Win XP TCP/IP does not work 2

[woodlanman]

Have run out of ideas and hair! Cannot get TCP/IP to work on Win XP SP2

As a volenteer at a small charity have set up a small peer to peer network. Comprises 2 to 3 new Dell 2400 P4 PC's running XP home/XP pro SP2. Cannot get TCP/IP to work. The charity now want to go to broadband so I have to get TCP/IP working properly

one machine has a modem for internet access. ICS has been tried on and off. The internet connection for the machine with a modem works OK

Have had to use NETBEUI to get file and print sharing to work.
Print and file sharing is enabled on both machines
WINS netBIOS over TCP/IP enabled

Can ping IP and name loopback OK
Can ping PC own IP and name OK
Cannot ping other PC.
Checked IP and subnet
tried both assign by DCHP and manual assigned IP failed
turned off firewall still failed
ARP tool used to clear ARP cache still failed
This is the first XP machine I have installed where the XP Network wizard has failed to get a connection (even with some manual tweaks.)
Any Ideas would be appreciated

 

[bcastner]

A ping failure is a firewall issue, or an issue with the physical plant.

If you have two machines connected together with a cable, it must be a cross-over type cable, and not a straight-thru patch cable.

ICS must be enabled on the machine with the modem.
All machines must have DHCP enabled -- "Obtain an IP address automaticly."

Disabling a firewall does not stop the firewall. Either configure it properly or remove it for the time being. The native XP SP2 firewall must have an Exception made for File and Printer sharing.

Watch out for "hidden" firewalls in antivirus products; PC-Illan, for example, is famous for this.

Watch out for "hidden" firewalls in VPN software; CISCO VPN client software, for example, is famous for this.

Further diagnostic steps:

http://www.michna.com/kb/wxnet.htm

 

[woodlanman]

Thanks bcaster the link to michna was very helpful but problem still exists

The machines were new out of the box. No extra software was installed.

They use a small hub and I used the same cables as the machines they replaced. I also tried new cables. checked cables with a cable tester all OK.

They run the XP SP2 default firewall and file and print sharing is enabled.
The AV is the Dell default McAfee and I cannot see any hidden firewall. I installed identical machines at another charity and had no problems with the network.
Have tried both with DCHP enabled and with a manual IP

This is the first time I have been unable to get TCP/IP running properly on a network. File and print sharing works fine over NetBUEI. My immediate first thought was the firewall the same as you. I have tried various configs of the std XP firewall including the troubleshooting in Technet for the SP2 firewall.
Nothing works

 

[Serbtastic]

Post "ipconfig /all" outputs from all machines for analysis.

 

[bcastner]

In the XP SP2 firewall, Advanced, ICMP, are you permitting ping responses? Enable all choices there and test again.

 

[bf0x]

I understand its not for profit organization but I would rather quit computers than to ever try to get ICS to work within Windows Especially with XP.

How about a dial-up router to share the internet? Hawking technology has one for a fair price. You would connect an external modem to the Hawking router and hook the router into the Hub or switch. I have had an easier time with this than using ICS.

Model: PN8228

http://www.hawkingtech.com/prodSpec.php?ProdID=100

 

[bcastner]

Then we get to the obscure. There was a period late last year when XP Home preinstalled images were manufactured missing ACE priviliges.

Unfortunately, XP Home does not have a GUI interface to these permissions. You have to use a utility called NTRIGHTS.EXE on the XP Home machine.

. Download and extract NTRIGHTS and copy it to the \Windows\System32 directory:

http://www.dynawell.com/reskit/microsoft/win2000/ntrights.zip

. Start, Run, cmd
net user guest /active:yes
ntrights +r SeNetworkLogonRight -u Guest
ntrights -r SeDenyNetworkLogonRight -u Guest

Note:
You might want to open notepad and copy/paste those three lines and save as fix_guest.cmd
The lines are incredibly case sensitive. Then double-click the saved fix_guest.cmd file to execute.

Reboot.

 

[woodlanman]

Thanks everybody.
1. I will get the Ipconfig tomorrow when i visit the charity again.

2. When you allow simple file and print sharing XP normally allows ping ICMP. I had checked it was ticked on.

3. Most small charities are strapped for cash, it took over a year to raise additional funds to replace the old Dell P1 166. The only problem I have foundwith ICS on some PC's is where you have 2 NIC installed in a PC

4. Yes obscure but has caused problems in other areas of XP home. If you have the Sophos AV client running on XP Home PCs they refuse to update on logon and NTRIGHTS.EXE needs to the run to cure the problem. XP home also has refused to run some downloaded versions of NTRIGHTS.EXE. In particular this causes a problem with Novell networks and their version of NTRIGHTS.EXE.

Further info:
The PC's were supplied by Dell in Nov 2004 with XP Home SP2 preinstalled. The TCPIP problem existed. The old Dell running NT4 SP4 was put on the P2P network but could not be seen except under NetBUEI. One of the new Dells was upgraded to XP Pro (using a XP Pro SP2 enterprise disk)and still the problem existed.

 

[unclehammy]

I ran into this issue before with Dell PCs with Windows XP Home. The "default" MacAfee AV was actually Dell's MacAfee Security Center, and it did in fact have a firewall in it. Also, windows firewall is notorious for acting up, even when turned off; I have to enable/disable the firewall, then reboot about once a week to stop it from suddenly blocking my email even though it is disabled on my home machine.

Though it appears you are quite aware of what you are doing, make sure the COmputer Browser and Server services are running on all machines.

As mentioned, an ipconfig /all might be handy.

 

[bcastner]

When you allow simple file and print sharing XP normally allows ping ICMP. I had checked it was ticked on."

This is not true under XP SP2. The Advanced tab of the native firewall has a seperate section for ICMP and must be set seperately.

 

[woodlanman]

Thanks everybody for your help

Carried out bill casters suggestions, still nothing

Bill, on XP SP2 for ICMP settings the echo request appears in two places In advanced - settings -local area connections item - settings ICMP tab it is not ticked by default but the separate ICMP section click box section it is ticked and greyed out so you cannot change it.

Unclehammy got me thinking. The security centre said the McAfee firewall was not loaded. and the firewall setting showed the windows firewall was off. I searched the McAfee site (and Dell) for the McAfee security centre. The search kept finding virus information but nothing on the security centre and the McAfee firewall.

I therfore uninstalled the McAfee security centre (you have to uninstall all other McAfee productes first otherwise you get an error message). Ping now worked and TCP/IP appeared to be working at last. I think it is poor there is no information on the McAfee or Dell site about the security centre.

It is very misleading when it says both the windows firewall is off and the McAfee firewall is not loaded. I wonder exactly was was hooked in.

On a unrelated note with Dells, the Dell Media Experience is not shown as a service or an application and loads directly from the registry entry (PCMService.exe). It appears to do nothing much, as the normal DVD,CD, video, audio tools still work. It does take up 14Mb of base memory though.

 

[bcastner]

It is only grey-out if the firewall is disabled on the LAN connection.