Network Troubleshooting

Copied from HyRax1's post here.

Assuming you are using Windows 32-bit (ie: NT, 2K, XP, Vista):

  1. PC #1
  2. Go to Start->Run
  3. Type in cmd and hit Enter. Command line window appears.
  4. Type in IPCONFIG and hit Enter.
  5. Record your PC´s IP address, eg: 192.168.1.100 (if it starts with 0, 169 or 165, then your DHCP is not working).

     PC #2
  6. Go to Start->Run
  7. Type in cmd and hit Enter. Command line window appears.
  8. Type in IPCONFIG and hit Enter.
  9. Record that PC´s IP address, eg: 192.168.1.101 (if it starts with 0, 169 or 165, then your DHCP is not working).
 10. Type in PING x.x.x.x (where x.x.x.x is the IP address you recorded from PC #1) and hit Enter.
 11. If you get reply messages, your network is working. If you get host unreachable, then you have a gateway issue. If you get no reply then it could be firewall or hardware related (or a typo).

     Back to PC #1
 12. Type in PING y.y.y.y (where y.y.y.y is the IP address you recorded from PC #2) and hit Enter.
 13. If you get reply messages, your network is working. If you get host unreachable, then you have a gateway issue. If you get no reply then it could be firewall or hardware related (or a typo).

     Still not working?
 14. On BOTH PCs, type in IPCONFIG /RELEASE_ALL and hit Enter.
 15. On BOTH PCs, now type in IPCONFIG /RENEW_ALL and hit Enter. Wait a few moments as this can happen quickly or slowly.
 16. Both PCs should get a new IP address from your router - check with IPCONFIG and Enter again. If not, the fact that a DHCP server could not be found will be returned. Check your router config that DHCP is turned on and configured correctly.
 17. Failing all this, specify an IP address manually on both machines, eg: PC #1 can use 192.168.1.10 and PC #2 can use 192.168.1.20, both with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and no gateway or DNS specified.
 18. Repeat ping test.

     Still not working?
 19. On BOTH PCs, type in PING 127.0.0.1 and hit Enter. Do you get a reply? If not, your networking on that PC is stuffed. Suggest re-install.
 20. On BOTH PCs, type in IPCONFIG /ALL and post up the output so we can have a look.

Testing sharing

  1. PC #1
  2. At a command prompt, type in NET VIEW \\x.x.x.x and hit Enter (where x.x.x.x is the IP address of the PC #2). You should get a list of available shares. If not, note down the error.

     PC #2
  3. At a command prompt, type in NET VIEW \\y.y.y.y and hit Enter (where y.y.y.y is the IP address of the PC #1). You should get a list of available shares. If not, note down the error.
  4. Post up results.

     If the above WORKS
  5. Map a network drive manually with NET USE M: \\x.x.x.x\sharename and hit Enter (where x.x.x.x is PC #1 or 2´s IP address and sharename is the name of the share you are trying to access. Change the drive letter if you want.
  6. Now type dir M:\ and see if anything comes back.
  7. Post up results.