I hope I don’t offend anyone by asking a Windows question here

I have some networking issues that my local IT doesn’t seem to understand and control so I might have to take matter into my own hands. I have 3 XP and 1 Windows 2000 computers that came with several production (assembly) machines we purchased, so these were not integrated into our company LAN. They do not belong to a company domain. I just plugged them into the network port, and I was able to ping the machines from my desk just by typing in the name (“MACHINE 1” for example).

Several months ago we moved the machines to a new location (same building) and at the same time we upgraded out LAN network. All of these 4 computers are connected to new network ports that didn’t exist before.

A few weeks ago I was able to ping 2 machines from my desk, but the other 2 could not be found. I looked up the IP addresses and then I was able to ping via IP address, but the name still did not work.

Now for some strange reason I can ping all 4 machines from my desk, but I can ping none from a new computer in the lab if I use the machine name. I can ping if I use IP, but that might change over time as it is not static.

IT would like to add these machines to a company windows domain, but that may complicate things even further as these machines need to talk to each other to exchange some data. This works fine, the machines can see each other.

So what are we looking at here? Why some computers can see the machines by name, and some cannot? Is it a DHCP server issue? I believe all 4 machines get automatic IPs from the server.

sound like some computers cannot translate the name into an IP, but other can.

Thanks

I'd start by taking a pad of paper down to where these machine are, and then scrupulously documenting each and every network, DNS, ActiveDirectory, and any other network related settings...

I suspect, but don't have the experience to troubleshoot exactly, that the machines were set up in some way specifically to their old network... either DNS servers, DHCP servers, ActiveDirectory domain, or whatever.
Find out which settings are not "right" for your network, fix those, and you're good to go.

But document what they're set for NOW, so you can return to a baseline in case things get worse

That, and kick your IT dept in the nuts for not getting their butts down and doing this themselves.

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

Paul F is da man with da plan.

I've seen this in our shop as well. We have to maintain some equipment that uses Windows for Workgroups. Our Active Directory network Does Not Want to talk to it.

Of course our oldest piece of computerized equipment was built way before TCP/IP.. it uses a PDP/8 and runs on punched tape.

Sounds like maybe some of the machines are on different sub-nets.

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Quote
ztirffritz
Sounds like maybe some of the machines are on different sub-nets.

Thaanks, I looked at ipconfig/all and I see some differences.

The subnet mask is the same for all machines (255.255.255.0) and the default gateway is abc.def.201.1 for all these machines and also for my laptop, which can see these machines, while the other PC which cannot see these machines by name (but can ping via IP address) has a different Default gateway, abc.def.202.1

Does this mean that teh other PC is on a different subnet? what is the proper way to make it see these machines, change the subnet mask to 255.255.0.0. would that be a good solution?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2012 12:22PM by space-time.

space, that may be part of the problem. The real issue becomes one of geography. Most large facilities are broken up into sub-networks, and share a common Domain name Server (DNS) that lets your main network interpret and tell you how to communicate across subnetworks. So the 255.255.0.0 may be one subnetwork, and the 255.255.255.0 may be another.

Your best bet is to work with your IT Network people. They should have the Magic Map to their network and will be able to guide you into making the right settings.

Yeah, check with your IT staff. If they know what they are doing, they can either move the connections for some machines to be in the same sub-net, or adjust the sub-net mask so that .201.1 and .202.1 are considered to be part of the same sub-network.

Would it help to give them all fixed IP addresses?

/Mr Lynn

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Do you have a different OS on the desk computer and the computer lab? NetBUI needs some help on Win7, which is typically what machine name uses IIRC. Do you know enough to track down the network configuration? A sketch with the routers and switches and the IP addresses of the four old computers might help you figure it out yourself.

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in tha 510.