Member Avatar for motech

Well... that laptop went up to get connected with it's
server again (several hundred miles away from me).

I had added the server to it's c:\i386\hosts file
and set the ip on the server to the same.
(since that worked to see my home network perfectly)

and the call comes in this morning that it still can't see
the server.

In fact, the laptop says it can't reach the network when it
tries to ping the server.


Would all of this be easier if they used a router instead of
a hub?

One of these days I'm going to have to hire someone with a large
club to pound networking basics into my head :( It's the only
area I really have a problem with and it's driving me nutz
trying to fix this problem over the phone now. AAAaarrrrgh!

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Dani AI

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Quick summary: this is most likely a physical or addressing problem (duplicate IP, wrong subnet, bad cable/port, or firewall) rather than something the hub vs router will magically fix. A router or a device that hands out addresses makes life easier for multiple machines, but two NICs on the same segment should still be able to ping one another through a hub if wiring and IPs are correct.

Ask the person on-site to run these checks and paste the output back if you need more help:

ipconfig /all
ping 127.0.0.1
ping <serverIP>
ping <serverName>
arp -a
nbtstat -n

What to look for and why:

  • Confirm link lights and try a different cable/port. A dead port or wrong cable kills connectivity.
  • Make sure each machine has a unique IP on the same subnet. If the server was set to the same address as the laptop, that will cause immediate failure.
  • Ping by IP first. If IP pings fail, name resolution (hosts/DNS) is not the issue. If IP pings succeed but names fail, the hosts/DNS configuration needs fixing; be sure the OS-level hosts file was edited and saved correctly (not a copy in an installation folder and not saved as hosts.txt).
  • If pings fail but the ARP table shows no MAC for the peer, you have L2 trouble (cable, hub/switch, NIC). If the MAC appears but ping still fails, check firewalls on both ends—temporarily disable them for the test.
  • Note: Windows XP Home cannot be joined to an Active Directory domain; it can still access shares by supplying valid credentials. Adjust server-side accounts or use XP Pro if you need domain membership.

Tying the thread together: , start with the physical/link and unique-IP checks; and were right that a device that centralizes addressing helps, and was touching on name-file issues (edit the system hosts file), but focus first on link lights, unique IPs, and simple IP pings.

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Member Avatar for Big Max

Hi,

Where are the server and laptop located? Are they in the same building? If so, is there an exisiting network to connect them to? More details please?

A router is better than a hub, particularly if you want to use DHCP for network addressing. You can also use static IP's with a router, of course. A hub only gives you the option of static IP's because hubs cannot run DHCP or assign addresses automatically.

Member Avatar for aeinstein

i'll 2nd the router 4/use w/DHCP

"...The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake..." rf

Member Avatar for TheOgre

WinXP HOME doesn't have the ability to login to a server/network, a feature they left out so you'd have to buy XP Pro or Windows 2000.

The hosts file you need to edit resides in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\

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