Solved NetBIOS not working properly over WIFI

[timxtg]

Hi Everyone

I have just purchased a second-hand Dell laptop from eBay and I have wiped the hard drive and have freshly installed Windows 7 Professional 64-bit on it.

Unfortunately, NetBIOS is not working properly over WIFI on it because, while I can access other computers using their IP addresses, I can't via their computer names, except very occasionally, it starts working but if I disconnect and reconnect, it stops working again. However, if I plug the laptop into the network via an Ethernet cable, NetBIOS works perfectly.

For the other laptops on the network with an identical OS setup, this is not a problem. I therefore suspect that the problem may be with the WIFI card in the new laptop. The WIFI card is an Atheros AR9285.

Does anyone know how to fix this problem?

Thank you very much.

 

[samuria]

You have to understand that windows doesnt look for pcs it asks the master browser and that can take 20mins plus to find new pcs so it has nothing to do with wifi, run this util see if it finds it and note which pc is master browser NetBScanner - NetBIOS scanner

running it on all pcs often kicks it into life pcs must be on same subnet and workgroup

 

[timxtg]

You have to understand that windows doesnt look for pcs it asks the master browser and that can take 20mins plus to find new pcs so it has nothing to do with wifi, run this util see if it finds it and note which pc is master browser NetBScanner - NetBIOS scanner

running it on all pcs often kicks it into life pcs must be on same subnet and workgroup

Hi Samuria

Thank you very much for your reply.

As mentioned in my previous post, the problem never happens with the other laptops on the network and not with Ethernet. It only happens with WIFI on the new laptop so I don't think that what you have said is the answer to this problem. Does anyone else have any ideas?

EDIT: I have just run NetBScanner on the affected laptop and it successfully found all the computer names on the network and it also kickstarted NetBIOS into action. But I then disconnected and reconnected and the problem returned. It seems therefore that when when the other laptops connect they automatically kickstart NetBIOS but the new laptop does not do this except when connected via Ethernet. Does anyone know why?

 

[samuria]

As explained tits the master Browser which pc is master browser? omce you turn off pc it will drop from the MB and you have to wait for it to be found again.

You can get round it by adding ip to the host file

 

[timxtg]

As explained tits the master Browser which pc is master browser? omce you turn off pc it will drop from the MB and you have to wait for it to be found again.

You can get round it by adding ip to the host file

You seem to be missing the point that this has never been a problem with any of the other laptops and is not a problem when the new computer is plugged in via Ethernet. NetBIOS works instantly in all those situations with no waiting whatsoever. It is only a problem when the new laptop is connected via WIFI.

Adding the IP addresses of the other computers to the host file of the new computer would be a very laborious sticky-plaster solution. I hate sticky-plaster solutions because they fail to get to the root of the problem.

I would be very grateful indeed if somone who knows the answer to this problem could reply.

 

[timxtg]

Hi Everyone

This is just to let you all know that I have actually managed to narrow down the problem. My router (a DrayTek) has four SSIDs. Whereas all the other laptops are either connected to SSID 1 or via Ethernet, the new laptop was connected to SSID 3. (I won't go into the reason why here.) After I tried connecting it to SSID 1, the problem went away.

It actually baffles me as to why the SSID makes a difference. I have looked all over the settings of the DrayTek for why SSID 3 (and perhaps 2 and 4) behaves differently to SSID 1 but have found nothing so far but at least I now know that the problem is in the router, not the new laptop. I am guessing that a firmware update for the DrayTek might fix SSID 3. I will try it out.

Thank you, Samuria, very much indeed for your efforts to solve this for me and I am sorry that I got rather frustrated about it.

 

[timxtg]

There is something I meant to mention in my previous post. Just in case anyone is thinking that the SSIDs might be isolated from each other, there is actually an "Isolate" checkbox for each SSID and they are all unchecked so they are not actually isolated from each other. Anyway this would make them never see each other which is not the case. The means that the puzzle is not yet 100% solved but I suspect that either DrayTek knows the answer or nobody knows the answer.

 

[samuria]

Most routers have a setting user isolation or imliar the idea is you can connect to the internet but it blocks the local network this is security so if someone hacks in they can gwet to the net but not hack pcs. Its possible the sids are setup as a guest type of network which doesnt allow netbios or simliar