Network connectivity problem

[Vol4Ever]

We have 4 desktop PC's on a small office network. They are all members of "Workgroup". They all used to communicate together fine, but a problem has popped up with 2 of the 4. I can't figure out what in the world is going on.

Click on My Network Places / Workgroup Computers, and all 4 PC's show up. Two of the PC's can be accessed fine, but there is a problem with the third:

"CompABC is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.

The semaphore timeout period has expired."

When I go to CompABC, his can also access 2 of the 4. When I try to click on mine from there, the same basic error message pops up, but the last line reads "The specified network name is no longer available."

Both of us use basic Norton AntiVirus (always have), but not the Internet Security / Firewall package. Both machines have Windows firewall disabled. Both machines appear to be properly connected to the network as both can access the Internet, and both can print to our network printer.

Any ideas of other things I can check? Thanks!

~Vol

 

[stduc]

Are you using simple file sharing? Do all the users on all the machines have admin rights? Has anyone changed folder permissions.

You need to check the effective permissions and user rights I think.

The quickest way out of this may be to go back to a suitable restore point if you have one? You can always make one immediately before you restore so you can return to the current situation.

 

[bcastner]

CISCO switch?
Configure spanning tree:
Configure the port(s) that the problem machines are connected to to forward packets

spanning-tree portfast

See if someone has fiddled with the Auto or other adapter settings (such a setting the bit rate of the network adapters manually):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325487

See if Windows Update pushed a new network adapter driver update to the problem machines.

Start, Run, devmagmnt.msc
Right click the network adapter of interest, Properties
Click the Device tab. Click Roll-back driver.

Reboot and test.


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Users Helping Users

 

[Vol4Ever]

UPDATE: Still no luck. I used the guide on MS.com to rebuild my winsock after manually deleting from the registry.

I also tried a tip found in another thread. I booted my PC in "Safe Mode with Networking". While in safe mode, the other PC could access mine just fine, and my shared directories showed up in his Network Neighborhood. Once I rebooted back to normal mode, the connectivity disappeared again giving the "Specified network name is no longer available" error. On my buddy's PC, the Shared Directories still showed up, but in the "Computer" column, it now says "Unknown" rather than the name of my PC. The other PC's in the office show their name in this particular column. My directories are the only ones that say Unknown.

I hope someone understands my tech speak. I just re-read my own message & it looks like a bunch of gobbeldy gook!



~Vol

 

[bcastner]

Post a Hijackthis log from a problem PC in Normal startup mode. Be sure that OE, IE and any uncecessary programs are closed before running hijackthis.

Important: create a new folder and place the Hijackthis executables into the folder before running the program. Otherwise Hijackthis will not create undo files.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html

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Users Helping Users

 

[Vol4Ever]

FOUND IT!!!!!!

Not sure how to fix it

If I disable the "Internet Worm Protection" option inside Norton AntiVirus, connectivity works perfectly on both machines. Problem is that I hate to completely disable this functionality. Wouldn't I want that? There are literally 100's of sub-options inside Internet Worm Protection. I suspect there's one or 2 basic ones in there that I could uncheck & everything would work fine. Any Norton user out there that could provide a suggestion?

Getting closer . . .

 

[bcastner]

Norton Internet Worm Protection is another way of saying "Firewall."

If you have a firewall, disable the Norton Worm Protection.


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Users Helping Users

 

[bcastner]

Let me try to make an exclusion for you in Norton:

Open Options, Norton AV, Internet Worm Protection
Click General Rules, Add
Permit: only connections that match this rule
Only the computers and sites listed below
Add
Using a network address
And input your NAT address range starting point. For example: 192.168.1.0
For subnet mask use 255.255.255.0
Click OK
Permit 'Only the computers and sites listed below' and click Next
Now you get the communication and ports setup.
Click UDP and TCP
Click All types of communication
Click Next, Next and name the rule something you will remember.
And save your settings






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Users Helping Users

 

[Vol4Ever]

GREAT idea Bill, but unfortunately it didn't work. Once the Worm Protection is turned back on, remote access capability vanishes. Something in there is overriding the manual exclusion rule?? I even tried it with "All computers" rather than an IP range, and it still didn't like it.

 

[bcastner]

The ports needed:

UDP: 135,135,137,139, and 445
TCP: 135,135,137,139, and 445

For Remote Desktop:

UDP: 3389
TCP: 3389

You should be able to exclude, for your NAT network IP range, these ports from any Norton scrutiny.

Perhaps you have to specify them individually.

In the window to specify ports:
Tick, Individually specified ports, option. (Rather than all)
Tick, Local option.
Type Tcp and Udp ports. (leaving a space between them),
Example: 135 136 137 139 445
Press Acept button.

Do this as an edit, or delete the original rule we created earlier.



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Users Helping Users

 

[Vol4Ever]

Negative. Same result. I edited the original rule we created earlier, and changed "permit all ports" to just permit only the ports you mentioned.

I'll be in out & today, so further responses from me may be a bit sporadic. Thanks for the attempts.

~Vol