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Network connection hanging

I have a Win 98 desktop PC networked with two other 98 machines and a Win 95 machine using Peer to Peer networking. Occasionally this particular machine will hang while trying to access a mapped drive to the Win 95 machine. What I mean by hang is it will just sit there with an hourglass doing nothing. If I hit Alt + Ctl + Del, I can end the explorer task and successfully explore the mapped drive of one of the other Win 98 machines. If I try to explore Network Neighborhood, it will hang again. I can go to another Win 98 machine and successfully explore Network Neighborhood or a drive mapped to the Win 95 machine. The only way I have been able to fix the problem so far is to restart the computer.
Any ideas as to what is making this PC hang? It's a PII, Win98 SE with 6gig harddrive and 128 mb ram

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

pbessman

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jdfulton

SYMPTOMS
========

When you run the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) service on a computer
connected to a Windows NT 4.0 peer-to-peer network without a domain controller,
your computer may slow down or stop responding (hang).

CAUSE
=====

This behavior occurs because the SMNP Lmmib2.dll call queries the domain table
function, for which there are no entries in a peer-to-peer network. This
behavior results in a memory leak.

RESOLUTION
==========

Windows NT Server or Workstation 4.0
------------------------------------

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or the
individual software update.

Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition
----------------------------------------------

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT Server
4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, please see the
following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

This problem was first corrected in Windows NT Server 4.0 Service Pack 6 and
Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 6.

Mach1pro

ASKER

jdfulton
None of my PCs are NT.

iaasen

I am thinking if it might be just a long timeout?

If there is a problem with the cables, hub or other computer it would sit there for a minute or so, timeout and show what is available on the network graying out the one not available. Is this the problem you might go have a look at the hub and see if all the link bulbs lights continously. If one is not, the computer on that port has a problem.

If it hangs for real, it's most probably a software program on that computer. Error on some file. Maybe try the sfc.exe (System File Control) on win98

Also the hub could be making problems, they are known to break too.

Mach1pro

ASKER

Sorry so long to get back to this question. I believe the problem is with the Power management on the computer that is hanging. I changed the setting to Never shut the harddrive off, and the PC has been stable for over two days now without being reset once or hanging when tyring to access the 95 pc.

pbessman

Glad to be of service.