Check the server name or IP address, check your network connection, and the

Hi,

I'm getting this error message "Check the server name or IP address, check your network connection, and then try again" when I try to access my Windows computer on my home network. I never had problems before... I don't understand why this message suddenly appeared keeping me from accessing the shared folder on my XP based computer.

Thanks

Mac and IBM lover, Mac OS X (10.6.4), MBP, iMac, iPods, iPhone ...

Posted on Aug 22, 2010 12:55 PM

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26 replies

Aug 22, 2010 6:23 PM in response to Hedi ®

Hedi ® wrote:
Hi,

I'm getting this error message "Check the server name or IP address, check your network connection, and then try again"


This means that your Mac is not seeing your WinBox, either by IP address (a series of four sets of three numbers which might look something like this: 192.168.001.010) or by name (usually a SMB connection, which would look something like this: 'smb://winboxname' where 'winboxname' is the name of your WinBox).

Typically this means that you were connected by IP, and the target's IP address has changed.

when I try to access my Windows computer on my home network. I never had problems before...


You probably have DHCP enabled on your home net, and your WnBox's IP address has changed because its old lease expired. That kind of thing is why you should set up your net to either have fixed IP addresses or to reserve a specific IP for a specific machine, or you should use the smb name instead of the IP.

I don't understand why this message suddenly appeared keeping me from accessing the shared folder on my XP based computer.


See above. If you want to connect by IP address, you'll need to know the WinBox's IP. Go to your Start menu, select the 'Run' box, type 'cmd', hit Enter. You'll get the Windows terminal. In the terminal type 'ipconfig/all'. You'll see the IP address (and the MAC address, useful if you want to set up a reserved IP address). Ensure that the Mac is connecting to that IP. (enter 'smb://theIP' in the network connection box.)

If you want to connect by name, you'll need to know the WinBox's name. Right-click on 'my computer', select 'properties'. Click on the 'computer name' tab. There it is. Use 'smb://computername' in the network connection box.

Thanks

Aug 29, 2010 5:20 PM in response to Charles Dyer

Pinging the router gives this:

PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=2.304 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=2.805 ms

--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 2.304/2.554/2.805/0.251 ms

Aug 29, 2010 5:33 PM in response to angus turner

Pinging the Mac's IP address from the PC gives me this:

Pinging 192.168.1.99 with 32 bytes of data:
Ping:transmit failed,error code 1314
Ping:transmit failed,error code 1314
Ping:transmit failed,error code 1314
Ping:transmit failed,error code 1314
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.99:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss)

Message was edited by: Hedi ®

Aug 29, 2010 5:39 PM in response to Hedi ®

Did repair by right clicking on you airport connection on the PC, the computer reappeared in the Finder's sidebar, connecting takes a while, then returns me again the same error message "Connection Failed"
Pinging again from the Mac returns nothing but this:

PING 192.168.1.2 (192.168.1.2): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0

--- 192.168.1.2 ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss

Aug 29, 2010 8:11 PM in response to Hedi ®

Could be. What's the subnet mask, for all the devices? You can find out what the WinBox subnet is by typing ipconfig/all in the command box, where you typed ping. The subnet mask for the Mac should be visible in Networks/Airport/Advanced/TCP. All devices should have a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 if they're all on a 192.168.x.y network. And they should all be on the same network, and they should all have different IPs.

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Check the server name or IP address, check your network connection, and the

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