Challenging help request: Messenger service requires restart to work
Dan
I have a real challenge here. My messenger service, on one machine, does
not work properly if the system is rebooted. If I manually restart the
service, then all is well.
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Details:
Small home network setup: 3 pcs (PC_A, PC_B, PC_C) Problem is on "PC_C".
All machines are XP Pro SP2.
They all belong to the same workgroup.
There are no WINS server configured.
In WINS advanced settings, Netbios is set to "Enable NETBIOS over TCP/IP"
- The messenger service startup type is set to Automatic, with the normal
dependencies of netbios interface, plug&play, RPC and workstation.
- After the PC has booted up, the messenger service shows with a status of
"Started" (so far so good)
- "net start" shows all started services, including messenger (just to
confirm what the services applet says)
- "net name" returns "There are no entries in the list." (huh? computer
and user name missing...)
- "net name some_alias" says some_alias added, but a subsequent "net name"
says no entries.
- "net send PC_B message" does not work from PC_C, but works from PC_A
- "net send PC_C message" does not work from any machine.
- "nbtstat -n" does not show any entries with <03> id
- XP SP2 firewall allows printer & file sharing exception (tested with
firewall completely off, no difference)
- Using the network monitor "ethereal" on another machine on the network
shows that the machine does not send the registration request for the
machine name, nor the user name when I log-on.
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If I stop and start messenger service, then everything works! ethereal
captures the registration requests, "nbtstat -n" includes <03> entries, "net
name" shows machine & user name, "net send" is able to send messages to
other machines.
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I tried a lot of things:
- "repair" on the network connection
- deleting the network adapter from hardware manager, rebooting and
reconfiguring
- Changed the messenger service startup type to disabled, rebooted, and back
to automatic, reboot again.
- Uninstalled/reboot/reinstall "client for ms networks", "QOS scheduler",
"file & print sharing".
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It looks like when the messenger service starts on boot-up, it is not able
to send or receive anything from the only network card in the system. I am
starting to run out of ideas on where to look next. Anybody knows what API
the messenger services uses for network communications? I guess it's
Netbios, especially since it is dependant on "Netbios interface". I could
not find any place where I could uninstall/reinstall Netbios Interface. I
could not uninstall/reinstall TCP/IP either, Uninstall button is greyed out.
Any NetBios guru can give me hints where I could look next?
Thanks a lot in advance!
Dan.