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DNS Resolving or Services Problem

A replacement laptop arrived for a faulty one, exactly the same as the original but it refuses to access other computers using 'net view' with the computer names gining system error 53. It will ping other computers successfully and will access them using 'net view' with the ip addresses. The network is set up as follows:

Router with ip addresss 10.0.0.2 subnet mask 255.0.0.0
Wireless ap connected to the router with ip address 10.0.0.3 subnet mask 255.0.0.0 gateway 10.0.0.2
Computer 1 connected to the router with ip address 10.0.0.4 subnet mask 255.0.0.0 gateway 10.0.0.2
Laptop connected to the either the router with ip address 10.0.0.5 subnet mask 255.0.0.0 gateway 10.0.0.2 or connected to the wireless ap with ip address 10.0.0.6 subnet mask 255.0.0.0 gateway 10.0.0.2

Computer 1 cannot ping or 'net view' the laptop with either the computer name or ip address, but can view it using the map network drives tool. This doesnt display any drives though - this is the main problem for me. I know the problem lies with the laptop as nothing has been changed on computer 1.

Also, at another location, the laptop will 'net view' one server with the server name but i wont do the same to another server which is the one i need to copy files to / from. Im sorry if this is too  much detail or is too confusing.

I would greatly appreciate help asap. Thanks in advance.
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Les Moore
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What OS on the laptop? If it is XP, you need to enable netbios:

Enable NetBios over TCP/IP in WIndows XP
Step 1: Turn On NetBIOS over TCP/IP
Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Network and Internet Connections.
Click Network Connections.
Right-click Local Area Connection, and then click Properties.
Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties.
Click the General tab, and then click Advanced.
Click the WINS tab.
Under NetBIOS setting, click Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP, and then click OK two times.
Click Close to close the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box.
Close the Network Connections window.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=263648

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lanmate

ASKER

It was set to default already so i put it to enable just in case. The OS on the lapyop is XP Home and Computer 1 its XP Pro.

I can now see Microsoft Terminal Services and Web Client Network options when i go to map network drive. But i still cant see computer 1 from the laptop.
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By the way, are the ip addresses, subnet masks and gateway addresses shown in the original question fine? Or do i need to change anything?
Try enabling the guest account on the XP Pro system just for testing. Do you have an identical username/password on both? Have you enabled Simple File Sharing on the XP Pro?

Ip addressing is fine. As long as they are each unique, and all use the same subnet mask and point to the same gateway, you're fine.

Which wireless AP are you using?
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Simple file sharing is enabled, ive enable the guest account but it doesnt help any. Whats interesting is i can ping the xp pro system from the laptop but not the other way round.

its connected like the following:

xp pro - router - wireless ap - laptop

From the xp pro syatem i can ping the router and the wireless ap but not any further. This also happens when i plug the laptop into the router, i still cannot ping it from the xp pro machine.

The wireless ap is from dabs. This one from dabsvalue i think so it wont be of a great quality.

http://www.dabs.com/products/prod-info3-info.asp?&m=y&quicklinx=2921
I know this might sound stupid but how about trying to make sure NetBeui or any other protocol is running on the laptop. I have found a network always works better when you have the exact same protocols running on every machine and as few protocols as possible. I normally run client for microsoft networks, file and printer sharing for microsoft networks and TCP/IP and that is it.
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NWLINK NetBios is what i have just installed and it didnt improve anything. The laptop cant see itself in the workgroup listings i just found out. Could it be a resolving problem as i can get access uping ip addresses but not the computer names.
If you can access by IP and not name, then yes it is a name resolution problem.

Try this:

Set up Host records for the computers to each other.

Go to start, search, file and folders and look for the "hosts" file. if more than one shows up use the one in the in the c:\windows\system32... path. You can then setup a static name resolution to the computers.

Like:
computer1    10.0.0.2
laptop       10.0.0.5

on so on. You should then be able to ping by name. Which should then allow you to access the computers you need to. Also instead of net view if you know the name of the computer you are trying to connect to, just go to the run line and type \\computername or even \\ipaddress this should get you to the computer and resources you need.

Hope this helps.
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Last night for no apparent reason an ip conflict appeared on the laptop so i had to switch to dhcp addressing to solve it. If i cant get it to use static ip address again, how do i assign names to computers using the hosts file.

Also, at location 2, using the hosts file didnt seem to work, the server is called \\nt2 with ip 10.1.0.3. I wrote the line:

10.1.0.3 nt2

into the hosts file but this didnt seems to work. I have temporarily solved the map network drives at location 2 using the static ip of the server but at home this will only work if i can solve the ip conflict of last night.
Observation:

The server you are trying to reach "nt2" has an IP of 10.1.0.3

Your computer has an ip of 10.0.0.5
and a gateway of 10.0.0.2

I assume your router has static routes to the 10.1.x.x network?

You may try giving you computer a static LAN address of 10.1.0.111 just to see if you can access the nt2 server. If you can then you will know there is a routing problem. If it worked you could also bind two IP addresses to your network card one for the 10.0.0. network and one for the 10.1.x.x network. Just a thought.


 
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Sorry, i chaged the ip configuration of the laptop to dhcp when connecting to the nt2 server because it has loads of computers using dchp so i dont know what ip addresses are free.

Also, i managed to resolve the ip conflict at home and mapped network drives using the static ip addresses. Not ideal but it works. Interestingly, i still cannot access the laptop at all (no ping etc) the main computer at home, but i can access the main computer from the laptop. Wierd. If anyone has any suggestions why this could be, id be all to happy to hear them

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Les Moore
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Thanks for that, it was a firewall, norton internet security.