Thanks in advance for any comments.
After months of connectivity and program execution issues, I decided to do a fresh install on my Dell PowerEdge 1600SC. Everything went much better than expected (thank you Dell for system restore CD's).
First thing that came up was Windows required an actual live network connection to do the installation restoring Windows 2000 and then trying to install SBS 2000. I had brought my server home with me over the weekend so I could have more flexibility in time. What I did was grab my Network Everywhere wireless router (with built-in 4 port switch) and then proceeded to do the SBS installation. Everything seemeed to work fine, used defaults for any fields. My router was set up for 192.168.1.1 (default). I do remeber a field where it required some DNS / IP inputs and I can't remember what I used. My work network is set up for 10.x.x.x. So after installing and everything seemed OK. The only thing I noticed was that the server did not seem to be able to connect to the router/switch to start doing all of the updates typically required in a fresh installation. The router/switch did have DCHP on. I could not ping the router but could ping my wireless desktop system. I manually inputted an IP address of 192.168.1.103 and still could not connect to the router. I checked the router's DHCP client list and it listed the server as 'unknown'. I think I put my IP address back to 10.0.0.77 as it was back originally.
Not thinking much of it, I packed up the server and carefully transported it back to my office (prior to this, I installed Tapeware software for the tapebackup drive and did my tape database.
When up and running, I noticed that the typical network icon on the bottom right of the task bar was no longer visible to change IP information.
Trying 'Start', 'Settings', 'Network Connections' only 'hangs' pop-up screen that would normally come up. All other programs work fine except now Tapestore (which is important for obvious reasons).
My clients to connect to the server, no problems with no noticeable lags. I upgraded Explorer to 6 via Microsoft's downloads without any problems. When trying to do Windows Critical update, I receive a 'Cannot Continue' error message.
I have tried rebooting the system and still the same symptoms. I have tried booting the system without the network cable in, still no difference. I booted to Safe Mode with Networking taking some 15 minutes to get in. Once there, I confimed my IP address to be 10.0.0.77, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, default gateway to be 10.0.0.1 (Microsft wireless router MN-100 with DCHP enabled) and DNS addresses to be 198.235.216.xxx. I rebooted and still no difference. I can however still pull up webpages on the server.
I think I might have a problem with the DHCP server or DNS service or some routing problem on the machine? This problem and not being able to run my tapebackup software were the main reasons for this whole process in the first place. My main switch was a D-Link DES-1024R+ and was just replaced with a managed D-Link 3226 today if this is helpful.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
After months of connectivity and program execution issues, I decided to do a fresh install on my Dell PowerEdge 1600SC. Everything went much better than expected (thank you Dell for system restore CD's).
First thing that came up was Windows required an actual live network connection to do the installation restoring Windows 2000 and then trying to install SBS 2000. I had brought my server home with me over the weekend so I could have more flexibility in time. What I did was grab my Network Everywhere wireless router (with built-in 4 port switch) and then proceeded to do the SBS installation. Everything seemeed to work fine, used defaults for any fields. My router was set up for 192.168.1.1 (default). I do remeber a field where it required some DNS / IP inputs and I can't remember what I used. My work network is set up for 10.x.x.x. So after installing and everything seemed OK. The only thing I noticed was that the server did not seem to be able to connect to the router/switch to start doing all of the updates typically required in a fresh installation. The router/switch did have DCHP on. I could not ping the router but could ping my wireless desktop system. I manually inputted an IP address of 192.168.1.103 and still could not connect to the router. I checked the router's DHCP client list and it listed the server as 'unknown'. I think I put my IP address back to 10.0.0.77 as it was back originally.
Not thinking much of it, I packed up the server and carefully transported it back to my office (prior to this, I installed Tapeware software for the tapebackup drive and did my tape database.
When up and running, I noticed that the typical network icon on the bottom right of the task bar was no longer visible to change IP information.
Trying 'Start', 'Settings', 'Network Connections' only 'hangs' pop-up screen that would normally come up. All other programs work fine except now Tapestore (which is important for obvious reasons).
My clients to connect to the server, no problems with no noticeable lags. I upgraded Explorer to 6 via Microsoft's downloads without any problems. When trying to do Windows Critical update, I receive a 'Cannot Continue' error message.
I have tried rebooting the system and still the same symptoms. I have tried booting the system without the network cable in, still no difference. I booted to Safe Mode with Networking taking some 15 minutes to get in. Once there, I confimed my IP address to be 10.0.0.77, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, default gateway to be 10.0.0.1 (Microsft wireless router MN-100 with DCHP enabled) and DNS addresses to be 198.235.216.xxx. I rebooted and still no difference. I can however still pull up webpages on the server.
I think I might have a problem with the DHCP server or DNS service or some routing problem on the machine? This problem and not being able to run my tapebackup software were the main reasons for this whole process in the first place. My main switch was a D-Link DES-1024R+ and was just replaced with a managed D-Link 3226 today if this is helpful.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
