Ok, I know we have computer geeks in here that may be able to help me. I perform the IT operations at my work and we have a new Windows 7 machine to serve as our server. With all of our Vista and Windows 7 machines there are no problems. We have 3 Windows XP machines and they connect to the network fine but about once a day or sometimes more the users will get a cannot connect to the server type of error. It seems to only happen with the XP machines. Any advice on how to fix this? Since one of the machines belongs to my boss this is of utmost importance!
I don't profess to be a computer expert, but my experience is that it's best for all networked machines to be using the same operating system. People have told me it shouldn't be a problem, but for some reason it often seems to be. I'll leave it for the true experts to offer a solution.
Do the computers ever "go to sleep" during the day? It's possible to be a power setting that disconnects the network when they sleep if that happens. My network at home seems to be fine, although now both my regular laptop & desktop run Win 7 and only my very infrequently used netbook runs XP. Otherwise, I really don't have a clue from this information.
The computers do utilize the sleep mode but when the disconnect happens it is when the user is currently working on something so sleep mode should not be enacted during this time.
Justin go into Network Network Connections, Right Click Local Area Connections, Click on Properties, Open TCP/IP Propertries and see if it is set to Automatically Detect Network Connection, if it is, you might want to set your network to a specific string of I.P. Addresses, I.E. 192.168.1.1 Make sure the last octet is different computers. The SubNet Mask should be 255.255.255.0. I find with my home network, 4 DTV DVR's, & computers, 2 TV's, and 2 WiFI Routers, if I make a specific network address, rather than, the automatic detect settings, things tend to communicate with each other much better, and nobody drops out. I have Win 7, Vista, XP, and XP Pro all working with each other with NO PROBLEMS! Hopes this helps you out!
Ok, I set the I.P. address to static. I just chose a random number for the last octet since .1 was already in use. I chose .8 instead and it still connects to the server just fine. Now I just have to sit back and wait to see if the boss gets booted from the network in the next few days. Thanks for the help, you guys.
I dont know much about how windows does dhcp but you may want to check that your .8 assignment is out of the dhcp range or your server might try to assign a .8 ip to another PC and then you will have an ip conflict.
Typically, the router will see that an existing device already has that IP address assigned to it, and choose the next number up. At least, that's been my experience. However, if you are going to manually assign, I do agree that it might be better to choose a higher number just to be safe.
...not sure but XP is becoming a pain for me because various major web sites (Target, my bank) no longer compatible with XP/Windows Explorer 8 anymore, apparently they need Windows 7/Windows Explorer 9.
Really? I just went to target.com (XP and IE 8 here at work), and had no problem. I'm thinking something else is up with your computer...
That only works if the fixed IP device is alive at the time DHCP makes the assignment. If the device is powered down, as soon as it comes back on line there will be a conflict. Fixed IP addresses should never be assigned to a dynamically controlled block. Tom
I'm still waiting for the boss to be in the office long enough for the error to occur. As it sits I just assigned the static IP and I'm crossing my fingers. Upgrading 3 computers to Windows 7 would be a pain because of the changes to Outlook. I am deathly afraid of losing his contact information that has been built up over 10yrs. lol
I support networks with mixed OSs: Linux, Windows 7, Windows XP, and some proprietary equipment. Windows XP and Windows 7 will work together if everything is configured properly. Of course XP doesn't support some of the newer security bits, but that won't knock a machine off of the network. If you are worried about losing contact information, then it is time for a backup. Computers can die at any moment. Buildings burn. People steal office equipment. Get that beast backed up. Tom
Agreed. Thanks for reminding me about the Outlook backup. The server where we store all of our important data is running Carbonite for its main backup so all of our data is backed up continually (if you open a file and alter it then save it Carbonite immediately backs it up on their sites located on both coasts). I also back everything up on external hard drives that I swap out every couple of weeks. I am awaiting the return of two previously broken internal hard drives for additional backup. I don't play around when it comes to backup redundancy!
