Try restarting the computer.

⻬ If you missed the error messages the first time, restart the computer and watch them again. ⻬ Better yet, press F8 when you see the message Starting Windows. This displays a menu that allows you to select from several startup options, including one that processes each line of your CONFIG.SYS file one at a time, prompting you before proceeding to the next command. Double-Checking Your Network Settings I swear that there are little green men who sneak into offices at night, turn on computers, and mess up TCPIP configuration settings just for kicks. These little green men are affectionately ? known as networchons. Remarkably, network configuration settings sometimes get inadvertently changed so a computer, which enjoyed the network for months or even years, one day finds itself unable to access the network. So one of the first things you do, after making sure that the computers are actually on and the cables aren’t broken, is a basic review of the computer’s network settings. Check the following: ⻬ At a command prompt, run ipconfig to make sure that TCPIP is up and running on the computer and that the IP addresses, subnet masks, and default gateway settings look right. ⻬ Call up the network connection’s Properties dialog box and make sure that the necessary protocols are installed correctly. ⻬ Open the System Properties dialog box double-click System in Control Panel and check the Computer Name tab. Make sure that the computer name is unique and the domain or workgroup name is spelled properly. ⻬ Double-check the user account to make sure that the user really has per- mission to access the resources they need. Using the Windows Networking Troubleshooter Windows comes with a built-in troubleshooter that can often help you to pin down the cause of a network problem. Figure 17-1 shows the Windows XP version. Answer the questions asked by the troubleshooter and click Next to move from screen to screen. The Networking Troubleshooter can’t solve all networking problems, but it does point out the causes of the most common problems. 228 Part III: Network Management For Dummies