Network issue-God help me

[unfaithfulsfan]

This might just be a bad router but there again....Nothing with me can just be easy.

This is my home network which I originally set up using W7's homegroup. It worked great for a long time or until my hp laptop went down with video problems.

First I acquired an older Dell laptop and put a copy of 7 32-bit ultimate. The wireless card never worked so I put a wireless dongle on it. We can get Internet on it but no file sharing. It won't see the home group on my server PC.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. I re flowed the video chip on my hp and got it running again. Same thing: I've got wireless Internet but no file sharing and it doesn't see the home group.

I've made sure network discovery is on and that drives are shared. None of the settings on the router, a Cisco\Linksys E2500, have changed.

I'm really mystified. The only thing I haven't tried is a wired connection. Why? Because apparently I'm dense and just didn't think about it till just now.

Okay. My server sees my laptop but not vice versa. Same thing with wireless, too . So it's something with the laptop. But what?

As far as I can see all necessary services are running though I don't know all of them. Everyone named "Network..." seems to be running.

Any ideas or suggestions? Oh I cannot ping the server either. The "Add to your troubles shooter" just says the server isn't there.

Thanks

[kenc51]

Can the other PC's on the LAN see the server?
Can any of those see the laptop?

On the laptop & server, do you have firewall software running? If so, which one?
Try disabling it, if still the same, reboot & test. If still the same, check the firewall is disabled after reboot.
You might have to go into the firewall software settings and chose the option not to run on startup, then reboot again and test.
In "Network and Sharing Centre" in control panel - check "Change Advanced Sharing Settings" on the left and make sure it's set to "Home"
While in here, also check out "Chose homegroup and sharing settings"
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/44 ... tings.html

On the laptop, try the following command

Code: Select all

telnet x.x.x.x 139

where x.x.x.x is the IP of the server
If you get "connection refused" then the problem is with either a firewall or the file & printer service isn't working
If you get a flashing prompt, then the server is open to connections and the problem is most likely due to permissions / shared folders or wrong homegroup setup.

[unfaithfulsfan]

OK. First off, thanks for helping!

• Windows Firewall was running on laptop but not on server. Disabling it made no difference even after rebooting. Firewall remained disabled
• On both, "Home" profile is selected
• All network discovery, etc. are turned on.
• In Homegroup, all boxes are checked for sharing
• Telnet failed-"Could not establish connection"

file & printer service isn't working

I didn't see a service related to "file" and "Print Spooler" is only print service and it is running.

On the laptop "Homegroup Listener" service was not started so I tried starting it but it made no difference.

[Skippman]

Lets take a step back. Are the devices on your home network using DHCP or have you specified static IP addresses for them? Can you ping to and from each device on your network?

[unfaithfulsfan]

It's DHCP because I didn't assign any IPs. I originally set it up through Homegroup. Very simple and worked flawlessly for a couple of years. I can ping my laptop from the server but I cannot ping the server from the laptop. From the server, my laptop shows up under Network. I can access all shares but nada from laptop to server.

On a related occurrence, I replaced the drive in a laptop recently. When Windows was installing it found a homegroup but said my password was invalid. It could have been a nearby homegroup because there are two or three wireless networks in my neighborhood. I don't know.

I'm thinking of trying a different router just to see if that is the culprit. Two or three times a week for the last several months I have to restart the cable modem, the router and I restart the server just to complete the trilogy. At these times, there is no Internet access but I don't know whether it's the modem or the router because there's only one connection on the modem which naturally goes to the router, then out to the server.

Hope that answers your question.

Thanks

[kenc51]

I'm sorry I can't see any simple fix

[unfaithfulsfan]

No problem. Thanks for trying to help. Think I'll try a new router just to see.

[DL126]

Might be worth mentioning....
Windows Homegroup networking functions on IPV6.

If IPV6 is turned off, it might work, and it might not.
I have seen Homegroup stuff work, but it's a p1ss poor way of doing it IMO.

[unfaithfulsfan]

Might be worth mentioning....
I have seen Homegroup stuff work, but it's a p1ss poor way of doing it IMO.

Thanks for the tip, however, don't hold back! How do you really feel about homegroup?!?!?

[DL126]

Sorry .... My lovely wife tells me that quite often my "To the point" attitude comes off as rude & crude.


Let me give you an example:
A few months ago, I picked up a new customer that only has a server and 3 workstations in an accounting office.
Their network was doing some really weird, dumb stuff.
Sometimes it would work properly for weeks on end.
And sometimes it would crap out and do nothing!
Or work, not work, work, not work ..... (You get the picture)

After looking things over, I found that the previous "network" guy had set the whole thing up using the Homegroup config.
He had MANY shared folders on the server as well.

After a few hours of trying to fix what they had to prevent unwanted down time, I said "Screw it! Let's just do it right and be done with it."
The owner agreed.
So I moved all the shared folders into a common location on the server and set up a typical IPV4 network, then turned off the Homegroup junk.
That network hasn't had a hiccup since!

P.S. I've yet to tell that owner that the "other guy" also configured their new server with a RAID 0 setup.
Just made sure to get them on a backup routine immediately!

P.S.S. A typical $30-$50 router is eventually gonna give problems if you have more than 3-4 devices behind it.
Never fails.
Build yourself a pfSense box and your router problems will be gone forever! (Barring any hardware failure.)

[unfaithfulsfan]

Not rude or crude at all. That's what I really love about IT people: there's very little fluff in the conversation. It's usually straightforward and to the point and Legit Reviews is, by far, the best place I've found for answers. I've posted questions on other forums, including this question, and I've yet to receive one answer or even a comment. It's like the boards were created then abandoned. I can always count on an answer or at least some input here at LR.

To my issue, though, I've said it before--I'm not a network whiz by any stretch of the imagination--but I've been skirting around it too long. I'm just going to have to dig in and get a better working knowledge of how networks work. Not to turn this into an intervention or anything.

My little home setup is as good a place as any to start.

Thanks again for the help!!

[KnightRid]

Ok, let me chime in because DL126 already said what I was thinking, homegroup sucks lol

What do you want to do with your network? Share a movie folder? pictures? music? Easiest way to do this is to just disable homegroup and share the folder. Now the hardest part is when you go to access that folder, if you have username and passwords on each computer, you will have to enter the username and password of the account on the computer that you are trying to access the folder on. Hope you followed that.

Trying to make it basic

Computer 1 - l/p mike/password
Computer 2 - l/p networkingsucks/useanas
Computer 3 - l/p killme/ihatenetworks

You share a folder called MOVIES on Computer 1. When you see it on the network on Computer 2, you click on it and it will ask for the l/p for Computer 1 to access it UNLESS you use the same l/p on all systems. So for a folder on Computer 1 you would enter mike/password from either Computer 2 or 3 to access it.

I never understood why networking on windows is just so horrible but it is.

Using the method above, you just use windows explorer to select a folder (right click) to share. You can share any folder you want this way.

Also, you could try to reset all homegroup stuff on all computers. just make a new homegroup and try to see if that will let you connect all of the computers again. Surprisingly, this does work sometimes due to how bad homegroup sucks

I am NOT a networking expert and DL126 could run circles around me but I have just been through this crap and found the easiest way is to just not use homegroup and share folders individually so I figured I would through in my 2 cents.