workgroup computer

[JT]

After being connected for a while, serveral of my workgroup computers are
"vanishing" from my XP connected machine

XP - 4 machines in workgroup.

Thanks - JT

[Malke]

JT wrote:

> After being connected for a while, serveral of my workgroup computers
> are "vanishing" from my XP connected machine
>
> XP - 4 machines in workgroup.
>
> Thanks - JT

You haven't given us enough information about your network setup to get
a specific answer, but here are a few things to check out:

1. Make sure power management is turned off on all network cards. Go to
the card's entry in Device Manager, double-click it to get its
Properties, click on the Power Management tab, uncheck "allow Windows
to turn off this device when not in use".

2. Check the physical structure of your network. Old switch/router? Old
cables, hand-made cables? If using wireless for some of the computers,
check the settings.

3. What are the workgroup computers connecting to? An XP Home or Pro box
acting as a "server"? If so, perhaps you are running into the inbound
concurrent connections limit. Normally you wouldn't run into this with
only 4 computers connecting to another one unless they are all XP Home.
Here's information on the inbound connections limit:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=314882

concurrent connections:

10 for XP Pro/Tablet/MCE
5 for XP Home
49 for SBS 2000
74 for SBS 2003
Unlimited for full Server O/Ses

If these suggestions don't help, then post back with a better
description of your network, the computers, their virus/malware status,
and what you've already done to troubleshoot. Here is a link explaining
the sort of details you should include in a newsgroup post:

http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

[chrispsg]

This could be a master browser problem. When all pc's have the browser
service turned on they will elect which pc is to be the master browser.
During this election none of the pc's can be the master browser
resulting in disappearing computers from my network places.

Click start ----- click run ------ services.msc Find the Computer
Browser service and right click it. Select properties. Set the startup
type as manual or disable.

Do this on all machines except for one. the only downfall is that if
the computer that is running the Computer Browser service is not on
NetBIOS name resolution will not occur and you will have the same
problem.

If this is a problem turn on the service on one other machine.

psg