Home Forums Discussions Problems Cannot access the main computer occasionally on the wireless network

Hello
I don't know if anyone is running into this. Amazing Charts very frequently "forgets" where the main database is on the network, and asks for it when I start it on a client machine. I chatted with support and pretty much was told this is "a feature not a bug". That much I can live with (or should I?).

But the worse issue is that *occasionally* and without rhyme or reason, when I navigate on the network in Windows Explorer to the main computer, it gives me that "Windows cannot access [computername].You do not have permission to access [computername]". And the only cure is to reboot the client machine and try again. That almost always works.
Any input?

Thanks

Hi Khaled,

The tech gurus will help soon, especially if they think I'm sending you in the wrong direction. So in order to help you sooner I give you this bad advice.

I would get a long patch cord, 100' or as needed, and make sure you have an excellent wireless signal by putting your wireless router in the midst of your exam rooms.

If that doesn't help I would borrow someone else's laptop to see if it's your machine, probably not if happening on more than one machine.

Finally for my limited brain, I would buy (buying is the only fun part of problem solving for me since I'm not good at it) an ethernet card for your machine and go from exam room to exam room dragging that very long patch cord, because I never get this problem on a wired network.

Hopefully the gods will see my folly and rescue you now, even if it is Thanksgiving Eve.

Do you have a fixed IP address on the main computer? That was a past problem on my peer to peer network.

I don't know, but I didn't ask for it when I ordered my internet service for the office. So probably not.
One thing I forgot to mention is that adding the client computer to the Home Group helps frequently, but it still happens that I can't connect.

There are a couple of ways to identify the main computer. If AC is on the server, named server with IP address of 192.168.1.1, you could identify it as either "server" or "192.168.1.1"

If you use the former, occasionally AC decides that's not good enough, it wants the IP address and you have to change it to 192.168.1.1. Now occasionally, if the IP addresses are not done by the server (DHCP server) the IP address of the "server" will change and it might be 192.168.1.2 and it cannot be found using your initial IP address (....1.1)

You can solve this by going to the network adapter properties under the TCP/IPv4 settings and change it from "Obtain IP address automatically" to "Use the following IP address" If you were to put 192.168.1.1 in that setting, it would hopefully forever be locked into 192.168.1.1 and you could address it as such. (You also have to set the subnet mask (often done automatically but generally 255.255.255.0(or 255))and the default gateway should probably be your router should be the IP address of your router if that is giving out the IP addresses (=DHCP server.)If your server is the DHCP server, it should be fixed as to the IP address and this should not be a problem.

I don't know why AC sometimes prefers the IP address to the name of the computer, but it does. It helps if that number will not change.

Here is a step by step explanation on how to set up a fixed IP address on your main computer (the one that has the Amazing Charts database):

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19249/

Generally, the default gateway, the IP below the 255.255.255.0 will end in one. Such as 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.16.1.

If all computers are getting to the Internet check the NIC to see what the default gateway is. If you make the IP address of the "server", it will conflict with the gateway. Not sure what your "server" is. Only an OS will have a DHCP server. If not, use the router as your DHCP server. It is ALWAYS better to use DHCP if possible. You do need to make a static IP for the computer with AC on it.

All in all, it may be best to have someone remote in.

By the way, having AC start up and not be able to find the server is NOT a feature. It is also not a bug. It is a misconfiguration of your network, likely.

Khaled,

It may help if you to to Run on the Start Menu, and type CMD. When the command prompt comes up, type in: ipconfig /all

Click on the very top left (the tiny black icon) and then selected Edit -> Select All, then go back and do the same thing to get Copy. Copy to a notepad. Do this on all computers having issues and especially the server. Then upload to here.

I had that access problem occur frequently and I found a fix. Since then it has not occurred again. I had to SAVE the admin login information in the client computer using this Windows feature:

To add a password to your Windows vault

Open User Accounts by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking User Accounts and Family Safety (or clicking User Accounts, if you are connected to a network domain), and then clicking User Accounts.

In the left pane, click Manage your credentials.

Click Add a Windows credential.

In the Internet or network address box, type the name of the computer on the network that you want to access. This can be the NetBIOS name (example: server1) or DNS name (example: server1.fabrikam.com).

In the User name and Password boxes, type the user name and password that you use for that computer or website, and then click OK.

Glossary: DHCP is the abbreviation of Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. Given that it has been used above and will be used several times below, it will be helpful if you know what it does. Think of this way. Say you have a city with roads and houses with no names or numbers. Everyone went away choosing addresses and painting them on their houses and putting Home Depot white stickers on their mailbox. This would work, but someone would use the wrong street name and two people would choose identical numbers, and it would be a pain. Plus, if two people did do that, you would have to hunt all over to find the other person, then argue over who gets 327 Maple Dr. Or the city could have a truck which drives around and flawlessly and automatically assigns addresses to each house. This is what a DHCP server on a router or server does. It flawlessly assigns IP address and other unique pieces of information like a default gateway or DNS. Just like the people doing it, you could do it also, but the larger the city, the more chances for mistakes, and the larger your network, the more chances for mistakes. Silly analogy, but hopefully, helpful.



Khaled, John is asking you a different question than you are commenting on. Generally, your network goes: ISP (Static or dynamic IP address) (public IPs) -> Modem - Router/Firewall -> Switch. Most people in a SMB environment will buy a static IP as it gives you many more options. Some buy one, some buy seven. There isn't a huge difference in cost, but seven still only gives you five (no need to go into that). I can guarantee you if you did not have a discussion on static IP addresses, you got a dynamic IP. Plus static cost two to three times as much.

These IP addresses connect to the public or outside of the router. There is then a subnet for the public part of the router -- 255.255.255.248 (don't make me explain that) and a default gateway, generally one of the IPs or one assigned by your Internet provider. The traffic will then traverse the router in a way you allowed via the firewall. On the inside of the router, you have the default gateway. You must have a default gateway so traffic from the inside knows where to get to the router. This is usually 192.168.1.1 or 16.1 or 10.1. This is why I wouldn't use 192.168.1.1 for your server, but if this is the default gateway of your router, you will know soon enough.

So in summary, public IP address from the modem/ISP to the router to the default gateway to either your computers or your server depending on your network and whether you choose P2P or not. If you have a full blown client/server, then it is best to turn off the DHCP server of the router and use the one on the server. If you do not use the DHCP of the server, then use DHCP server of the router. You can go with none of them and use all statics on your network computers.

You could go around to all of your computers and set them with static IP addresses as below:



You will notice on this address, which was put in manually, you have:

IP 192.168.1.13
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Default gateway 192.168.1.1 (this has to match the inside address of the router)

DNS 192.168.1.100 (this will likely be different for you as this is my server -- here traffic goes from this client to the server to the router.
Yours will likely be the DNS of your ISP. That will give you this.

If I left the NIC blank and instructed it to use DHCP, you may get:



192.168.1.32
255.255.255.0
192.168.1.1

192.168.1.100

Now you may ask, if I can put these in, then why do I need DHCP? Good question. Basically it is best practice to assign your server or main computer (with AC and SQL) with a fixed IP address like the first one. Since all of the other computers must connect to that computer, it is nice to know it will always be 192.168.1.13. All of your NIC addresses will be the same except the last octet of your IP, e.g. 13 or 32, etc. As to the other clients why use DHCP. The reason is that the DHCP server will pass out addresses such that each computer gets the correct address every time. This is especially true when you have have 40 or more computers. It is easy to type in 192.169.1.32 in error and then have networking issues. As to a previous post, let's say, the DHCP server has given me an IP address, but I do not know what it is. That is when you go to RUN, then CMD, then IPCONFIG.





Notice the same configuration as above, and it specifies that the computer is 192.168.1.13.

We use ipconfig /all many times as it gives us more info including the server info.

If you use IPMsg for sending messages, it has the added benefit of listing all of your IPs for every computer.

Finally, while you can use Amazing Utilities, a quick and easy way (if your AC will open to find the main server) is the following:



If you right-click anywhere in the highlighted area you will get the following window:



This will list your port, path and ability to change the path.

So, all this to explain that whether or not you have fixed IPs on the network vs static IPs from your ISP.

Khaled,

Did you get your problem fixed? Can you share what the issue was?

Good morning
I'm sorry about the delay in responding. Chasing my tail as usual, single dad and solo practice. I do appreciate everyone's help. I'm running the fixes right now. Will post an update in a couple of hours.

We are all busy Khaled. That's why I kept your post live.

Merry Christmas, all.
The issues I mentioned above haven't recurred since I posted my OM. So I'm going to bookmark this thread for future reference. But I'm not going to follow the above procedures right now. Thank you very much to all of you for the extensive explanation.

Khaled

Well, in that case, I'm glad I didn't put any time into it.

Anyone know how to do a half smiley face. Or a slightly cynical smiley face?