Network troubleshooting?

[billp]

Hello,
For 2 months I was cruising along with my latest design computer (Dell 4, 2.53 gig, g-force 64 meg ddr video, etc. etc.). It came with XP so I took advantage of the "Network wizard"and set up a 4 computer inhouse network. NO problems, first try everything worked great! This went on for about 6 weeks and then there were electrical storms in my area. After some loud thunder we lost power at the shop with 3 computers running. Only the machine that had a UPS box to run my Roland Pixca kept going. In about 5 mihutes the power was restored. BUT at that point the machine which had kept running was no longer part of my network ( It didn't show up in the network neighborhood, etc.). Then last week for NO reason I can pinpoint the other 3 computers decided not to recognize one another either! SO I ran the XP network wizard again (3 more times actually) and they are STILL not communicating. Each machine will only recognize itself as being part of the network.
My office machine is XP, and the 3 others are running '98. I have heard that you had to change names of either the computers, or the workgroup if you wanted to re-run the wizard, and I tried that ( no luck..). Has anyone else had any experience in reviving a network that has gone rogue? Any/all help/advice would be appreciated... Thanks

[bjwat@comcast.net]

Bill,
It may be possible that it is the network card itself. It may have blown out due to the power surge. I've seen it happen before when I did network support at my last job. Sounds like you have checked out all of the things that I would suggest otherwise.


-Brady

[harold_weber]

Bill, what you are describing happens to me about every other month or so. I have a cable modem, which feeds a router, and all three of my Pc's hook to the router. When one or more of the PC's seem to have amnesia about the in-house network they cannot access the worldwide web either. My problem seems to be with either my cable modem or router or both. I suspect its the router, since one or two of the machines seem normal. I shut down all the machines, unplug both the modem and the router from the wall outlet, and wait about 2 minutes before powering up the modem and router again. When I start up the machines, they all recognize each other again, and can access the rest of the world wide web as well.

My router is a Linksys brand, and while it has a reset button, I get better results when it is powered down and then restarted.

[gerald_d]

Same experience as Harold - our "router"also needs a few seconds break in power supply.

[billp]

It's alive again!!
MANY thank you's to Brady, Harold, Gerald, and Ralph Thorne who collectively were 1000% more helpful than
any help site I could find on the internet ( including Microsoft....). I did as suggested, unplugged the router, rebooted all the computers, and they are now in touch with one another again...(and probably speaking about me as I type..).
I am surprised at how many people seem to have had similar issues, but I wonder what people not having access to a Forum like ours can do to resolve their problems. There was NOwhere on the internet that dealt with something as fundamental as this. Just another bonus of being part of the 'Bot world...

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

Bill,

When I setup my network I went to http://www.homenethelp.com/ for information. I was able to setup several computers with no problem. On my present system I used a DataLink DI-604 router/cable box. I have never setup anything more simple.

Tonight, I could not connect with the site....

Ron