2-Win2K pcs, 1 Win98SE pc...help

[mhwchar]

I have a home peer-to-peer network (no router) that after going through some initial hassles has worked incredibly well for the past two years with two Win98SE machines and one Win2K machine. Sharing printers, files and ICS has worked well. However, a few weeks ago, it was time for some routine maintenance on one of the Win98SE machines and I decided to reformat and install Win2K. Since that time I have been unable to get this second Win2K machine to be recognized on the network. The remaining two machines (one Win98SE and one Win2K machine) continue to work flawlessly. So you know, the Win98SE machine serves as the ICS server, while the Win2K machine is the print server.

From past experience the protocols I use are NetBeui for the network and TCP/IP for the ICS. Client for Microsoft Networks and File and Printer Sharing are both installed. The second Win2K machine setup (I believe) is exactly the same as the first. Occasionally, this pc will see the Win98SE machine, but cannot access the shared files. The two Win2K machines never see each other.

Can someone give me some suggestions on getting this working again?

[meese]

post an ipconfig /all on both W2K workstations

[mhwchar]

The ipconfig is attached to this reply. The top one is from the working pc, while the second is from the non-working pc.

[theocpcguru]

Dude.... very simple.... Your second computer is set to recieve a IP address (you probably have DHCP enabled). If it can't contact a DHCP server it will use "Automatic Private IP addressing". This is your easiest shot...

Make the Win2k Machines have the IP address of
192.168.0.3 and 192.168.0.4

subnet mask should stay the same....

generally, for a network with only a few nodes, I use....
10.1.1.1 - 10.1.1.254 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0

actually, it would be best to change all your PC's to
10.1.1.1
10.1.1.2
10.1.1.3
so on so forth with 255.255.255.0 as the subnet mask....

if you have any problems with it, email me at theocpcguru at hotmail dot com.

[theocpcguru]

Actually..... I noticed that the first IPconfig is obtaining it's IP from a scope on a DHCP server. It's not going through a router? Are you part of a larger LAN? Disable DHCP on all of your machines and use the 10.1.1.1 ip addressing.

[mhwchar]

No router on this network. It is a home network operating over the phoneline, it works great...just a little slower.

In the apst, I never dealt with assigning IP addresses letting those be assigned automatically. The only pc with a static IP address in the network is the Win98SE machine because it is the host ICS pc.

I will try your suggestion and manually assign the IP addresses.

[theocpcguru]

Are you using a hub? I've never seen a home network over a phone-line. Are you saying your internet connection is over the phone line and then the PC that connects to the dial-up provider and shares the internet connection to the other computers through your hub?

[mhwchar]

No router, no hub...a true peer to peer network. Everything operates over the phoneline. No different that an ethernet network, except the NIC uses the phone lines. Both the DSL internet connection and network share the phoneline along with my regular phone service. Has worked great for the past 2 years.

Changed the Win2K pcs to IP addresses 10.10.10.1 and 10.10.10.2 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 as you suggested. No change regarding the Win2k pcs seeing each other and the working pc could no longer access ICS through the Win98SE machine.

Any ideas?

[mhwchar]

The ICS is through the tcp/ip protocal, while the network relies upon netbeui as it protocal.

[meese]

Why did you decide to use the 10.10.10.x ip subnet? The ipconfig /all form your working pc shows a subnet of 192.168.0.x. If that machine is working that means your win98 machine is also on that subnet. Your win98 machine is probably 192.168.0.1. I'm not real familiar with ICS but it looks like the win98 machine is assigning your one W2K workstation an IP and DNS information.

Post a winipcfg for the ethernet adapter on the win98 machine. What ever subnet it is using is the one all your pc's must use.