Can ping computer by IP address but not by computer name

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I have a Dell Vostro laptop that cannot see anything shared on the network. Email and internet work just fine, but I cannot access the shared folders on the Windows 2000 Server, nor can I install the network printers.

If I ping the server or any other machine in the domain by its IP address, it responds. If I ping the same server by its name it does not respond. If I try to map a drive to the share I get a “not found, please check your spelling and try again”.

laptop is Windows 7 Home Premium, 32 bit with 4 GB RAM.

I have done the following:
1. Disable host file.
2. Ipconfig / renew and Ipconfig /flushdns
3. Reboot the router.
4. Safe mode with networking
5. Turn off anti virus and firewall
6. Ensure network discovery is on
7. Ensure Client for Microsoft Windows is installed in networking
8. Enabled Netbios over TCP/IP in WINS
9.Browser and workstataion service is running
10. Changed to a different (static) IP address
11. The laptop is on the same subnet and workgroup

There are probably several more things that I tried but these are the most obvious ones.

Appreciate any suggestions.

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I am no expert but have you tried your router settings re wan set-up menu(or elsewhere on your router). Check to make sure respond to ping is not disabled.
May not be the problem but worth a look.

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Make sure the notebook network location is not set to Public. This sounds like a work computer so it should be set for the ‘Work network’ if that’s the case. Take a look at your network discovery settings in Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change advanced sharing settings (Home or Work)

Turn on network discovery and then check Homegroup connections. I use the User Accounts and passwords options to connect to other computers. This means you have to have an account on the server to make the connection. Your situation may be different though.

Anyway, see if that gets you there.

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Is the server a domain controller? Win 7 Home Premium can’t connect to domains.

How are other machines in the network connecting to the domain?

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Thanks for all your replies.

1. Yes the network profile is set to “Work”
2. I turned off 128 bit encryption, set it to 40 bit in the file sharing setting, still did not help.
3. I am not trying to join the domain, which the home edition cannot do. I am trying to access a share on the file server, which a dozen other windows 7 home premium and windows xp home editions can access without any problem

Typically when a new machine or new user tries to access the server, they get a login prompt.

Which this machine when I click on start and in the the Search programs and files box type server, I get not found, check spelling error.

If on the other hand I type 192.168.0.4, I get the login box.

So there is a DNS type name translation problem going on. Hope this helps.

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What is the result of entering ipconfig at a command prompt? How does the result differ from one of the computers where the host name lookup works? It seems to me that the PC that doesn’t work has an invalid address for the DNS.

Also, can you ping other PCs on the network by name?

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The address is fine, this machine can ping all machines in the workgroup AS WELL AS THE DOMAIN and get responses. It cannot find any computer by name in the domain.

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10. Changed to a different (static) IP address

If you are setting a static address on that client, be sure that ONLY DNS server that you have listed is the IP address of the Domain Controller.

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Regrading these questions:

What is the result of entering ipconfig at a command prompt? How does the result differ from one of the computers where the host name lookup works?

I should have said “ipconfig -all” because that is what gives you a lot of network info. Post the results of running “ipconfig -all” from both the PC that doesn’t work and from one that does.

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