WinXP - WinME - Win2000 lan problems

[ConQueso 0]

Okay, I've got some network problems. Thanks ahead of time to anyone who can give any insight to any or all of them.

 

Had 6 computers (95/98/ME/ME/2000/XP) on a network for some Unreal Tournament with the addresses 198.138.98.1 to 198.138.98.6, and I thought I had everything connected and configured well enough.

 

UT uses TCP/IP, so TCP/IP>network card, Client for Microsoft Networks and file and printer sharing were on all computers.

 

Tried to host on my Win2000 system, but the XP system didn't register a lan game. Also, the XP system would pause for up to a minute after right clicking on files (on the XP system) over the network in a shared folder, before popping up the window to even cut/copy/paste/properties etc... In hindsight, I wonder if the XP system would have registered the LAN game if we waited a minute or two.

 

So, we tried hosting on the XP system. This worked okay, but on occasion there were simultaneous crashes (UT froze) on only the two WinME systems, after which one of them couldn't even be rebooted with CtrlAltDelete. This only happened during longer, team games for some reason.

 

Then, after everything seemed to be going well, one WinME system (a laptop if that matters) would still recognize lan games (when searching for them), but after trying to join would almost immidiately be "rejected by server". To see if it was a problem on the hosts computer, I tried hosting on the 2000 system, which worked fine, once: the the next several attempts were also rejected, so we stopped using the WinME laptop. No settings were changed after we first started playing, so I can't make any since out of it.

 

Also, while I'm at it, I've tried to create shared folders on my Win2000 system, but anyone who tries to access it gets a password window (even though 'everyone' is assigned to the permissions). Must I have all computers log in to a NT network? Or is there something else I'm missing?

 

I don't know if this is a bunch of separate problems, or one big one, so I put it all in one post. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ConQueso 0]

Okay, after looking at other posts, it SEEMS (I'm a rookie when it comes to networking) that I need to do any or all of the following. I was just wondering if someone could possibly put these _in_order_ of what I should try first, what I should try last, what I should avoid trying for such and such reason, etc, or even add something that I may have missed.

 

A. Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP

B. Uncheck "Use simple file sharing" on XP system(s)

C. Turn off ICS Firewall (if applicable)

D. Untick "Enable LMHOSTS lookup"

E. Delete key {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} on XP system(s)

(should I also delete this key on Win2000 systems or 9x systems?)

 

I'm asking this because I 1) don't have the XP system here at the moment (it's a friends system) 2) Would like to make minimal changes on a system that isn't mine, and 3) would like to solve the problem in a somewhat timely manner, and 4) I figure it might benefit others to put in order or somehow rank these setting adjustments.

 

Thanks.

[ConQueso 0]

Another thing, Can changing a shared drive to a non-shared drive while a network is running cause any problems?

 

That was the only thing different before the WinME laptop mysteriously began getting "rejected by server" in UT. Doesn't seem to make much sense, though.