Help!

I have a home LAN of 5 PCs running XP-Pro. This is attached to a
Linksys router (wireless, but the PCs are wired). They are all set up
for the same workgroup. Everything used to be fine (for many months).
Sharing worked. VNC worked for remote access. About a month ago
(maybe two?) things got weird:

PCs A, B, C, D, and E can all access the Internet via the router/cable
modem.

PCs A, B, C, and D all see each other and share fine.
They cannot access (sharing or VNC remote access) PC E.
PC E shows up under the workgroup from these PCs, but when selected it
gives the error:
\\PCE is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this
network resource. Contac the administrator to find out if you have
access permissions.
The network path was not found.

PC E can get to shares on PCs A-D.
PC E can also access VNC remote control of PCs A-D.
PC E sees everyone (including itself) in the workgroup, and can access
its own shares.

PC E had both wired and wireless NICs. Both worked fine. For fun I
removed the wireless and moved the wired to the other PCMCIA slot and
let Windows find it. No change.

PC A (for example) has Client for Microsoft Networks, File and Printer
Sharing for Microsoft Networks, QoS Packet Scheduler, and Internet
Protocol(TCP/IP) installed.

PC E (the troublemaker) has those plus Deterministic Network Enhancer.
What is that?

The Internet Connection Firewall is disabled on all PCs.


I searched deja.com and found people with similar problems, but didn't
see any real answers. I checked network & TCP/IP settings -
everything looks fine. The users and passwords on the PCs match.
I'm not a Windows expert, but I'm pretty good at it and have been
setting up LANs at home for years.

Any ideas? It's driving me crazy!

Many thanks in advance!!!

David

On 5 Jan 2004 21:53:47 -0800, david@therogoffs.com (David Rogoff) wrote:

- When was the last time you ran an updated anti-virus sweep?
- I suggest you find out wtf "Deterministic Network Enhancer" is, as none of
my very mature XP Pro machines have such an entry...

/daytripper

daytripper <day_trippr@REMOVEyahoo.com> writes:

I have Norton Anti-virus with automatic updates. Full scans every Friday.


Searching deja.com shows that this is some kind of IPSEC thing
installed as part of the Cisco VPN I use to access my office network.
It's definately not anything new on my system.

Thanks for replying.

David Rogoff <david@therogoffs.com> writes:

Following up on my own post: I removed the Cisco VPN (which removed
the Deterministic Network Enhancer) and BlackIce Defender (which I had
tried disabling before). Everything works now! But it worked with
the VPN before! Anyway, in the next couple of days I'll try
reinstalling the VPN (maybe a newer version?) and see what happens.

David

David Rogoff <david@therogoffs.com> wrote:

Do you leave your VPN running all the time? My company changed a config option
on our Nortel VPN to disallow traffic over the general connection if the VPN is
operational.

Annoying because I now have to startup the VPN for work related stuff and shut
it down for everything else.

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 21:15:10 -0800, David Rogoff <david@therogoffs.com> wrote:

Whoa! Back the truck up!

It would certainly have been helpful if you had mentioned you were running ISS
BlackIce - a firewall (and if it's actually BlackIce PC Protection, a rogue
application defender as well).

It may have closed a port on you, or you may have clicked off Netbios
Neighborhood, etc, or it may have locked down a file...

/daytripper

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 22:37:36 -0700, "Clark W. Griswold, Jr." <73115 dot 1041
at compuserve dot com> wrote:

Interesting. I had the same issues when my company was using SecuRemote, but
when they switched to a Nortel VPN appliance their client doesn't erect a
blockage against potential relays...

/daytripper

Works now! Comments and info below...


daytripper <day_trippr@REMOVEyahoo.com> writes:

Well, it seems Black Ice was the problem - or, at least, solved the
problem. As I wrote, uninstalling Cisco VPN (which removed the
"Deterministic Network Enhancer") and BlackIce made everything work.
I did a System Restore checkpoint and then re-installed BlackIce.
Same problem! I checked the Firewall Settings and enabled "Allow
Internet File Sharing." This made file sharing work.

Here's what doesn't make sense:
1) It worked fine for many months before.
2) When I was debugging the problem a couple of days ago I tried
disabling BlackIce, but it didn't help.

The "NetBios Neighborhood" setting didn't seem to affect anything.
Anyway, it works and I did another System Restore checkpoint. Thanks
for the leads.




"Len West" <west_len@hotmail.com> writes:


As I wrote above, the problem seems to have been from BlackIce, not
Cisco VPN.

Thanks for the replies!

David