Unable to browse network

[snoopj 0]

I apologize for the vague subject line.

 

Now, for the info. I have a Win2k Pro box that I use 99.5% of the time. I do a lot of gaming on it and various other network related activities. I tend to go to many LAN parties over the course of a year and my computer usually ends up on various networks. One thing has remained the same through out though. I have no been able to browse for file shares on any of the networks I've had my machine connected to.

 

I currently have two NICs in the machine. However, the problem occured when I only had one NIC in the machine. Multihoming could still be an issue, but I normally have the other card disabled when I don't need it. On my main card, I have TCP/IP enabled. I also have NetBEUI and IPX enabled (IPX for those local Starcraft games). I have the Client for Microsoft Networks installed, along with File and Print sharing for Microsoft Networks. Still no go.

 

Most of the networks I connect to are peer-to-peer, so we have the machines squabbling to see who gets control of the master list. However, I can have my machine on all day, and not receive any information on any of the computers in the same network as I. I can ping the machines and I can play TCP/IP games across the network. I just can't get my machine to show up for everyone else to connect to and I can't see who all else is sharing in the network.

 

Weird twist though. I went in and turned off the service Computer Browser. Some computers started to show up. However, it was slow connecting to them. We had a big switch with a big backplane and it was really slow going from one machine to the next. For example, someone compiled a big Quake III map pak and dediced to share it. It was around 300MB or so. People were downloading it like nothing, maybe taking a minute or two to download. It took me eight to ten minutes to get it.

 

Anyone else had something like this before? I'm getting really tired of not being able to share some things that I have for my games at LAN parties. Thanks for any help!

 

--snoopj

[clutch 1]

Just a quick question, but do you guys have a WINS or DNS server at these parties? Maybe putting a LMHOSTS file would speed things up for you. I usually see NT/2K boxes being slow to respond to browse requests in peer-to-peer environments with 9x boxes. However, when a WINS box is involved, everything works great (does require NT server though). In addition, are you guys all members of the same workgroup/domain? This will cause problems as well with security info being passed about.

 

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Regards,

 

clutch

[snoopj 0]

Hmmm...I know at one of the parties they have a DNS server. However, the one that I was at last weekend, didn't have any formal DNS or WINS server. I found it odd that I'd have to turn off the Computer Browser service to start to see anything. And I'm not 100% sure that I was in the right workgroup as everyone else. There was a mix of workgroups floating around (maybe 5 or 6 workgroups between 20-30 computers with file sharing enabled).

 

I know I recently multihomed my machine. But these problems existed before I multihomed.

 

Thanks for the help so far.

 

--snoopj

[Hornet303 0]

Another thing, are you assigning yourself an IP? If you are, you might be putting it in a range that not everyone else is seeing. Example, if you are using a 10.0.0.x network, you wont be able to see the 192.168.0.x people. And its gonna differ from party to party because some may be running DHCP (where you dont assign an IP). Next time you are there, go to a command prompt and type IPCONFIG /all and pay attention to the IP that your computer is running. In order to see other people, it has to be in the same IP block as the rest. IF the party guy is hosting a DHCP server, then nobody should have any problems with IP's. I think the main key to IP information is in IPCONFIG /ALL. Compair your results with one of the other guys, and see if you can find a difference. If there isnt a difference, then I question your card.

[snoopj 0]

They run DHCP at all the parties, and I know what I'm doing with IP information. I know that 192.168.* network can't see a 10.* network. I hard-coded an IP at the last event (just for testing) and it didn't produce any different results.

 

Now, you mentioned the NIC as a possible problem. I do have some problems with some programs (like NAI Sniffer Pro and a couple of other network diagnostics programs). It comes up and says I don't have an adapter installed. I took this as the program not working correctly in Win2k. It might be something for me to look at. I have another adapter in my machine, so I can test to see if the other works fine.

 

--snoopj