Computer Problem

At my work I have a computer that is used for internet/email/MS Office etc that is also the print server for a HP Laserjet 1200 printer.

In the past it has been working fine untill I took a week off & some one screwed it up & now it will not connect to the network but it can access the internet through the network.

The machine is running Windows XP SP2/2Ghz Pros/256Mb Ram/38Gb HDD

The network card is fine as it was using the motherboard card before but that has been replace by a PCI network card.

If you have any sugestions woul be apreciated.

If someone else used your computer, then maybe either...

- If you're auto-logged into an account when you boot then maybe the account is not yours as it was before you left

or

- You're not logged into the domain but are now only logging in as a local user.

The latter is probably most likely, since most business PC's aren't set for auto-login.

Right-click on My Computer and see whether you're logged into your business domain name. If not, then use the Wizard in that window to set it back up. I bet others will come up with some superb suggestions, but this is what I can think of off the top of my head.

With this computer they are all using the one user account (Yes I know its a stupid idea but that was how it was set up - not by me).

I am thinking of just wiping the whole computer & starting a new again.

If the computer can access the internet through your network, then it can definitely connect to the network. What exactly are you trying to do that is failing? Have you tried pinging other computers on the network?

I think that Binky may be right

Of course reboot everything. Make sure the printer is still setup and set as the default printer for the computer.

Make sure that the user logged in is in fact the network user. The fact you can get out on the internet does not mean you are always authenticated to the server. You may have john (local user) and john (network user) there is usually always more than one account.

Can you see the printer from the computer in question and on other machines that are on the network?

I have found the problem.

My Boss recently decided to install Norton 360 version 2006 onto all of the computers. This is all well and good for keeping bad guys, virus's etc out. But it auto configured itself to provide maximum protection & unfortunately it decided that File Sharing was bad & decided to block it

Now for those who don't know about computer networks their whole point is for file sharing, so that was why it was unable to connect to the network but able to use the internet.

Oh wow sorry I didn't tag that one. I can't stand that package. More problems guaranteed unless you get that thing off yer PC. It's so frustrating to see the fight that goes on in the firewall wars on a user's desktop. Norton AV (AV only, plain-Jane AV and nothing else) is fine, but add anything else especially that firewall blocker and you'll be blocked up.

Y'know, you just might have some trouble gettin' Norton off of the PC if you want it off. If you have trouble, let us know. There are lots of CPF'ers who can guide you to the special Norton Removal Tool etc at Symantec's site to remove Norton's stuff. Their uninstaller that comes with the product usually fails to work.

Good luck!

Binky: Thanks for the offer but while it is working semi alright (touch wood) I don't need to go against my boss.

But I will keep it in mind when it does need to

Do yourself a huge favor and get rid of Norton. Truly one of the most bloated, troublesome, memory hogging products of any kind out there. I never recommend or use it in my PC consulting line of business. Back in the day, Intel 386 days and prior, Peter Norton utilities were da bomb. When there was no more Norton and Norton was sold to Symantec...oy!

I use to install POS systems and recall Norton classifying the SQL database as malware and kept shutting down the resturant we were installing.

It was a real pain in the neck until we found it.

I usually recommend AVG Free to my customers. It's a very basic virus scanner, it doesn't try to integrate with everything and hog all of your system resources.

Agreed on AVG for freebie. Paying dollars I recommend Kaspersky or have heard good things about F-Prot but haven't used it. Sure there are others. Getting a Mac is a nice solution too. :naughty: