Addresses all day long; but, pinging ECC-07 (one of my computers) gets routed out to Earthlink's DNS server and is, of course, unresolvable. I believe the problem to be that the Netgear is not acting as the DNS server/forwarder and does not check its own list of attached devices to resolve names. The frustration is that all of the network shared folders are unreachable; though, ironically, a shared printer still works! So....... 1) Does anybody have a fix that can be made in the router so it routes ports 445 and 135 back to local hosts? 2) Does anybody have a fix for the router so the computers assigned by DHCP are browsable?
I am not inclined to give everybody static IP Addresses, in part because I connect at least 10 computers a week bellonging to clients and want them to have access to two folders on one of my systems (read only, of course)
If there is no fix, is anybody interested in starting a list of routers that ARE SOHO friendly?
Hi, I think I'd start with checking the router settings. I assume it functions as the DHCP server. Is it possible to check what settings are being assingned to the workstations? Also I wouldn't be supposing that this kind of router will work as the DNS server. It can do forwarding for you but that's all, no name real name resolution. Please let me know one thing: are the workstations connected through a switch/hub or do you use the router also to interconnect the workstations?
Both the Netgear and the Belkin were reset to factory specs and are the lans DHCP servers. If I use the Belkin, local computers are browsable. If I use the Netgear, they're not. No other changes, whatsoever.
Ok but using default settings is not a solution to your problem. You can't assume that default settings = what you need. It depends what DHCP settings are being delivered to the client machines. What about the connection of workstations as I asked before? Thanks
Some of the workstations are through switches, others are connected directly to the router. Again; though, all get assigned their IP Addresses from either the Belkin or the Netgear; but, with the Netgear, I can no longer browse Network Neighborhood on any of the systems with the cause being the Netgear forwards queries for ECC-07 out to Earthlink while the Belkin keeps it in the LAN.
I am also only using one of the routers at a time.
The problem is also easilly reproducible; plug in the Belkin and it all works, switch to the Netgear (and yes, everything gets powered down and restarted) and it's broken.
Can you find any relationship between the accessibility of WS connected through switch and those connected through router? I mean - are you able to access the share from WS on switch to another WS on switch?
Nope! With the Belkin router, all of the computers can browse "My Network Places" and see the workstations, shares, etc. "PING ECC-07" returns 192.168.0.6 like it ought to. With the Netgear router, none of the computers can browse. "PING ECC-07" returns 207.69.188.186 which is Eartlink's DNS server and it, of course, has no clue where ECC-07 is.
I see, now it's another problem:-) So: you say that none of the computers can browse the network neighbourhood with netgear router, right? And on this netgear - when you are on one of the workstation, you open My Computer and in the explorer window you type the path \\computername - what you get? If you do the same but with IP, like \\192.168.0.6, what you get?
Martin, I appreciate your efforts; but, the only problem is that the Belkin router properly manages the workgroup by including the local workstations in its DNS and the Netgear router does not. I have seen this on other clients networks and am fishing for some resolution. IMHO, it is another attempt by Bill Gates (in cahoots with Netgear) to force folks to buy a server which is nuts. On the Netgear, \\computername gets a "you don't have permissions" error. On the Belkin, it works fine.
The browsing feature is WINS-related, and not DNS-related.
Even if you don't have a internal name resolver, you should be able to access \\192.168.0.6\share if the computer allows incoming communication on TCP/139 (file sharing).
The SOHO-box with DHCP leases out its internal IP as DNS-server to the clients. If it hasn't a small builtin DNS-server, the box will act as forwarding DNS and pass through the requests/registrations to the ISP. If the ISP doesn't hold the DNS-zone you use internal, you will get a failed resolving.
You should somewhere in the SOHO have a possibility to configure DNS. Even if it's categorized as a internet setting, try to change it to the internal IP instead of just rely on the setting leased through DHCP from the ISP. If it doesn't work, you nead to have a server-based OS. If you don't want to buy a Windows Server for the amount it cost, you can use a freeware linux-OS and install samba (wins) and bind (dns).
henjoh09, I believe the computer browser services now use Netbios over TCP/IP; but, in one sense you are close to the problem even though it then presents no viable solution... With the Belkin, or an older D-Link router, PING ECC-07 finds 192.168.0.6 and I get the normal responses. With the Netgear, PING ECC-07 returns 207.69.188.186 which is the Earthlink DNS server and, whoops, it can't find ECC-07. I have asked this question; because, I regularly encounter similar situations with clients and want a real solution. I have looked high and low for a WINS server I could run on XP or, better yet, a router that would act as a WINS server in a SOHO environment. Static IP Addresses with LMHosts files are a pain to manage. I'm not about to start telling my clients they need an M$ server because they have 5 computers and network issues with sharing. Maybe I'll just have to tell them not to buy Netgear's. P.S. Thousands of people (maybe tens of thousands) are having this same problem and it just hasn't been defined in this way.
WINS/NetBIOS is a broadcasting protocol, and if you want it routable, you nead to use NetBT (NetBIOS over TCP/IP). NetBT can be configured through DHCP, but it sounds like one of your routers doesn't support that flag in its DHCP-leases. You nead to configure NetBT manual through advanced TCP/IP-settings under WINS-tab.
Browser master election is automatic and will favor the newest OS if two computers try to become master, but it can also be manual configured by editing the following registry values.
[HKLM\Sysstem\CurrentControlSet\Services\Browser\Parameters] IsDomainMaster=TRUE|FALSE (Preferred master browser?) MaintainServerList=Auto|Yes|No (Shall computer become master?)
