Successful PING but unsuccessful NBTSTAT -a 1

[tobascojojo]

Here is the situation. I am able to ping a workstation. However, when I try nbtstat -a workstation, it says host not found. I am in a AD network and have Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP checked under TCP/IP properties>advanced>WINS. Does anyone know what is happening? Thanks!

 

[N0ktar]

Faulty DNS config?

 

[tobascojojo]

I checked all the dns entries in TCP/IP setting and they are correct. I have another computer with all the same TCP/IP settings as the one I am pinging the workstation from and I am able to run nbtstat -a workstation from them also. the unsuccessful nbtstat -a workstation is happening on 3 other pc's as well

 

[N0ktar]

Can you browse the network from affected workstations? Is maybe the Internet Connection Firewall enabled on some systems? If DHCP clients, is ipconfig /release, ipconfig /renew successful?

 

[tobascojojo]

well, for clarity sake let me name the pc's workstation1 and workstation2. When I am on workstation2, I can ping workstation1 but I cannot nbtstat -a workstation1. I can browse the network from both workstation1 and workstation2. However, workstation2 cannot browse workstation1. BUT workstation1 CAN browse workstation2. There are about 3 pc's ("workstation2's&quot that cannot browse workstation1 but workstation1 can browse the other 3 pc's. However, there are other pc's on the network that CAN browse workstation1. sorry if this is kinda confusing. I did a ipconfig /renew and release and still having the problem. any other ideas?

 

[tobascojojo]

actually I found out that the only computers so far that can successfully run a nbtstat -a workstation1 are 2 domain controllers and a mail server. Seems like client workstations can't run an nbtstat -a workstation1. I have no idea what is going on.

 

[ricpinto]

Tick "Enable Netbios over TCP/IP" on Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) properties/advanced/wins.

 

[tobascojojo]

"Enable Netbios over TCP/IP" has been selected since the beginning and it still doesn't work. Thanks for your reply though

 

[ricpinto]

nbtstat is for troubleshooting NetBIOS name resolution problems, something is wrong with netbios protocol while TCP/IP is working fine. This is weird, maybe you have to update service packs or remove all protocols beside TCP/IP.

 

[KirkRock]

The only time I've ever seen this type of problem is when someone has been fooling around with the server service. Workstations have a server service as well as a 'server'. What the server service basically does is broadcasts a message to everyone on the network, "Hey, I'm an availble PC, come and jump my bones". OK maybe thats a poor choice of words, but you get the point.

If you stop or disable the server service in
ContrlPanel\services, your PC will not show up in network neighborhood and it will be grayed out in server manager and if I remember correctly you shouldn't be able to browse it with a \\UNC path.

You can issue a command at the command prompt:

C:\net config server /hidden:yes

which will also cause the PC or server to not broadcast its availability, it will still be grayed out in server manger but you can still browse it using a \\UNC path.

Another possibility is a computer policy. I've seen computer policies hang around even if the PC is moved from domain to domain, this is because computer policies make registry changes.


Hope this helps.

Good Luck,

-Kirk

 

[tobascojojo]

Thanks for all the replies.

ricpinto:
workstation1 does need service pack updates, I'll try updating the computer.

KirkRock:
workstation1 shows up in network neighborhood for workstation2. It's just that when you double click on workstation1 to browse it, it says "\\Workstation1 is not accessible. The network path was not found." I assume you suggest me to try the C:\net config server /hidden:no so that it will broadcast its availability, right? I tried this and still can't get it to work.

As for computer policies, to my knowledge, workstation1 has only been in one domain and hasn't had any policy setting configurations on it.

Anything else I might be able to try?

 

[buddafish]

and everything is good in your WINS server ? maybe bad records there or missing for that matter. does the ipconfig /all show a valid WINS server from these clients ?

 

[tobascojojo]

When I do ipconfig /all, it shows the correct primary and secondary WINS server ip addresses. Where can I check for bad or missing records on the WINS server?

 

[KirkRock]

Just thought I would ask what type of workstation OS we are dealing with?

If it is XP, check to see if ICF is enabled.
If it is W9x, NT4 or W2K, does it run any personal firewall software (Zone Alarm, McAfee, Sygate...)? If so, try stopping the program from running and then use NBTSTAT or browsing the PC.



-Kirk

 

[jmjaszewski]

I had a similar issue where we had changed the IP address of a Windows 2000 Server and had not rebooted. I believe that a Windows NT 4.0 Workstation had an open session during the time of the IP switch. After changing the IP address we could access shares with other Windows 2000 Pro machines, but not with the NT 4 machine. I tried everything, looking NetBIOS over TCP/IP, DNS, etc. We could look each other up via nslookup, ping each other, I could even telnet to open ports on both from each other. But, we could not get them to map drives to each other. nbtstat -a did not work either between the two. Other Win2K PCs could map to either box (NT 4 and Server) fine. Thinking back, I realized that the Windows 2000 Server had not been rebooted (duh!). I rebooted the Windows 2000 Server and voila! I was able to map drives back and forth. Have you tried rebooting the server? Rebooting.... the classic fix!

 

[tobascojojo]

KirkRock:

W2K Pro is running on the workstations and W2K Adv. Server on the servers. Someone else in my office also suggested that maybe a firewall program might be running on workstation1. I didn't do a thorough check but it didn't immediately seem that he was running any kind of firewall software when I went to check workstation1. Currently only the domain controllers and mail server can successfully run a nbtstat -a workstation1. Our backup server cannot nbtstat -a workstation successfully and nor can any of the other workstations. So if workstation1 was running a firewall, is it possible that the servers and DC's can successfully nbtstat -a workstation1 whereas other workstations can't? I wasn't sure cause if this was the case, then I am going to have to go over and check thoroughly on workstation1 if there is any firewall software.

jmjaszewski:

We haven't had a recent ip address change but, I agree that reboots always seem to fix the problem. I guess I got unlucky this time because we rebooted our servers last week and our problem still existed.

Thanks yall for your continuing help.

 

[tobascojojo]

Doh@! Seems like workstation1 was running a type of firewall software. I'm gonna remove it from his system and see what happens. Thanks for the firewall suggestion KirkRock.

 

[ricpinto]

I want to share this:

Yesterday, I got 1 PC that takes me 2 hours to figure out a network connection problem. He claimed he never do anything but he downloaded a firewall software and unknowingly blocks everything. He got the power to become a local admin to his PC. Well with this type of user, I can only scratch my head.

 

[tobascojojo]

ricpinto:

hehe, that would probably happen here too but we don't allow users to have local admin privileges. boy would we have a world of problems if we did.

Anyways, thanks to all for all the help. I removed the firewall software and everything is working fine.