remote wrote:
1 )Yes, there was an automated Windows-Update for XP at the beginning of this week. However, if this was responsible for my network problems, shouldn´t there be an uproar because others have the same kind of trouble ? I don´t believe my setup is that rare. There are Personal Firewalls installed on most computers, but there hasn´t been any change during the last few weeks.
Probably, one of the machines with Personal Firewall has become the browse master. It only takes one (re)boot to change the browse master.
2) I don´t know that much about Windows Networking, I kinda inherited this network, which means I am a little out of my depth. I always thought that Windows used my Linux-based DNS to do name resolution (which works fine, btw). So, what exactly is a Master Browser and how do I find out which of my machines is it ?
Search the internet for "browse master"... (e.g. http://www.duxcw.com/faq/network/bm.htm).
3) From my Windows PC, I can ping other Windows boxes both by IP and name.
ping can use either DNS names or WINS names, if it is using DNS names this says nothing about windows networking.
4) I captured the network traffic coming from my machine when opening the Neighborhood. What is it supposed to look like ? Does anybody know a good how-to on the net where I can find info on Windows Networking ?
Basically: Client -> Browse Master: "Give me list with resources?" Browse Master -> Client: <list> If there is no response on a query, this is probably because the browse master is blocking queries (or the machine has just gone down and a new browse master has not yet been elected -> get a fixed browse master). Info: just search the net, plenty info to find... Robbert