Home XP workgroup size limit?

[Sunbird]

Hi, I'm the network administrator at my fathers small business.

We have 8 computers (6 WinXP Home + 2 Win98SE) on a 100Mbps Ethernet Switch.

7 of the computers get their IP adresses via DHCP from the one computer that has an ISDN internet connection to use ICS.

The problem is that when all 8 computers are switched on and on the network, there is normally (90% of the time) one of the XP computer that won't be connect to the workgroup or not be able to go into the other computers (error message says you don't have rights to access the machine). The 98SE computers never suffer from this problem..

Is there a limit on workgroups in Windows XP Home or is the problem something else?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Smilin]

I believe it's 5 but I could be wrong.

All previous versions of NT, including w2k had a limit of 10.

 

[rw120555]

This might or might not be relevant:

Windows XP Networking Myths

The key excerpt is:

"Misconception: A network with Windows XP Home Edition can have a maximum of 5 computers. A network with Windows XP Professional can have a maximum of 10 computers.

"Fact: There?s no limit to the number of computers that can be connected to a network.

"Explanation: Windows XP Home Edition allows a maximum of 5 other computers to access its shared disks and folders simultaneously. Windows XP Professional allows a maximum of 10 other computers to access its shared disks and folders simultaneously."

 

[beer]

CHeck the dynamic ranges on the computer acting as a server. On the other hand, for <$100 you can get a good, high quality router that also does packet filtering. Security = good, and you relieve that computer of acting as a server (which should increase network uptime, too).