Windows XP/2000 file sharing help needed.

The server at my moms work somehow lost the TCP/IP stack and the IT guy isn't in town so they called me in to try to fix it. So I set up a static IP, etc, etc, and got the computer back online.

The problem is that the client computers (All WinXP) weren't able to connect to the server (Win 2000) to access necessary files. I fixed this by changing the subnet mask from 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.252.0 and this allowed the WinXP systems to access files on the server, however the Internet connection was lost.

Anyone know how I can get both the Internet connection and the file sharing to work properly? I'm not the greatest with networking. Thanks.

do you have the gatway and dns information entered in the static ip configuration

to find it go on a winxp computer

start
run
cmd

ipconfig

find the gateway and dns, pop them into the static configuration on the win2k box, you should be good to go

Yeah it's already in there. I'm pretty sure the connection was working before I left though.

Possibly the router is set up to disconnect after idle or something. I'll look into that.

Can anyone tell me why the WinXP clients can't access the Win2K server with a 255.255.255.0 subnet mask, and why it works if I change the subnet mask to 255.255.252.0?

This is on a network with 192.168.1.X IP addresses if that helps.

Also, any other things that I should try?

Thanks,

Changing to a /22 mask tells the server that it can talk to anything from 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.3.254 without using a router. For that to matter the WinXP box would have to have an address outside the 192.168.1.1 – 192.168.1.254 range ( /24 mask). Assuming the desktops have the right IP, is it possible you entered a static IP address from the wrong subnet? (e.g. 192.168.1.1 vs. 192.168.0.1)

You can actually run the server like this even if the other computers have a different mask. The masks don’t have to be the same as long as the subnet space overlaps. All you should need to get the server happy is plug in the correct gateway.

Routers don’t time out on idle connections from LAN devices, but they do cache ARP information and that can get corrupted or “stuck” making it lose contact with a device, especially if that device has a screwy IP stack. If it’s not a SOHO router you should be able to clear the ARP table, or if it is SOHO just cycle the router.

For the other computers, here are the questions I’d look into in this vague order…

Have the other computers been rebooted since the server lost its IP?
Does the server have the same IP as before?
Can the desktops ping the server by IP?
Can they ping by hostname?
Are the other computers set to use WINS for lookups?
Is the server running DNS/WINS, and does it have itself registered correctly?
Are there any IP, browser service, DNS or authentication events in event viewer?
Is this an active directory domain?


Hope this helps!