Problems with Mac on Windows network

Well, I know we are still awaiting Chris's approval about adding a Mac section, so I thought I would throw one up for fun. Actually no, I am having problems with my Mac on a Windows network :lol:
Usually its pretty simple, you just plug in the Mac on the network and it sees all the puters. But it will only connect to XP boxes and not W2K boxes. I rebuilt my main puter and put XP on it. I figured it would be able to connect with no problem, but it can't. It does see her on the network, but recieves an error when attempting to connect.

I get the following error:
The alias "computer name here" could not be opened because the original item cannot be found.

Is there something specific I have to do if the Mac doesn't connect automatically to the network?


ZiPPy

Do you know if the XP machine has the same IP address and NETBIOS name as the W2K machine. It's a long shot, but changing both might help as they may have been cached by your MAC.

Re: Internet Access
If your MAC is obtaining its IP address by DHCP from a gateway router it should connect to the internet automatically.

I never thought about that, I will have to look and see if I am able to disable that option. I connect that MAC to alot of other boxes, so that could be a problem.

Do you know where I need to go and change that option? I believe my MAC is getting the IP address by the DHCP, since it does connect to the internet right away.

Do you know where I can disable that option on my MAC so it will not cache anything?

This not behaviour that can be controlled. I just thought that it was probably getting hung up with an obsolete IP address/NETBIOS name mapping. Two things to try would be:

1. Check your XPSP2 firewall or indeed any other firewall is not causing the problem.
2. Try changing the IP address of the XP machine to a different one to that of the original W2K installation.

You mentioned that the MAC was now connecting automatically to the internet. Can you confirm that?

It has always been able to connect to the internet. When I first got my MAC I was quite surprised how fast it connected both with the Cat5 connection and WiFi.

I did check the firewall settings for XP. I have had problems with this in the past with not only XP firewall settings but also something like Kerio Personal Firewall, which is by the way a good software firewall. For some reason they will be discontinuing it in a few months.

ZiPPy

I like Kerio. Pity about that.