Master Browser Issue on Server 2003 Workgroup

Westwood

Westwood

Westwood

Associate
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
680
Hi All. After a little advice please. A friend of mine is running a small network at his office. It is Windows Server 2003, about 10 windows PC's and a few Macs. He had it put in a few years ago and has not had any problems until now.

He called me up and said he was having a few issues when the network would seem to briefly stop communicating. After looking into it I can see that the server seems to be losing the election for the master browser. Currently one of the Macs is doing it. It seems to be holding a lot of elections so I figured I would solve this first and rule it out as the problem.

I am used to working with domains which means this is not really an issue and I can't find a way to force the server to remain the master browser service. I did find how to stop the windows pc's from taking it over but it was a registry change so won't work with the Macs.

Has anyone else had this issue or can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks a lot.
 
"stop communicating" what exactly does that mean? things don't show up in the browse list or it all falls over mid file copy?
 
Have they plugged any other devices into their network that have a DHCP server enabled? I had somebody plug a router into their sbs 2003 network once as they thought it was a switch to give them extra network ports.
 
Sorry all I have been away. Thanks for the responses, I should have given more detail. The trouble is I don't really know what the problems are when it happens because they usually call me when everything is back to normal. The server hosts a flat file database which all the workstations connect to. It has worked fine for years and only recently had issues. The guy says you can just be using the database and then suddenly it errors saying there is a network problem and shared folders are not accessible but then it can go back to working again. Everyone has to quit the database and go back in.

I have approached the database people and they are adamant nothing has changed and it must be a network issue. It did seem to coincide with this master browser error. Can I force the server to be the master browser and clear this error up to rule it out as an issue? Any thoughts appreciated.

@Nightmare - I don't believe there are any other DHCP enabled devices on the network but I will confirm.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom