network ghosts

[Sesshi]

I'm looking for any instances of incorrectly configured networking, DHCP failure, yada yada. IP addresses are a good place to start. It's not yet conclusive that the networking problems you're having are of the level of depth that it seems to have gotten to in the thread.

There are some registry fixes you can apply on the Windows side but at first, I'd look to eliminate any IP allocation issues. A dupe IP allocation for example could be causing the occasional hiccups.

You could also try turning off the DHCP servers and explicitly specifying the IP address and gateway address of each device you want to check connectivity with. You could also try turning off the DHCP server you think you're using and make sure that all devices don't end up with valid IP addresses bar selfconfigured ones.

I'd also say try the trial version of DAVE, which is a far more 'Windows compatible' client and therefore will vaguely point out whether the problem is the Windows machines being unable to access the Mac or vice versa.

Just make sure the underlying connections are absolutely solid before looking higher up would be my advice at this time.

 

[sunsnewmac]

I'm looking for any instances of incorrectly configured networking, DHCP failure, yada yada. IP addresses are a good place to start.... I'd look to eliminate any IP allocation issues. A dupe IP allocation for example could be causing the occasional hiccups.

please let me know where should I look and what should I do

There are some registry fixes you can apply on the Windows side but at first

yes i'll try anything except registry editing (yuk)

You could also try turning off the DHCP servers and explicitly specifying the IP address and gateway address of each device you want to check connectivity with. You could also try turning off the DHCP server you think you're using and make sure that all devices don't end up with valid IP addresses bar selfconfigured ones.

Do you mind outlining procedures for Mac & PC?

I'd also say try the trial version of DAVE, which is a far more 'Windows compatible' client and therefore will vaguely point out whether the problem is the Windows machines being unable to access the Mac or vice versa.

OK--but let's try the other stuff before installing anything

thank you SO much for your help

 

[sunsnewmac]

More woes:

Now the Mac won't recognize the Workgroup. It has bumped off one of the PCs and will only connect to the other. This is nuts! I do believe it has to do with that Master Broswer conflict. How can I specify one computer as the Master Browser for good and stop this madness???

 

[TheAnswer]

sunsnewmac:

I understand your hesitance to give out your IP addresses, especially in the forums. Maybe you could email them to Sesshi and see if he can spot anything? That way you don't have to worry about everyone in the world having them.

I suspect there might be a time zone difference between the two of you, so if you start working it out through emails, maybe you can arrange a common time to come back to the forum and resolve the problem completely.

Good Luck!

 

[Sesshi]

sunsnewmac:

I understand your hesitance to give out your IP addresses

That doesn't make sense. No-one's asking for his external IP address(es).

 

[Sesshi]

sunsnewmac, I'm not familiar with your routers. You'll have to look at the manuals on how to turn off the DHCP server on the router. One other source of a DHCP server is if you've ever enabled Internet Connection Sharing on any of your Windows PC's. The purpose of this exercise will be to turn off what you think is your main DHCP server/router, reboot your PC's and see if they still end up with addresses other than 16x.xxx.xxx.xxx (the DHCP self assigned address that is active when a DHCP server is NOT avaialble).

If for example you turn off the DHCP server on your router, reboot your machines and if one of them still reads e.g. 192.168.1.11, then you still have another DHCP server on your network.

Before you turn off the DHCP server, make sure that you note down the address of the router, and that you are familiar with changing the IP address manually on your PC/Mac to be able to reconnect to the router.

 

[Queso]

Why do you need the IP addresses? Is there something in particular you are looking for?

I think Sesshi is wanting to know if the Mac and PCs are on the same subnet, which the IP addresses side-by-side will tell him (providing you also post the Subnet mask). Windows peer-to-peer networking only works automatically if the machines are all on the same IP subnet, so if they are on different subnets it will cause the issues you're experiencing.

 

[sunsnewmac]

well i checked the subnet masks and it is the same on all 3 computers. if it helps the IP addresses all begin with 192.168.0.xxx with the final .xxx different for the 3 comptuers. I don't know if that means anything but...I have not had the chance to install DAVE yet.

This keeps getting curiouser and curiouser: today the Mac showed up on my PC workgroup for the first time ever, but the Mac and the other PC are refusing to see each other

 

[sunsnewmac]

DAVE didn't do much

DAVE didn't do much for the network. It's as erratic as it was before, with one PC and the Mac recognizing each other as fellow workgroup members, but with the other PC and the Mac having trouble with each other. Earlier today (before I installed Dave) I could "connect to server" with the problem PC and share files even if that PC wouldn't show up in the network pane. With Dave the opposite is happening: the Mac sees the PC as part of the workgroup but won't connect to it (either there or using "connect to server").

 

[sunsnewmac]

bump