XP Networking Browse Problem - Not the same old Questions!!

[AlexIT]

Ok, I am a 10 year veteran of M$ networking. I am not stupid, but I am stuck about this one:

Remote office, one XP Pro, One Win2K Pro and Netgear WGR614 connecting them. Both machines are connected wirelessly sometimes and wired other times.

I have checked, rechecked, deleted and re-entered these:
1. Workgroup name the same
2. Unique computer names
3. Under TCP/IP Properties, Netbios over TCP/IP enabled
4. Client for Microsoft Networks, and File and Printer Sharing enabled
5. Something shared on both machines
6. A real logon for each computer with SAME user account created on both machines, same password for same user account
7. Computer Browser service is set to start automaticly and is started on both machines.
8. TCP/IP Stack is NOT corrupt, both machines have perfect access to Internet - VPN - TCP/IP Printer - etc.
9. Ping loopback, ping other machine, ping Netgear works perfect

Here's the problem = ZERO browse workgroup, ZERO search other machine, ZERO map network drive, ZERO Net Use Other Share!!!

So I add an entry in each LMHOSTS to forceably resolve opposite computer and verify resolution, ping OTHERNAME works, but ZERO browse workgroup, ZERO search other machine, ZERO map network drive, ZERO Net Use Other Share

Using TCP/IP Utilities:

Resolving Host: THISMACHINE

Host Name: THISMACHINE
IP Address: 192.168.0.2

Complete.

Resolving IP Address: OTHERNAME

Unable to resolve IP Address?

*TCP Resolve Error*
System Error: 6
System Message:
The handle is invalid.

Ok, maybe I AM stupid, but tell me what is wrong??

 

[bcastner]

. Default ICF Firewall enabled on XP machine?
. Any firewall on either machine
. "Hidden" firewall, many antivirus software programs contain a hidden firewall component by default. PC-Illan is notable for this. AVG can do this as well.

 

[AlexIT]

Sorry I forgot #10 - Firewall and/or TCP IP Filtering disabled in both XP and 2K

No software firewalls, not even a standard AV installed on either machine...

 

[bcastner]

Disable the Computer Browser service on the XP machine and reboot.

 

[AlexIT]

Disabling the computer browser when not connecting to a domain controller causes System Error 53 "Network Path Not Found" when attempting to search for the other computer

 

[bcastner]

Disabling the Computer Browser does nothing more than remove it from the election process.

In a Workgroup setting the typical causes for this error are either you misspelled the name workstation, or Netbios over TCP/IP is not enabled.

If you type:
netview

Do you even see your own workstation?

 

[bcastner]

I'm sorry,
net view

 

[AlexIT]

Net View shows only the local machine - and only if the computer browser service is running. If computer browser is disabled (on either machine), then System Error 6118 List of servers for this workgroup is no currently available.

The remote machine never comes up in Net View.

 

[bcastner]

Are you absolutely sure that the SPI and other firewall features of your router are not blocking Netbios traffic?

 

[AlexIT]

The poorly written manual obviously translated from Mandrin to English implies that the SPI is only functional between WAN and LAN addresses, so both computers on the LAN side should have no port filters or stateful packet inspection.

I will attempt to phone for confirmation of this.

 

[bcastner]

In addition is there a DoS sort of feature?

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315978&Product=winxp

You need to have ports 135-139, and 445 TCP and UDP open for Netbios to succeed. It cannot be a situation in which you "trigger" the port by making an outgoing request first.

I am coming closer to believing there is a hardware issue with your router. There are several threads in the Newsgroups were it appears that the wireless side can pass Netbios but the wired side does not; e.g.

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=w...308211755.16ff21b4@posting.google.com&rnum=64

 

[AlexIT]

I called and they confirmed the SPI is only functioning between the WAN and LAN ports. Therefore I must be able to connect between the machines. I've tried disabling the WEP functions, and removing the Access Control functions from the router to no avail. I guess I am going to have to use a crossover cable next to prove these machines are capable of connecting...

I'll let you know how that works.

Thanks,
Alex

 

[Hainley]

Recently had same issue with a clients wireless network. Since he had a combination of wired and wireless, changed the mode to Infrastructure, instead of Ad-Hoc...and all worked after that. Just a thought....

 

[AlexIT]

The nework is set for infrastructure mode...I haven't had time to play with this again (out of that office now.) I hope to try the crossovercable and eliminate the switch as the cause of this...I have not used the netgear WGR before, just their access points (which are great!) so maybe this SPI is acting up...

Alex

 

[horsebox1977]

i have a similar issue - xp and win2k machines over a domain - set up to share - cant connect to xp machines if there NOT logged into the domain - this is possible in win2k and NT.
if you login to your xp machine as administrator and try to connect to the other machine (logged in to machine and not domain) you can connect - why? both machines have the same admin username and password.
These are the various error messages:

\\machine_name
The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

\\machine_name is not accessible
Access is denied
The network path is not found

\\machine_name
Logon Failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer

Win2k machines just cant connect to XP machines if there logged into there own machine and not the domain.

ALl settings are correct - seems like some xp feature that i cant figure out?

Ping etc are all fine. - cannot connect to hidden share either.

Any ideas?