Networking problem. What the heck am I missing here?

[ddeder]

I have four computers networked together peer-to-peer. Three are running Windows 98 SE and one is running Windows XP Home. Three days ago, three of the computers were infected with the KLEZ virus, the Windows XP computer was not infected. I ran Norton's utility to eliminate the virus from each machine. At this point, I noticed that two of the computers were no longer able to access the network (the Windows XP machine was one of them). I checked my network settings and they all appeared to be correct. Since everything appeared to be set correctly and it still was not working, I then removed everything from the networking properties screen and then re-added them:

Client for Microsoft Networks
Network adapter
TCP/IP
File and Printer Sharing

I did this on each computer.

Now none of the computers connect to the network. Can someone please give me an idea of what else I can look at?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Try reinstalling, that should help. And installing/keeping up to date on virus definitions would be a good idea in the future (not to mention applying a minimum of common sense when using your computer).

 

[ddeder]

Try reinstalling what? I've already removed and added back the networking components. Reinstalling the OS on each computer is not an option right now.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: ddeder
Try reinstalling what? I've already removed and added back the networking components. Reinstalling the OS on each computer is not an option right now.

Sounds like a good thing to try though. If you have removed and reinstalled the networking stuff there shouldnt be much else to check. DOS wasnt much of a network OS. Check the FAQs on file sharing, they might give you an idea or two.

 

[azev]

ok, how about making sure that all the cables are connected, and then tried to use static IP on each of the computer....... When you did all that, then try pinging each computer by their static IP that you setup.......... If this work then we can start looking at another problem.

 

[Soybomb]

Originally posted by: ddeder
Try reinstalling what? I've already removed and added back the networking components. Reinstalling the OS on each computer is not an option right now.

Why not? Personally after having a virus like klez, I'd insist on a format and reinstall, but you know you don't have to format to reinstall right? Just kick in the cd and run windows setup agagin to reinstall windows but not touch your data. Seems easier to methan spending hours removing and reinstalling network components

 

[Omagh]

Just bite the bullet and reinstall.
If you have everything organized properly it should not take any more then 1.5 hours to install everything including applications.

I assume that you are connected broadband to the 'net. Check your router and read the manual to make sure that you have ports turned off (port 139 is the default for Netbios and I bet that you have it
turned on for file sharing between your home computers). Watch how you have given permissions with respect to file sharing on your computers. DO NOT install Netbios. If you have a router then set it up to act as a DHCP server and set your local machines up to request an IP address from the DHCP server.

Keep your Virus definitions up on all your machines. Do not leave them connected to the 'net while unattended, especially when you are inexperienced as you seem to be. If you feel that you must connect to the 'net permanently then consider using one sacrificial machine and put it outside your DMZ ( your router should be able to let you do this).

In the future if you are reinstalling Windows then make yourself a D: drive and tell your software to store your data on that drive. Its a pain, I know, but well worth it. This way if you have to reinstall then it is a simple matter to reformat your C: drive and reconfigure after installation to point to the data that will still be on the D: drive. Alternatively you can copy your data from one machine to the other and always be backed up that way. Then when you need to reinstall you can simply reformat and reinstall the OS and applications.

Since you have several machines then I would advise you to look into Linux. You will not have the same headaches with Virus (Viruii?). Go to LinuxISrg and download Mandrake 8.3 or Redhat 7.2 or Lycoris. The installation of Lycoris is a breeze (even easier and quicker than Windows). Experiment, it will take time to become proficient but will let you be so much more proficient.

 

[billandopus]

Drive Image all your fresh OS'es once you have them the way you want it and you can then always reinstall an Image if anything goes wrong. Works great for me.

 

[watdahel]

On each computer, do a name search for the other computers on the network. If it finds them, great, if not, you're dead

 

[ddeder]

Okay, I finally got two of the computers to recognize each other. I ran the networking wizard on the Windows XP machine and had it create a floppy disk for me. I ran this disk on thru the other three computers running Windows 98 SE. One of those computers can now see the Windows XP machine on the network but the other two cannot.

I took one of the Windows 98 machines that could not recognize the network back to my office and plugged it into the network there. The computer had no problem recognizing all of the computers on my network and was recognized by all of the the computers as well. I brought the computer back to the office where it came from and swapped it with the Windows 98 machine that was networked with the Windows XP machine. This is where it gets really screwy. The computer did not recognize the Windows XP machine but it did recognize the other Windows 98 machine that previously could not be detected. I disconnected the computer and moved it back to it's original location. This is where I stand now:

Computer 1: Windows XP
Computer 2: Windows 98 SE
Computer 3: Windows 98 SE
Computer 4: Windows 98 SE

Computer 1 and Computer 2 see each other just fine but do not see Computer 3 or Computer 4.
Computer 3 and Computer 4 see each other just fine but do not see Computer 1 or Computer 2.

There is no internet access for this network. I am using a Connectgear 8 port switch (not a router). I have tried replacing the switch with an identical brand new one and that does not fix the problem. The lights on the switch are lit for all four computers.

I have made sure that my workgroup name is identical on each computer. I have tried different ports on the switch with the same results.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[watdahel]

Do you have any software firewalls? disable them for now.

 

[ddeder]

Nope. No firewalls.

 

[ddeder]

Could ICS possibly be causing the problem? Although this network does not have a broadband connection, two of the computers have dial up access to the internet and ICS is installed on all four computers. Think I will remove this tomorrow and see if anything changes.

The fact that all four computers are now recognized by one other computer on the network leads me to believe that a clean install should not be necessary.

Any other ideas, PLEASE!

 

[JustinLerner]

No, I wouldn't reinstall everything for a virus problem if the PC was properly cleaned and disinfected.

Yes, ICS could be your problem if you actually described the setup correctly.
Only one PC should be setup as the ICS host (sharing a connection to the internet), all others should be setup as clients. When each is setup up properly the Windows ICS host uses a flaky DHCP service to assign IP addresses to the clients (starting at lower IP addresses above 192.168.0.1). If you setup ICS sharing on multiple PCs, each PC with ICS sharing acts as a DHCP server with the same IP address (they all want the same one above for the ICS host). This might explain why they can't 'see' each other, but you should be getting errors at boot/startup with this setup if they are all connected to a switch.

How to correct this?
1. On all PC's sharing their internet connections, from the WAN device DUN or networking connection, unshare all NIC's used for ICS.
2. Resetup ICS on your XP PC from the WAN DUN or Networking device connection icon, and select the NIC to share for ICS.
3. Then on each Win9x PC, release and renew all IP addresses and reboot. Recheck each Win9x PC to ensure the IP address is in the range 192.168.0.xxx where xxx is a number higher than 1 and lower than 255.

 

[ddeder]

Thanks for the reply. I ran the IP Configuration utility (winipcfg.exe) on the three Windows 98 machines. The two that were networked together gave me a normal response with an IP Address of 192.168.*.*** and a DNS Server of 205.171.*.**. The other machine does not show anything for the DNS Server and has an IP Autoconfiguration Address of 169.254.157.212 and a DHCP Server address of 255.255.255.255. It also has a lease obtained date and time but not a lease expiration date and time.

I hooked my laptop to the same cable and was able to connect to the network with no problem. This means the problem definitely lies with the computer and not the switch or cabling.

Either the request for an IP address is not being sent out by the computer, or the dhcp server is not responding to a request (or it is responding and the computer is having a problem receiving the response). How can I determine which is the case?

Please keep the help coming and thanks in advance...

 

[watdahel]

Just assign a permanent IP address for those computers that won't connect. One of my computers didn't want to take an IP from the DHCP so I jsut assigned it a static IP address and now it can connect to the internet and lan.

 

[ddeder]

So I assigned a static IP of 192.168.0.2 and it still does not connect. Do I need to specify a DNS Server?

 

[watdahel]

did you also assign the subnet mask and everything else? The DNS setting is only for internet connection.

Can you at least find the other computers by doing a search?