Win XP Pro - Frazzled-

[t1tigreguy]

I have a friend who has 3 computers each utilizing winxp and 2 printers. All of his equipment is on a workgroup and this is an office environment. The problem he is experiencing is this. One of his employees husband has been transfered to another State and she wants to continue working for him remotly. He wants to set up a VPN so he went out and purchased a router with VPN. This is not the problem at this point. He is not quite sure what he did but this is the result of whatever he did. He use to be able to scan from his printer (All in one Nokia I believe. We tried to ping his machine utilizing the path that use to work every time in the past from the printer. Ping was unsucessful so we tried on the other 2 computers he has in the office. Same results ping failed. Although if I use Windows Explorer and use this command I can get into the Shared Docs area where the printer is supposed to be scanning PDF's into.
\\IP Addy\SharedDocs\. He says that her husband and he tried a number of things to get this resolved. With no luck. This is what we did last evening. First I verified that the CAT5 cable was good by testing with my cable tester. -Passed-
Then we tried another port on the switch.
Maybe I should explain the network setup. DSL - Router - switch - computers & printers which is a basic network setup.
When I first was introduced into this mess the problem he was experiencing is that and he never had to do this before. A log in window appeared when he booted up his (server) main system. For simplicity I will call computer 1- 101 and computer 2 - 102. computer 3- 103. printer - 200
We were unable to ping 101 from either 102, 103, or 200. We did get into shared files from 102 and 103 and unable to save scanned pdf docs from 200. This explanation may be a bit redundant in my explanation as I am attempting to explain it fully. I had a friend log into the system utilizing Teamviewer to assist. I originally thought that the NIC was functing correctly because he was able to log into it via Teamviewer therefore the rcv side of the NIC was functioning properly because of him logging into it. I then realized that he was only able to log into this because of me being able to get to the internet. Thinking that maybe it was a driver issue and this system was purchased in 2005 we uninstalled the NIC driver after Googling to find the correct and most updated driver. I did find it and saved it on his system. Now when I tried to install the new driver I was unable to. I tried every method I know to install this driver.
The next day he picked up a new NIC - 3 Com - Installed it and can now get to the internet. But the ping problem and inability of the printer sending PDF's to the shared docs still exists.
I am at a stand still. I installed TweakNow to make his system able to auto login. Because we could not even clear any passwords he had. And he had none. He did however state that he did install Remote Assistance.
Any ideas?

Thank you,
Tony I

 

[DrB0b]

Is everything Static or Dynamic? Is the Router set to deliver DHCP or is it set to not distribute addresses? Is the ipconfig /all info the same on all machines? Was there separate VLANs before? Is this router preconfigured to have certain ports on certain VLANs?
This sounds like a couple of different problems combined. I would create a new Workgroup to work from, assign everything Statically, and see if connectivity resumes. If so, then you can go Dynamic if you wish.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[t1tigreguy]

This network is set both directions. I informed him that he needs to set everything Static and also told him to get the MAC addy of each machine enter it into the router along with the last octet of the IP addy to set the network to Static plus set the IP address to static on each machine. Unfortunatly due to this person is an Engineer and utilizes software that recognizes his workgroup I don't think setting a new one is a good idea. There were no VLANS set at all since everything previous was internal access. I personally don't like Dynamic which allows the IP address to change. Its kinda like telling the PO that I live in this area you just have to ask the neighbors where I am living today. Is it ok to keep this channel open for further suggestions?

Thanks,
Tony I

 

[DrB0b]

Where is the other router? Why not plug it in and see what was all set up on it? Then do accordingly to the current setup. With Static, at least you will avoid possible routing issues. Did you ever get the NIC straightened out on his PC?

What software is he using that utilizes a Workgroup? What is the Workgroup currently set at and is there a PW on it?

"Is it ok to keep this channel open for further suggestions?"
Yes, in fact you cannot close it. I guarantee in a couple of minutes you will have numerous other possibilities to try out based on suggestions of other members.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[BadBigBen]

DrBob basically has it covered.

Though I would suggest the following procedure:

1. set 101 to an IP of 192.168.1.10 Subnet 255.255.255.0 Gateway 192.168.1.1
2. set 102 to an IP of 192.168.1.20 Subnet 255.255.255.0 Gateway 192.168.1.1
3. set 103 to an IP of 192.168.1.30 Subnet 255.255.255.0 Gateway 192.168.1.1
4. set the new Router to the IP 192.168.1.1
5. either change the WORKGROUP or leave it be.
6. if the printers are networked then change their IP as well, to 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.1.110, respectively, with the same Subnet and Gateway as the PC's.
7. power down the router, then the PC's and printers, then power on the router wait a few minutes, then proceed to power on the printers and then the PC's.
8. change any network mappings according to the new IP's.

that should take care of the connectivity problem, if you still can't ping or get Internet access, then check the software firewalls, disable (Windows own) or de- & reinstall if third party.




Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
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