Ethernet bugs?

I have a small ethernet running in the house. Uses a 4-port wireless
router connected to internet and a 4-port switch running off one of the
router connections. There are two pcs running Windows 7 on the switch,
another Windows 7 running directly into router and a XP pc also
connected directly to router.

One of the pcs on the switch is my wifes she uses for work and as it's a
workday I have to ignore it in this story as I can't readily see what
it's doing right now.

On every pc I have a shortcut to "WorkGroup" I setup myself rather than
use "Network Places" which I keep off my desktop. Normally when all's
working well clicking on Workgroup displays all the pcs connected to the
workgroup.

I went to bed with everything working well and the only internet
activity going on was a torrent being downloaded. I wake up this morning
to find my main Windows 7 pc will only display my wife's pc and the
router in "Workgroup". Net Use View comes back with an Error 50 and "no
server" message. Reboot and same thing. Notice updates ready so do that
and another reboot to find issue remains. Thing is at same time the
direct shortcuts I have to specific folders on other pcs still seem to
work fine?

Reset router, reboot all other pcs (except wifes) and still same issue.

What I did notice though was the XP pc couldn't even open the Workgroup.
I therefore disabled and then re-enabled the network card.

Suddenly everything is back to normal. ??? Isn't restarting XP the same
as disable and re-enable nic or does one have to actually pull the plug
to accomplish that?

I have no idea what caused initial problem or really if it's "fixed".
Just know that every once and awhile this same bs seems to happen for no
reason I can fathom.

On Thu, 11 Sep 2014 14:49:28 -0300, pjp
wrote:


big snip
Reset router, reboot all other pcs (except wifes) and still same issue.

What I did notice though was the XP pc couldn't even open the Workgroup.
I therefore disabled and then re-enabled the network card.

Suddenly everything is back to normal. ??? Isn't restarting XP the same
as disable and re-enable nic or does one have to actually pull the plug
to accomplish that?

I have no idea what caused initial problem or really if it's "fixed".
Just know that every once and awhile this same bs seems to happen for no
reason I can fathom.

This smells like a Windows Master Browser issue. When two or more Windows
computers exist on a LAN, they hold an election to determine which of them
will play the role of Master Browser. The Master Browser is the authority
when it comes to determining which PC's are members of the workgroup. If the
Master Browser gets disconnected from the Workgroup for any reason, the
other systems will hold another election. Now you have two Master Browsers
for a period of time, until the situation gets recognized and automatically
resolved through another election, but in the meantime, when you want to
request a list of workgroup members, it's a crap shoot as to which Master
Browser will reply, and they likely won't agree with each other during that
time. Either way, you'll probably get a subset of what you expect to see. If
you reboot the machine that is the current Master Browser, I would expect
the others to hold a new election, but if you reboot any of the other
machines that aren't Master Browsers, not much will happen.

Couple of links that may or may not apply.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/188305
https://www.google.com/search?q=windows+master+browser+election+problems



--

Char Jackson

In article ,
lid says...

On Thu, 11 Sep 2014 14:49:28 -0300, pjp
wrote:


big snip
Reset router, reboot all other pcs (except wifes) and still same issue.

What I did notice though was the XP pc couldn't even open the Workgroup.
I therefore disabled and then re-enabled the network card.

Suddenly everything is back to normal. ??? Isn't restarting XP the same
as disable and re-enable nic or does one have to actually pull the plug
to accomplish that?

I have no idea what caused initial problem or really if it's "fixed".
Just know that every once and awhile this same bs seems to happen for no
reason I can fathom.

This smells like a Windows Master Browser issue. When two or more Windows
computers exist on a LAN, they hold an election to determine which of them
will play the role of Master Browser. The Master Browser is the authority
when it comes to determining which PC's are members of the workgroup. If the
Master Browser gets disconnected from the Workgroup for any reason, the
other systems will hold another election. Now you have two Master Browsers
for a period of time, until the situation gets recognized and automatically
resolved through another election, but in the meantime, when you want to
request a list of workgroup members, it's a crap shoot as to which Master
Browser will reply, and they likely won't agree with each other during that
time. Either way, you'll probably get a subset of what you expect to see. If
you reboot the machine that is the current Master Browser, I would expect
the others to hold a new election, but if you reboot any of the other
machines that aren't Master Browsers, not much will happen.

Couple of links that may or may not apply.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/188305
https://www.google.com/search?q=windows+master+browser+election+problems

Somewhat along my thinking also. I know there used to be some way to
control which pc was the master browser but can't remember what one had
to do. Seems to me it was like same rig-a-more--ole setting up static ip
addresses over using dchp.