hi looneygirl;
firstly - look at my recent post in the 98 forum thread that you linked to from above (yes - now i'm guilty of keeping cross-posts alive).
second;
I may not know much about the actual networking syntax and entries necessary, but I know the 98 registry well enough to know where to look for mucked settings that can effect logon and restrictions and policies.
it's unfortunate that you have to do this thru the phone by having the user actually adjust the settings and act as the t-shooter from the 98 box.
have you thought about
- possible group policies on the 98 box
- possible system policy restrictions being enforced
- possible username (Profile) conflicting with actual Networking settings
as I stated earlier, you might want to install TweakUI on the 98 box (64Kb) just to have a look at any settings that may be interfering/conflicting.....perhaps even Poledit to get a view of the policies that are current on the non-working boxes.
If you get an opportunity to check the Registry on the 98's - check under these keys for any kind of Dword or Binary values which'll enforce certain restrictions.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
HKEY_USERS\
<username>\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
subkeys --> Explorer, Network, System and ActiveDesktop.
(more about it here -
otherwise it's a NetBIOS problem / DNS entries / Domain Name entries...I haven't yet heard you talk much about the Client for MS Networks settings - and perhaps there are networking "components" installed on the 98's that are interfering (such as VPN adapters). speaking of which - take a gander a this concerning 98/2K and VPNs - it may help you sort through the mess a bit.
especially the bit about NOTusing the FQDN (and just the NetBIOS name) in the NT Logon to Domain box of the Client for MS Networks.
also - the need to be perfectly clear with the user when asking about "listed" and "installed" networking components, (Make sure there aren't unnecessary networking components installed - compare the working and non-working 98 lists) and to be sure the correct one is being "selected" from the list , before trying to view/alter it's properties.
do the 98 boxes that work, have the User Log onto to Windows differently than the non-working ones? Make sure they're not hitting Cancel at the Logon prompt to bypass the Logging on as listed User. Have them view Start > Log off <username>.
it seems pretty clear that over the years, some of the 98 boxes had diff components settings/ policies/ tweaks installed (even User Profiles)....which can cause anomalies like this (some work, some don't).
some win98 networking components have a way of
disappearing from view without being bound - and yet are
still installed and functioning
see
this info on this page alone may help to sort out the mess.
hth
TT4U
Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs
( ) so there now aren't any references to the old IP range. Both server and desktop have also had the ARP tables flushed (just in case!)