Interesting problem

[kwagner_51]

Hi, I work in a preschool and my office is 25 + miles from the main office. All the computers can talk to each other except one. In my building we have 4 laptop pc's. 3 of them can access all of the info on the main office computer. the 4th one can't.

I was able to get to the main page for employees but when I tried to open the files the pc does nothing!! To get to the employee page, I had to put in the IP address.

I know its running XP Pro sp2. When I talked to the computer tech for the company, he said it was working great at the main office but that it had been giving him fits since he brought it to our office.

The files we are trying to open are .xls, .doc, .pdf All but the .pdf are on the pc. I left the tech a message that I think the problem is a minor one, based on the fact that I was able to get to the employee page.

My questions are: Is it possible that he forgot to connect this pc to the sever/domain?

If so, how would he/I go about connecting it?

Thanks!!

[KenJackson]

When you need to use an IP address, that's an indication that there is DNS trouble.

Do you know how to use ping? Open a command shell (a so-called "DOS" window) and type these commands, but substitute the domain name and IP addess you are trying to reach:
ping www.address.edu
ping 192.168.1.2

If the IP address works but the domain name doesn't (and you are sure you have the right IP address), you probably have an incorrect DNS configuration. I can't give step-by-steps, but if you get into your network properties (something like Start -> Settings -> Network -> Loc Area Con. -> Properties -> TCP/IP -> Properties) you should see a preferred and alternate DNS server IP address. They should probably be the same on the all PCs, so you can compare the good and the bad PCs.

You could also try substituting the openDNS (http://www.opendns.com/) IP addresses: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.

But wait. How are you connected? Are you using wireless? Wireless is notorious for having bad reception some places and good reception other places. Try moving it around.

[Erik]

Also it might be a corrupted DNS entry somewhere, but I kind of doubt DNS is the problem is others can connect without issue. Anyway when you do ping www.domain.com, or whatever the address you are trying to reach is, it should come back with the IP address of that computer. If it doesn't match the IP you know is correct then it is a DNS issue.

As far as being connected to the domain that is easy. How do you login? Does it come up needing to hit Ctrl+Alt+Del, and then enter a username and password? If so you are 99.9% likely to be correctly added to the domain. Also right clicking on My Computer, clicking Properties, and then the Computer Name tab will let you know. It will show if it is on a domain, workgroup, and what the FQDN is.