Question : Client Connectivity problems

I have a client with an SBS 2003 server. There are just 3 client pc's in the office. All of them are Sony laptops.

Going back in time, when I joined each of the clients to the Domain there were problems. Sometimes the \\server\connectcomputer wouldn't run. Or if it did, I would get an error when the client rebooted. Something like: Invalid credentials for __SBS_NET_SETUP__

I don't believe I ever got a client joined up in the correct manner. I ended up just doing it via the Computer Name tab in Control Panel System. But since then each client has worked very well.

Anyway, we've just upgraded one of the clients for a new Sony Laptop. And this time the \\Server\ConnectComputer URL worked. Or so I thought...  It works all right for a while after booting, but eventually gets network errors. For instance, clicking a drive letter in Windows Explorer gives an empty window. Clicking Microsoft Windows Network  in Entire Network gives a message: 'The network is disconnected or not started'.  Network printers appear as disconnected. The weird thing is though, that Internet Connectivity is OK, and they also use Skype which is also Ok.

So it looks as if the problem just relates to domain resources. If I try to repair the network connection, I get a message: 'Failed to register DNS' I've tried it with automatic IP and a manual IP address. I've also tried automatic dns and putting the IP address of the server in the DNS server box. I've added the server address in the Wins tab. In desperation i've also added the server in the hosts file. All to no avail. A reboot cures the problem temporarily, but not for long.

Before joing the client to the domain, I visited the MS update website and installed all the updates. There are no errors in the server DNS event log

Ian

Answer : Client Connectivity problems

Make sure the router is set to "access point" and dhcp is disabled on the router. Also do a firmware upgrade on it.
Double check your File and Print sharing! (On all NIC's)
Delete all accounts (after backup of the profile and pst of course) on the laptop except for the local machine admin. Restart
Make a new user (not the one in question) and new computer account and rerun the connect computer account with only your lan active. Disable ALL the rest.
Disable the XP firewall and uninstall anti-virus and clear the dns cache (see below) before running the wizard.
A number of other useful switches for IPConfig include /flushdns , which deletes the DNS name cache; /registerdns , which refreshes all Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) leases and re-registers DNS names; and /displaydns which displays the contents of the DNS resolver cache.
Keep us posted and good luck,
OlafDC