Peer to Peer Network Troubles

I have a client running a small network. There are 2 Windows 2000 Computers, and 4 XP Pro Computers, and then 2-3 laptops that come and go.

The 4 XP Pro Computers are M, D, C, & H. All of them have 2 shared folders that are mapped as drives to the other computers. The shares are setup with permissions as not all computers on the network are privy to the same info. Each Computer has all 4 users setup on them.

C often does not seem to allow the other computers to connect, even though they can still connect to each other and C can still connect to them. When D couldn't conenct to C today, they shutdown both computers and then booted them back up... the same. They then rebooted one and tested and then the other and tested... they waited awhile and tested again... same. When I came in, I first tried to connect to C from H, it prompted for login info, which I gave. Then it worked.

I find the whole thing to be very bizarre. I had wondered if that Network Cache could be part of the issue, but I'm not sure.

I have a regular client with a similar setup - though he only has 3 XPP computers and one 2k box, he has folders shared on each. He had no problems with that setup for a long time...then he added security. My guess is that the computers get a bit confused with the security. An easy solution to the problem is to pick up an extremely cheap system to use as a fileserver...all it needs is a NIC and HDD(s) really...once you drop it in you shouldn't really ever have to look at it again except to make sure it's running backups if you configure it to do so.

Did you use security permissions with the file server as well? If so, how long has it run problem free for?

A problem with any peer-to-peer network running XP is that you can have a maximum of 10 connections open at one time. If you have a fair ammount of network activity going on, you can get situations where the machines on the network fail to recognize that some connections have been closed, and will deny access. Same issue with W2K. Re-booting the unavailable machine normally resolves the issue, but sometimes you have to reboot the works.

Kinda makes you wonder if M$ has done this as a sales incentive for their server software, doesn't it?