Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of Michael Bentfeld
Michael Bentfeld

asked on

CNC controller running Windows 95 cannot connect to Server 2008 domain after admin password changed

I have a CNC machine whose controller runs on Windows 95 (I know that's old) that was connected to our company domain, which has a domain controller running Server 2008.  About a year ago, there was a network hiccup that kicked out the original network login for the machine, and the machine could only connect to the network using my boss's (the IT manager's) login credentials.  Even our regular domain administrator credentials wouldn't work, and that was with the dsclient9x program installed to allow the computer to connect to the network.  The machine was set to a static IP address per company policy.

Fast forward to two days ago.  My boss changed his domain password to align it with his company Microsoft account.  I don't know why but I suspect it was due to a recent renewal/update of our service agreement for Dynamics.  Since that password change, the CNC machine can no longer be logged into, either with my boss's credentials or with the original user login set up when the machine was originally installed.  While the machine isn't totally down, since instruction programs can still be loaded by floppy, there is a time waste factor involved since there isn't a sufficiently close computer with a floppy drive.  I've tried releasing and renewing the static IP address (the gateway, subnet, and DNS addresses are correct for our network.  It has also been noticed the machine doesn't show up in Active Directory, but its static IP address can be successfully pinged, and I can resolve the machine name when using the "arp -a" command through a command prompt.  I've tried resetting the password for the original account (not my boss's), but I'm slightly limited into what passwords I can use by password complexity requirements and the fact that while the controller has a keypad, using the SHIFT key to get lower-case letters (it defaults to upper-case) and certain symbols is problematic.  I will try again when the machine operator has a break between operations (which could mean an hour or more wait).

Any suggestions/thoughts would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Avatar of Don Thomson
Don Thomson
Flag of Canada image

Have you tried connecting to and  logging in using the Static IP. This circumvents any DNS issues. - Another thing you may want to try is to get a 5 port switch and connect the CNC machine and a Laptop that has a static IP in the same subnet . Then set the password on the Machine to the old password. See if that works
Avatar of Michael Bentfeld
Michael Bentfeld

ASKER

Thanks for the response.

The static IP won't connect - it just keeps locking out the original account.  None of the other accounts are accessible either.  I'm unable to access the physical network connection (which was done LONG before my time and knowledge of how it was set up has been lost).  Therefore, unfortunately, your second suggestion isn't testable at this time.  I found further research about trying to store the credentials via the "net use" command, but haven't been able to test it yet due to the operators' workload (hence the delay in my response).  I will advise when I'm able to attempt the command.  If you have any other suggestions, I would certainly appreciate it.

Thanks again.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of ajeab
ajeab

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial