Strange Issue

[FadderUri]

Hi all,

I've looked through the posts for something similar, but have not been able to find it. Hopefully, someone can help me out, here. I have a small network of W2K machines that are all accessing a server based software package. To get this to work, the C:\ drive on the server has to be set up as a share. This is not a security risk, as the network is not on the internet at all. I have several of these set ups in different locations, and I have run into this problem several times.

Server is set up with the following users

Administrator

WindowsUser (Admin Level - no password)

PTUser (Admin Level - no password)

Workstation one is set to autologin as WindowsUser (no password)

Workstation two is set to autologin as WindowsUser (no password)

After a power outage, the server will no longer allow the autologins to access the share drive. If I go through Windows Explorer, and click through network places, sometimes it will allow me to manually enter the WindowsUser ID and access the drive, but more often than not, I have to change the workstation to autologin and autostart the application using the PTUser ID.

Anybody have any idea what would cause this?

Thanks

[Dencandy]

I may be wrong but I tend to think your only solution is to get a UPS to ensure the server continues to get power when an outage occurs. Others with network knowledge may be able to give more advice however.

[homecomputeraid]

I'm not sure why the power outage affects anything. Is this a domain setup or workgroup?

[Dencandy]

Well, the original poster wrote:

After a power outage, the server will no longer allow the autologins to access the share drive.

In my experience sudden power cuts when a process is underway have unexpected consequences and FadderUri's problem may be one of them. What else could it be due to, and what other possible solution is there?

[homecomputeraid]

It sounds like an auto-login is not recognized or is not starting after a power outage. Does the login work without autostart? If it is a domain, do the accounts appear to be locked out? It could be that the pc's and services are starting in an order that causes problems after the power outage. I think we need more information to know.

[FadderUri]

I'm not sure why the power outage affects anything. Is this a domain setup or workgroup?

This is set up as a Workgroup.

[FadderUri]

It sounds like an auto-login is not recognized or is not starting after a power outage. Does the login work without autostart? If it is a domain, do the accounts appear to be locked out? It could be that the pc's and services are starting in an order that causes problems after the power outage. I think we need more information to know.

What information do you need? There's really not a whole lot to it. The network is set up as a workgroup. As I said, if I go through My Network Places in Explorer and manually input the User Name, it usually will work until the machine reboots. I have found a new twist on things, though. If I change the autologin to the second user (PTUser), reboot the machine, and re-instate the autologin of the WindowsUser ID, it works again. It's almost like it's losing sync, somehow, and changing the user ID fixes the issue. Until the next outage, of course. Like I said, this is happening on my W2K machines... I haven't noticed it on my XP networks.

Anymore info needed, just let me know, and I appreciate any assistance I can get.

FadderUri

[homecomputeraid]

FadderUri,

It sounds like the problem can happen even during normal re-boots, not just during power outages.

I haven't seen the situation you're describing before. Is there anything in any of the event logs that could shed some light?

You might try using a sniffer like WireShark to see what kind of errors occur when it's not working.

http://www.wireshark.org/download.html

You could run it on the server and the host.