Losing Windows ME computer in local network...

[Poppi]

Hi,

I have my 3 computers at home networked. A wireless XP gaming rig in the bedroom, an XP on the main floor with the cable modem, and an older ME wireless in the basement. All are networked, which includes all 3 accessible to the 2 printers I have on the main and bedroom.

Seems all is OK and communicating until I cold or warm boot one of the XPs. After this, I cannot communicate with the XP I rebooted from the ME and neither of the XPs can communicate with the ME. The only fix is to reboot the ME. Then all is OK again, until an XP is again rebooted/turned on. Possible way to fix?

Notes:

Don't want to upgrade ME one to XP.
No hardware conflicts in ME.
XPs have no problems with each other, even after reboots.

Thanks in advance...

 

[hoom]

1)Move ME PC to top floor
2)Forcefully expel ME PC from house via window
3)Get XP PC as replacement

Its about the only way you're gonna fix this.

 

[Poppi]

1)Move ME PC to top floor
2)Forcefully expel ME PC from house via window
3)Get XP PC as replacement

Its about the only way you're gonna fix this.

Is it because ME is so tempermental? I mean, why is it happening?

 

[digitalwanderer]

I have the same problems trying to tie a 98se rig into my XP network, methinks it's just the nature of the beast.

I found it worked a little better if you did NOT run the "network set-up wizard" on any of the PCs as Windows recomends.

 

[Poppi]

...I found it worked a little better if you did NOT run the "network set-up wizard" on any of the PCs as Windows recommends.

Furthering, I read you should make XP conform to the lower versions (98, ME etc.) because of the bugs in these older OSs. Well, getting to where my original post states, on this thread, meant removing all protocols, in "Networks", not related to my wireless card, including the ethernet card, which is not used. This is in the ME system. It now matches my XP systems.

I tried removing the ethernet card itself in "Networks", but it just reinstalled on reboot. Before this it was disabled in the Device Manager. I wonder if physically pulling the ethernet card would help, even though I have completely disassociated it from the system.

 

[Frank]

If you use DHCP (a router), this will almost surely work.

Copy the following into a file named reset.bat on the ME computer:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

and double-click that when the link goes down.

 

[Frank]

Btw, if that works, we'll automate it.

 

[Poppi]

If you use DHCP (a router), this will almost surely work.

Copy the following into a file named reset.bat on the ME computer:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

and double-click that when the link goes down.

Worked from the ME system! Rebooted the bedroom XP, went in the basement ME and no path was found to the bedroom XP. Double clicked on reset.bat, which I had to create and is on my desktop, and it allowed me to get back into the bedroom XP, only after I backed all the way out of "My Network Places" (to desktop) in ME and then going back in the file.

Is there anyway to reset from the XP systems? I like Automated. How can we do that? Thanks DiGuru!

 

[Frank]

Does ME have a task scheduler? If it has, you can schedule the following (copy to a file, like autoreset.bat) to run each minute:


if exist x:\somefile goto end

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

:end


Replace the "x:\somefile" with the path and name of an actual file somewhere on the network, and put double quotes around it if it contains spaces. I cannot test it (I haven't got a ME computer around), but I think that should work.

 

[Poppi]

If you use DHCP (a router), this will almost surely work.

Copy the following into a file named reset.bat on the ME computer:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

and double-click that when the link goes down.

Worked from the ME system! Rebooted the bedroom XP, went in the basement ME and no path was found to the bedroom XP. Double clicked on reset.bat, which I had to create and is on my desktop, and it allowed me to get back into the bedroom XP, only after I backed all the way out of "My Network Places" (to desktop) in ME and then going back in the file.

Is there anyway to reset from the XP systems? I like Automated. How can we do that? Thanks DiGuru!

Edit to DiGuru: Doesn't work all the time. Also tried winipcfg in "Run" and release/renew all. No luck. Only sure cure is a reboot of ME. May not be the address. Any other suggestions?

 

[Frank]

If the automated version works, it will reset the link even if it didn't work the first time. And you do have to browse from the start of the drive, as you said.

If that doesn't work either, I'll think about it.

Edit: as others said, it's a problem with ME, it just behaves bad in this respect.

 

[Poppi]

If the automated version works, it will reset the link even if it didn't work the first time. And you do have to browse from the start of the drive, as you said.

If that doesn't work either, I'll think about it.

Edit: as others said, it's a problem with ME, it just behaves bad in this respect.

Ok, I'll try the automated way and advise.

 

[Frank]

Btw, if ME does have a sceduler, I've made a small program some time ago that reboots your computer. That would work for sure.

You can get it here, and you could use it with:


if exist x:\somefile goto end

shutdown R F

:end


You might want to fill in the whole path to Shutdown.exe, to make sure it can be found.

Edit: "shutdown ?" shows the syntax. And "/" before parameters is optional.

 

[Poppi]

If the automated version works, it will reset the link even if it didn't work the first time. And you do have to browse from the start of the drive, as you said.

If that doesn't work either, I'll think about it.

Edit: as others said, it's a problem with ME, it just behaves bad in this respect.

Ok, I'll try the automated way and advise.

One more edit... I wonder what rebooting ME is doing to cure this problem all the time.

 

[Frank]

One more edit... I wonder what rebooting ME is doing to cure this problem all the time.

It resets the network interface, the same as we are trying to do.

 

[Poppi]

One more edit... I wonder what rebooting ME is doing to cure this problem all the time.

It resets the network interface, the same as we are trying to do.

But why does that work all the time? Sorry, just frustrated, because if the reboot works so should your way the first time it is implimented!

 

[hoom]

Because ME is a steaming pile of poop.

 

[Frank]

Because ME is a steaming pile of poop.

I wouldn't have said it quite like that, but I agree.

 

[Poppi]

Because ME is a steaming pile of poop.

I wouldn't have said it quite like that, but I agree.

New discovery. It seems after restart of the XP system, IT'S NOT A CONNECT PROBLEM. It's just takes forever to connect to the ME from XP/from ME to XP, like 45 minutes forever. The XPs connect with each other right away. Could this still be a network address problem? Any thoughts other then ME sucks . Thanks...

 

[hoom]

Not really.

Its just that ME & 98 have substantially different network systems than XP.
Its a well known compatibility problem.

You could try static IPs?
Do you have a password on the ME PC or does it just boot to desktop?
If the latter, I believe having the password helps.