Name lost on the network

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Sun Jan 24, 2010 7:26 pm

I have had this happen before and time will fix it but I was wondering if I can force something. Here is the situation:

I have mapped drives to folders on another computer on the network by name (not IP). We had a power failure and when things came back the computer got a different IP. Now the mapped drives will not work by name. If I access the folders by IP/folder then it works.

ie: TV-PC was on IP 192.168.1.100 and now it is on 192.168.1.102.
folder //TV-PC/Movies will not work any more but //192.168.1.102/movies will

Thanks

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Sun Jan 24, 2010 7:29 pm

Did you try giving it a static IP of .100?

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:30 pm

I could but another computer was assigned that IP and I know there is a way to refresh the network and just want to know how.

Everything works I just want to know the solution

b-man1 · Post by **b-man1** » Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:41 pm

try flushing the DNS cache on the problem pc.

ipconfig /flushdns

Shadow250 · Post by **Shadow250** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 12:11 am

i noticed on my network it assigns ip's in the order there turned on. first on ends in 100 2nd 101 3rd 102

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 10:44 pm

OK ... getting somewhere. I need to reset my wins server
That is what directs Netbios names to the IP

Now...how do I do that?

b-man1 · Post by **b-man1** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 10:47 pm

nbtstat -n displays the names that were registered locally on the system by programs such as the server and redirector.

nbtstat -c shows the NetBIOS name cache, which contains name-to-address mappings for other computers.

nbtstat -R purges the name cache and reloads it from the Lmhosts file.

nbtstat -RR releases NetBIOS names registered with a WINS server and then renews their registration.

nbtstat -a name performs a NetBIOS adapter status command against the computer specified by name. The adapter status command returns the local NetBIOS name table for that computer plus the media access control address of the adapter.

nbtstat -S lists the current NetBIOS sessions and their status, including statistics

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:25 pm

If you are running a domain server then the server is running a WINS server and it keeps track of associating IPs with Netbios names and broadcasting it to all the PCs on the LAN.

However if this is a typical peer-to-peer non-domain server network (just a bunch of PCs networked together but no domain server), there is no WINS server and each computer individually keeps track of the Netbios names on the network by querying the network. This normally works fine but sometimes doesn't - especially with mixed operating systems.

The solution is to assign every PC with a static IP (something you should do anyway for every hard wired PC on a network IMO) and then create an LMHOSTS file and place a copy on each PC. The LMHOSTS file acts as a table that tells each PC what the Netbios name of each PC on the network is, and the IP it's assigned so it doesn't have to query the network to figure it out for itself.

More info here:
http://www.howtonetworking.com/Windows/lmhosts.htm

Keep in mind there are other reasons you may be having issues. If you have a very intrusive firewall (like Norton's) it may be blocking the ports and services that allow network discovery. Windows Vista Business and Windows 7 Pro both come from the factory with network discovery disabled.

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:27 pm

OK... This is really pissing me off. Here is my screen shot. If I try to connect to the computer TV-PC by the address \\tv-pc\ I get the screen requesting password. If I connect to the computer by typing \\192.168.1.100\ everything works. My assumption is that the IP changed and it is pointing to another computer.

I have the directories shared for guest so it should not be asking for a pw... and it will not with the IP

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:39 pm

Is this issue occurring on only one computer? For instance are all the PCs having this issue with connecting to the same PC or is just one PC having an issue connecting to all the PCs? If it seems to be isolated to one PC you may have a bad switch that is failing to properly route, or even a bad network card.

If everyone is having issues connecting to everybody then you probably will need to implement the LMHOSTS solution I mentioned above.

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:41 pm

Good example... in the above screen shot. Notice my network lists several computers and one IP. the computer with the IP is the same as TV-PC. Only when I double click the IP Computer everything works. When I double click the computer tv-pc I get a promt for a password (I think it is coming from another computer..could be wrong)

I have run nbtstat on all computers with no success. (found out you have to run cmd under admin)

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:41 pm

All the computers on the network are having the same issue

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:51 pm

Can't say why - there could be a variety of reasons. I would definitely power cycle everything. Since this happened after a power interruption it could be a flaky network switch or something.

Worst case the LMHOSTS trick should fix it since it will force it to use the correct IP.

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:56 pm

Forget it ... I went static on all wired computers and problem is solved.
I was more intrested in trying to figure out the problem, but lost interest. Thanks for the help anyways. I thought the nbtstat would resolve my issue.

Oh well

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 12:46 am

I have run into issues like this in the past too Duckie.. And I have spent even longer than you at times trying to figure it out, then broke down and did what you did. Hence my original answer lol But, every time this happens, I try to figure it out again, if I ever come across the answer, I'll let you know

eGo