Win 98 SE on Win Server 2003

The network I've set up is working ok at the moment, but the 7 or so Win 98 SE PC's we have all have their IP addresses manually configured, whereas the WinXP Pro PC's all have theirs automatically assigned by the Win Server 2003's DHCP. When I change the option to "Obtain address Automatically" on the Win 98 PC's, they dont connect to the network.

Is there any way to get them to automatically obtain an IP address, or should I just leave well alone since they're working anyway?


TIA


James H

well as i always say if its working dont fix it

i think you would be better off giving each machine a unique IP address on your network to avoid windows automaticly giving to the same out (very slim chance but it could happen )

I don't have any experience with Server 2003 but I would think that the DHCP server in it still abides by the DHCP standards and any client with a DHCP client would be able to obtain an IP address from it.

Have you tried to manually release and renew the IP address from the 98 clients? What IP address are you getting on the 98 clients if it's not one in your subnet? Is it possibly a 169.254.x.x?

It sounds like the Win98 machines are not finding the dhcp server.

Try setting one of the dns addresses for the Win98 machines to the Win2003 server. Or you could edit your hosts file. The win98 machines use netbios to find the domain controller whereas WinXP use dns to find the domain controller (I believe). I've run into situations where Win98 cannot find the Winserver on bootup.

It may be the same situation here. The Win98 machines are not finding the dhcp server, and are just assigning themselves the 169.xxx series.

When you go to log on are you getting a message saying a domain controller cannot be found.... ?

When I tried this again today, Im sure the Win98 PC could connect to the
network ok and read the shared drives etc, but not to the internet
(the internet connection is directly through the server PC).

I got badly sidetracked today, as usual, so I'll have a look again tomorrow.

Cheers


James H

Ok, here I am.

The PC I'm at right now is using Win98 SE. It has a manually configured IP address of 192.168.0.56. The DNS Configuration is set at 192.168.0.1 and the Gateway is set at 192.168.0.1 - this IP address is our server. The WinXP PC's all need the 192.168.0.1 part added to their "Default Gateway" setting to access the internet. The XP PC's all have their IP address automatically assigned

I've just set the WIN98 PC to have its IP address automatically assigned, and it wont connect to the internet. It *does* however connect to the rest of the network ok.


Anyone any pointers?



James H

Do you have the DHCP server configured to hand out gateway and dns server settings?

I think DHCP is working ok, yes. None of the XP PC's have a poblem like this.



James H

Didn't you say that the XP machines have to have the gateway address added manually? If so, then you'll need to do that for the 98 machines also. That's why you can't get to the Internet.

Yes, but the Win98 PC's also have their gateway address manually configured, even when I set the IP address to
automatic. They still wont connect to the internet.



James H

When they're set to DHCP open up a command prompt and run ipconfig /all to see if it has the correct IP address, subnet mask, dns servers, and gateway address.

Hmm, when I run ipconfig /all it shows the correct addresses (IP, subnet mask, and default gateway), but it says
DNCP enabled.........:No




Also, when I run ipconfig, it says

0 Ethernet adapter - with no values set.
&
1 Ethernet adapter - with IP, Subnet and Gateway set correctly.

x2


James H

Do you have two NICs in there? Can you ping addresses on the Internet by IP address? Can you ping the gateway?

So, just to review:

1) The win98 machines connect to the local network, but not the internet.

2) The xp machines are set to dynamic, but their gateway is static. They have no problem connecting.

Can you ping inside and outside (internet) of your network?

Ahh, you guys posted while I was writing.

I doubt you have a second nic, I've seen that second nic appear before, I wouldn't worry about it. Your second nic is handling the connection.

I'm assuming that your server has two nics in it, and that you have some sort of routing software on the server?

Tell us about that.