network issue... asking to login to server

[SBMongoos]

I have a LAN with four computers. One workstation also doubles as a server. This box runs on Windows 2000 Pro. All other computers (running Windows XP Home) are setup with logins and passwords and are setup with access rights to the 2000 Pro server. Occasionally (too often) the clients are asked to login even though a few minutes ago they had access to the server. The attempt to login and it fails and are denied access.

If I go to the server and reset the passwords (using same passwords) they can access the server immediately. But, the problem keeps coming back and occurs about 5 - 6 times a week on each machine. I am told that after the recent upgrade to NAV2006 that this problem is worse. I'm confidient that NAV is not the issue it is configured correctly. Again, the problem existed previously.

The problem has been going on for some time. It even occurred with NAV2005 and also when they had Windows 98 computers on the LAN. In '05 they upgraded to new machines with XP.

Any ideas? Thanks!!

 

[SBMongoos]

Anyone??

 

[RebateMonger]

I don't have an absolute answer on this one. I've hardly used Windows 2000 and I've never used XP Home, except when fixing people's home computers.

A couple of suggestions, though:

1) You only have Norton ANTIVIRUS, right? Not one of the integrated "Internet Security" packages (with firewall)?
I run into a lot of networking issues with third-party firewalls. But, if this was the problem, I'd expect to see a consistant problem, not an intermittent one.

2) In doing some research, there seems to be a recurring theme of Windows 2000 having a problem remembering passwords from networked users. Is the Windows 2000 machine patched to SP4?

What I would do:
a) REMOVE any third-party firewalls on all computers. Use the XP SP2 firewall.
b) Patch Windows 2000 to SP4.
c) If these two steps don't work, I'd upgrade one of the XP Home computers to XP Professional and move the shared files to the XP Pro computer.

 

[Atheus]

I've seen norton cause all sorts of strange problems, even when configured correctly. It's also highly ineffective at detecting viruses, especially ones which have been modified to avoid detection (most of them). Try all the latest service packs and upgrades first, but then try fully uninstalling norton. You will need one of the norton remover softwares available from the web, as norton leaves parts of itself embedded in your operating system, which will continue to cause errors even after you remove the main application.

Try NOD32 for viruses and adaware for spyware. The pair will cost less than norton, use less resources, and be more effective.

 

[SBMongoos]

Well... the server/workstation does have SP4 installed for Win2k.

I have Norton Sytemworks 2003 installed with NAV 2006 installed on all 4 machines. No NIS progam installed on any machines. I'm not sure but NAV 2006 may be disabling WinXPs firewall and using it's own. I believe it may.

I've been using Norton Sytemworks for years on my personal PCs. Seems to work okay fine but it does seem to be a resource hog. Any recommendations on what to use to get the same program options as Systemworks?

Thanks..

 

[nweaver]

clamav, iptables...

I would ditch that and get a decent version of linux and install swat or webmin, not too much problem with those. Plus it works better, is free, and faster on old hardware.

 

[petey117]

are we talking domain login, or workgroup login

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: SBMongoos
I'm not sure but NAV 2006 may be disabling WinXPs firewall and using it's own...

NAV doesn't do anything with Firewalls and Norton Systemworks 2003 doesn't include a firewall. But, as I mentioned before, it's unlikely that a firewall would cause INTERMITTENT problems. A firewall would either work or it wouldn't work.

Windows XP Professional networking and file sharing works just fine. It would do what you are asking for.

Unsolicited, personal, expert opinion follows
Personally, I would have upgraded all of the PCs to XP Pro when I was doing the upgrade, instead of XP Home, because of its ability to do ASR Recoveries, its ability to maintain file security on shares, and its ability to join domains when you realize that it's SO much easier to run your business with a Domain Controller.

One other thing you might want to check out is the networking connections. I suppose that if you are losing connections, you could have problems with your server logins. Check out the System Event log on the Windows 2000 box. Check for network- and TCP/IP-related events around the times that the logins fail.