Home network stopped communicating

Sorry I haven't been back yet. I've seem to have screwed up my connection. It went offline and then asked to dial a bluetooth dun? I dont't have a phone line plugged in. And when I went to check the configuration it kept shutting me out. So after a while on the phone with charter I'm back. Needed to reset my modem & router.

SO back to the problem.
I only have one other computer on besides the printer plugged into the router.
I set the master browser on this one and turned it off on the other.
Firewalls off.
look@lan is:

192.168.1.1 ONLINE Same LAN NOT WIN - - - - -
192.168.1.100 ONLINE Same LAN WINDOWS HP0015604736B4 000000CFA24A (n/a) - -
192.168.1.114 ONLINE Same LAN WINDOWS Office9100.nv.charter.com OFFICE9100 (n/a) - -

Checked NETbios it is set correctly as well as computer browser.

Still same.
Thanks again for helping me with this.
Steve

Ok something new. When I checked DHCP active IP Table it showed the other computer. So I quickly went to explorer and checked my network. Under Microsoft Windows Network it showed my workgroup. When I clicked on it it showed the other computer. But when I clicked on that computer I get an error message saying the computer is not accessible, I might not have permission to use the network resource and the network path was not found.

On the other computer I can't get past the workgroup before I get the same message.

Steve

That's making progress.

Getting things to the point where, from each computer's point of view, you can see every other computer in the workgroup is a good first goal (in my own approach to this problem). Getting each computer beyond the "No permission to use the network resource" just means there's a little more bookwork to be done in the resource sharing settings for each computer.

So...
192.168.1.1 Is your router. It will always have that IP address (unless you decide to change the settings in the router)

I think it'll help to start referring to each of your computers by its unique name from this point on so its clear which one we're talking about. If you look at My Computer -> Properties and click the Computer Name tab, verify each computer name is unique within the workgroup. Then list for us:

Computer Name, Operating System, Computer Make/Model

when you list Operating System be sure to include Service Pack level and distinguish XP Pro vs XP Home

Looking at the other entries in LookLAN, first note the IP address your router assigns each device may change but each computer will always be uniquely identified by its computer name listed under Netbios Name. So we see:

192.168.1.100 is your printer
192.168.1.114 is your computer named OFFICE9100

For followup,
1. List the info for each computer by Computer Name
2, After you've attempted the startup process outlined by tipster for each computer (and wait a few minutes after you've completed the last computer) post the LookLAN output to show what IPs are or are not showing up
3. Indicate (by computer name) any computer you're unable to see viewing Microsoft Windows Network from a different computer
4. For each problem computers identified in 3) click to highlight the computer in LookLAN, then right click and select Do Proof Scan. Look at Active Services and as joebeard mentioned would expect ports 135, 139, 445 to all be assigned.

You can report back and, fyi, here's some handy info about File Sharing tho specific to XP Pro others OS are similar and can work out the specifics once you post back.

Thanks, I will work on it this afternoon and post back.
Steve

Workgroup OFFICEMAIN
192.168.1.114 Office9100 (My main computer) Win XP media center sp2
192.168.1.102 TV Win XP media center sp2
192.168.1.104 Laura Win XP Home
192.168.1.101 Jamie Win Vista Home Basic
192.168.1.103 Laptop Win Vista Home Premium

192.168.1.1 Router
192.168.1.105 ? Listed on Mcafee network manager
192.168.1.100 ? Listed on Mcafee network manager

For each computer using - My network places \ entire network \ Microsoft windows network \ officemain

From OFFICEMAIN I can see the 5 computers but no access.
Look @ LAN
192.168.1.1 ONLINE Same LAN NOT WIN - - - - -
192.168.1.100 ONLINE Same LAN WINDOWS HP0015604736B4 000000CFA24A (n/a) - -
192.168.1.114 ONLINE Same LAN WINDOWS Office9100.nv.charter.com OFFICE9100 (n/a) - -
Proof scan 135 green check, 139 blue check, 445 blue check & 1025 blue check

From TV I can see workgroup but not beyond that

From Laptop I can see Jamie & Printer but no access to Jamie

From Laura I can see workgroup but not beyond that

From Jamie I can see Laptop & Printer but no access to Laptop

From router DHCP Client table
DHCP Server IP Address:
192.168.1.1
Client Hostname IP Address
192.168.1.100
Jamies 192.168.1.101
192.168.1.102
Laptop-PC 192.168.1.103
Laura 192.168.1.104
Office9100 192.168.1.114

I have not istalled look@LAN on any other computer. Should I?
Thanks,
Steve

no need to install LookLAN elsewhere. A couple comments/questions first

1. Mcaffee Network Mgr IDs 192.168.1.100 that is your printer
2. Mcaffee Network Mgr IDs 192.168.1.105 which isn't seen elsewhere.
   • If you look again, is it still there or disappeared?
   • If still there, do you have any other network connections (e.g. bluetooth) that aren't connected to your LAN ethernet cables?
3. Do you mean from Office9100? So you're saying when you look from Office9100 at My Network Places it sees all 5 computers (counting itself)?
4. LookLAN is installed on Office9100, is that correct?
   • So you mean from Office9100 you can see all 5 computers from My Network Places but LookLAN on that same computer doesn't see all 5??
   • Could you verify this oddity again? And check the Port scan range you are using in LookLAN

Also, could you remove the ISP cable from the router and turn off all the firewalls on all the computers. Wait 5-10 minutes and check LookLAN and My Network Places per Computer again

/***** Edit ****/
And which computer is McAfee Net Manager running on?

192.168.1.105 is there. I do have a Bluetooth receiver attached to the computer "TV" for a Bluetooth mouse. It’s located in the next room.

Office9100 is my main computer and OFFICEMAIN is the workgroup. I can see from office9100 the workgroup and all 5 computers including office9100. But get the error message when I click on any of the 4 other computers.

look@LAN is installed on office9100. Yes I can see all the computers on office9100 but look@lan does not.
New scan range 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.1.255
Same results.
Proof scan results for 192.168.1.114 are
135 loc-srv NCS local location broker
139 netbios-ssn NETBIOS Session Service
445 microsoft-ds -
1025 listen listener RFS remote_file_sharing

I will turn off firewalls, wait and check look@LAN again.

OK it works now! Didn't do that when I did the same thing before. Turned on all the firewalls and it still works.

Ran look@lan with firewalls off and it saw all.
192.168.1.1 ONLINE Same LAN NOT WIN - - - - -
192.168.1.100 ONLINE Same LAN WINDOWS HP0015604736B4 000000CFA24A (n/a) - -
192.168.1.101 ONLINE Same LAN WINDOWS JAMIES JAMIES (n/a) - -
192.168.1.102 ONLINE Same LAN WINDOWS TV TV (n/a) - -
192.168.1.103 ONLINE Same LAN WINDOWS LAPTOP-PC LAPTOP-PC (n/a) - -
192.168.1.104 ONLINE Same LAN WINDOWS LAURA LAURA (n/a) - -
192.168.1.114 ONLINE Same LAN WINDOWS Office9100.nv.charter.com OFFICE9100 (n/a) - -

But after turning on the firewalls ran it again and it was the same results as before. Didn't see the others. But now I can access the other computers.

Thank you so much for your help. What do you think was the problem? new router cause the firewalls to reset?

Steve

Ping
I think LookLAN is relying on ping to identify other computers (a network message asking the computer at other end to reply to command). Firewalls may block ping (so no response is sent) to prevent hackers from finding the computer when hackers generate pings to a pre-programmed range of network addresses just to see who replies.

Certainly, your router shouldn't reply to ping (on the WAN side). It can reply to pings on the LAN side. Am guessing the firewalls on the computers are blocking ping.. but i don't think it's necessary to block on computers on the LAN side (any reader's want to comment?)

In any case, just affects LookLAN and what it seems to report. Having it available to reliably report on the other IPs on your network can be useful tho.. so might consider if ping should be blocked by each computer on your LAN or allow them to reply

Computer Access via MS Network
i have seen where changes in MS Network in response to firewall changes may take a bit of time (but within 5-10 mins certainly) so keep an eye on things for the next short while.

Otherwise, not for certain all the issues that triggered this tho sounds like, in fact, you had a master browser issue that started it all off. I haven't looked yet myself but sounds like looking into using browstat (tipster mentioned) and other MS tools for browser issues is good to know.

btw.. if you open a cmd window (Start->Run, enter cmd, hit Return. Works for XP computer. Need admin priviledge on Vista), then enter
ping 64.233.169.103 (which happens to an address for google). or try your LAN ping 192.168.1.104 to try and ping Laura

You might find it interesting to try entering tracert 64.233.169.103 as well.

ok all is not well. I lost access to the others except TV. I pinged other computers and it timed out and then checked. The only one I can see now is TV. What gives?

its gonna be related (at least part) to the firewalls.. turn 'em off and viewing and access among everything in MS Networks is good. Turn firewalls on and problems return. AND the change in MS Networks isn't immediate after firewall change. It takes a short while for firewall transition to affect MS Networks.

Could you list, by computer name, what firewall software product is running on the computer.

and actually if we just turn off ping blocking on each computer LookLAN can tell us which ports it sees open on each computer which could help tell which computer firewalls are blocking ports)

And note LookLAN (i would think) always see the ports on the computer its running from as open (even if firewall blocked). So would still need verify Office9100 after running LookLAN from it to verify ports on other computers

Hey, but at least looks like its closer (and btw... you do remove the WAN cable from router when firewalls are off? just to make sure nothing gets thru to computers from outside when firewall protection is off)

I went into the firewalls and added the IP's to my firewall. I have mcafee on all and also windows firewall.
After doing this i'm back to ok.
Just have the permission issues with the 2 vista computers.

ok.. good deal.. yea, those firewalls are good protection but sure can be a pain to maintain! (btw.. is LookLAN doing better at seeing other IPs as well?)

i've gotta go offline.. will try to follow up still this evening if can, otherwise tomorrow.

Yes look@lan sees them all now.
I can't thank you enough.
Steve

good morning!

To help get your vista computers setup correctly (as well as maintain your XP computers) I've included some links that talk about File and Resource Sharing across XP Pro, Vista and Media computers. I think it'll cover all the info you will need. if you're having a problem, just post back to the thread.

In fact, appreciate if you post back if it works as well... Be good to hear for certain one way or another.

• File Sharing and XP Pro
• File Sharing and Vista
• File Sharing and Windows Media Center 11
• File Sharing thru Home Server and Media

And one question... we talked briefly yesterday about what issue(s) could have caused all your problems. And i do think it was a combination of things that hit you.

Master Browser issues were one. And i could see how if your LAN wasn't set correctly to assure there would be only one Master Browser, then it would be just a matter of time and chance when the problem hit you.

But thinking back on the firewall issue.... WHen you say you added the IP, was it there before, but missing now? or you added an IP saying allow all traffic from this IP? I guess the bottom line question (if you might now) were the firewall settings different now (with the problem) then before (when no problem). Answer is less important now that everything works, but trying to think how you might work before if the firewall was indeed blocking traffic.

Just curiousity.. most important, is that its fixed (or very close to being all fixed!)