Hi there,
I have a Win2000 Pro machine which I use as a file server and which is always running. I connect with my laptop (Win XP Pro) to the Win2000 machine over a WLAN. The problem is that after booting the laptop, it often can't restore the network connections (sometimes it can). I can also enter \\servername in the Run-window, but nothing happes. After some minutes, the restore often works, but not always. There are no relevant entries in the event viewer. The user names and passwords are the same on both machines, the Guest account is disabled on both machines. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Best regards,
refi

Which protocol do you use, only TCP/IP?
Is NetBios enabled?
Could you have an IP-address conflict?
In Explorer/Tools can yau "Map network drive"?

What happens if you first boot up the laptop, and only then insert the network cable?

It is most likely a problem with network.
You should try pinging the server to make sure you have basic connectivity. (I sure hope you are doing this over TCP/IP and not something awful like IPX or god knows what)

What happens if you try connecting by \\[IP address]?

I don't have an IP conflict, I've already checked that. I use Netbios over TCP/IP, no IPX or other protocol.
Cannot map network drives, because the laptop says that there's no connection. First booting and then inserting the network card doesn't solve the problem either.

What is really interesting: I can ping the server from the 1st second on after inserting the card. I can also connect to it with \\192.168.0.x, but I can't connect with \\servername. Even not after establishing a connection via \\192.168.0.x and working over it on the server!

Any ideas?

Thanks for your help!
refi

You have misconfigured DNS settings. Are both the computers in the same workgroup? (Or are you using a domain?) Also, disable any WINS servers/clients you happen to have enabled.

If you have static IP addresses, then you can always add the machine names into the \Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file.

Thanks for your help. The machines are in the same workgroup, no WINS clients/servers are active.
I could give a static address to the server. Should I then add it to the HOSTS or the LMHOSTS file in \Windows\System32\drivers\etc\?

Best regards,
refi

Theoretically you could add it in any of those files but you can save yourself a lot of trouble by doing it in HOSTS.

Nodsu, thank you for your help. The problem is still here. I think I will change everything to IP addresses now (no more server names), then it should be gone.

Best regards,
refi