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new XP machine not showing up on network

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by lauraa

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I am adding a group of new XP machines to our network. I've never had this type of issue before. It's my 8th machine to add in the past 2 weeks and this one is not visible in network places. I can ping by name or ip address, it shows up with a dhcp lease, shows up in active directories under computers, but I can't see it when I browse my network, nor can I deploy symantec to it (That's actually how I found out it wasn't showing up). I removed it from the domain, tried changing the name of the computer, to no avail. The firewall is disabled, and I see my login script when I logon. Can also browse the network from this computer, just don't see it on the list.

Suggestions??????

22 replies

by sgt_shultz

that is weird. you sure it is not a firewall issue. does that box have netbt over tcp enabled? simple file sharing 'off'? did you doublecheck to see if any 'extra' domains or workgroups are showing up in net neighborhood (maybe you have a space pre-pended to domain name on that box or something)

by lauraa

its w2000 server. and i have unjoined the domain by switching to workgroup and then back again. i do have other domains within my group and that computername does not show up in them. i log in with my or the users login and can see their documents which are on the server. and like i said, i see the computer name with its dhcp lease, and its listed in active directory. i thought it may be a refresh thing, but i just checked and its still not visible in network places.

i agree, weird!

by lauraa

I tried renaming the machine again, and got the same results. one thing i did notice this time, and i believe this occurred before too, was that i didn't get the welcome to the xxx domain after. it prompted me for a username and password that was authorized to make joins to the domain, so i kow it was working. again, the new computername shows up in AD and DHCP but no where else. that computer can see all the other little computers on the network but itself. poor thing.

by sgt_shultz

sounds like a browse master issue maybe? if there were anything in the security or system event logs maybe that would help us?
is this box on the same subnet as the other xp clients? got xp patches on it and netbios works on that box, yes?
do you have wins server up and running on your network
what IS different about this box? is the name perhaps too long for netbios?
maybe try safe mode with networking.
maybe try adding your network to trusted sites in internet options on bad box.
just because those things are easy to try more than i think it will tell us anything...
just curious, what is the elapsed time since you added that box to the domain?

by lauraa

didn't see anything in the event logs so far.

it is on the same subnet, one thing i do is run hfnetck to apply patches across the domain pest patrol enterprise for spam and this machine is on the domain listing when i browse from another server to schedule the patches and run pest patrol.

yep wins server is running. my network has one or 2 win98 machines, but mostly 2000 and xp machines,.

its a new dell optiplex 320. the name is 14 characters, and i have a couple that are longer. and i've changed it several times to see if that was the issue.

i'll try the safe mode and trusted sites within the next hour or so.

i first added it in mid july, stopped when I had other network issues to deal with and just got back to continue the setup last week.

by faradhi

Also is it the correct IP?

is your DNS clean. Are there old entries?

Sorry about the firewall, I missed it in your original post.

by faradhi

Did you check to be sure that the firewall is not ON? If the firewall is on it will not respond to pings and Symantec cannot deploy to it unless you set it to allow.

Is there more than one network device on this computer? (Virtual or physical)

by lauraa

As i stated in my opening post, the firewall is disabled, and I have already been able to ping both to and from the machine by computername and ipaddress. this machine shows up in ad and in dhcp leases. it can browse the network, see the other computers, but not itself.

there is a nic and a wireless adapter, but it is not enabled.

by lauraa

......firewall is disabled by group policy from the domain also......

by lauraa

I currently have that computer disconnected from the network, but I will check in WINS.

The DNS is clean, no old entries.

I am currently setting up another identical dell desktop to see what happens with it. (why the other is disconnected). I just added it to the network and it welcomed me to the domain, which did NOT happen when I attached the other device.

I do not see the new machine name when i browse the network, nor does it show up when i try to deploy symantec.

it shows up TWICE in WINS, both as a workstation and a fileserver. Both have the same ip address. I can see this newest machine in DHCP and AD.

I'm setting up these machines the same way as I do all others, and just last week set up a couple of HP laptops with no issues.

I'll probably try another new laptop that I have to do later today and see what happens there.

????????

by lauraa

Well, I had to leave the office for a bit, and now I CAN see this second computer when I browse the network and have just deployed symantec from the DC.

If I set up another and it is also seen would my next step be to use the recovery CD for the first machine and try from scratch???

by faradhi

It might be the quickest solution. You could spend days trying to figure it out.

One last question, did the dell come with McCrappy aka McAfee installed? If so, did you uninstall it?

by don ticulate

Are the details entered?

This is what 'shows' the PC on the network - DNS just helps us find it!

by lauraa

yes the details are entered. This machine shows up, and I checked a couple of others by name to see if the details looked the same and they do.

by lauraa

Oh yeah, it came pre-installed and thats just one of the things I've taken off.

If the laptop that i intend to setup tomorrow works ok that will be my plan, to re-install.

I'll post my progress.

by faradhi

and be sure that the McShield service does not appear.

Also, since you are not using the firewall make sure that the Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing service is stopped and disabled. (unless you plan to use the firewall later)

I have seen times where I tried to uninstall McCrappy and the McShield service did not uninstall properly. McCrappy has some firewall properties that would prevent exe's from running when issued from a remote computer. I doubt that this is the problem but it only takes a second to check.

by lauraa

Well, I've added 2 subsequent machines to the domain since this one wouldn't appear in all areas. One was an identical dell optiplex and another was an hp laptop. So, having taken all of your suggestions and checked them all out, I believe I am going to start from scratch and use the recovery cd to reinstall the O/S and begin again.

I'll post back what happens then. I'll finish up the 2 that are cooperating and then get to it, probably tomorrow. So if anyone has any final ideas I can attempt before taking this step, let me know!!!

by lauraa

Ok, re-installing the o/s and all the drivers did NOT work. It was welcomed to the domain, is in AD, DHCP, and WINS, but can not be seen when browsing network places and symantec does not see it to deploy. When browsing the network thru Pest Patrol Enterprise or HFNetChkPro to pick computers to deploy to, that server DOES see the computer.

Something I just tried - - - I browsed the network thru network places on each of my servers; the mailserver and the server for network management tools COULD see this computer. The domain controller and our accounting server could not. My desktop could also not see this computer.

I've set up 2 new computers and one that needed a new hard drive since yesterday morning and encountered no problems with viewing them at any point.

Any ideas, PLEASE???????

by faradhi

If it is not software it must be hardware.

I think we have eliminated the software.

Have you tried plugging this computer into another network port or used the network port for another computer?

Also, I would try putting a different NIC in the card.

I know it is a long shot since some computers are seeing this one and others are not.

Also, I would check the switches as well.

by lauraa

Whaddayaknow!!!! This morning the computer shows up when browsing and also to deploy Symantec to. The only thing I can figure is that, because I had to reboot the servers due to a completely different issue, something got unstuck, or reset, or something.

Thank you so much to everyone who gave me some ideas as far as what to look for!

by kjh

I recently had a similar issue, including trying to push Symantec AV to an XP machine, whereas it worked just fine on other XP boxes on the network. It turns out File and Printer Sharing was disabled on the NIC on that particular XP Pro box. Of course, you also need to have the required XP SP2 firewall port exceptions opened up.

Once enabled, everything worked like a charm again, including being able to run "net view" against it, and having it show up in the browse list (restart the Workstation service for this to take).

Hope this helps other folks out there.

_KJH
http://www.gizmosforgeeks.com

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