CoD lan.

[bothered]

Hi guys,
Little bothered just asked me for a lan game of CoD. If I start a game, he can't see it.
The network is working, both PCs can see all shared folders etc. I went start>run>command and pinged his, all ok. If I do the same on his I get the message below. (I saved this from his to mine over the network) He can play online with no probs but no on the network. My PC is xp pro sp1, his is xp pro.
Any ideas?

[Black Hawk]

Any more details on the network settings on each computer? Also, why not install SP1 (or SP2 while you're at it) on his computer?

[bothered]

It's just two PCs on a home network. We share drives and folders and a printer. We played CoD months ago when we first got it, either end could start a game. When I set up the network I could use ping from either end so I don't know whats changed.There is no other problem with either PC regarding gaming, network or internet.
I will put sp2 on my PC and on the kids but it'll have to be when I'm off work for a few days, just in case.
I have no idea what that error message means.

[entropy]

This has happened to me on occassion. No idea what caused it, nor what fixed it. Double check for any firewalls (that includes the one in the router, too) that might be blocking ports...
Other than that ... sorry, I have no idea... :-/

[EMT]

Does cmd have the same weird effect as command?

[bothered]

Sorry for the delay, I've been working, again!
CMD works and the kids PC can ping mine.
So to refresh, both PCs can ping each other and the network is fine. Both can run and play CoD online. We can both start multiplayer games but can't see them from the other PC. What's going on?

[Clutch]

Do you still have your XP disc? If so the only way I found to fix the Autoexec.nt file is to expand it off of the i386 dir on the cd to your system32 dir. If you look into your system32 dir you will find that the Autoexec.nt files isn't there which is why you are getting this error. Make a temp directory called autoexec and put your xp cd in. Load up a command prompt and then browse to the i386 dir on that cd. Then do a command called "expand autoexec.nt_ c:\autoexec" the file on the cd is called Autoexec.nt_ so include the _. That should expand the file to that temp dir, go back to your temp dir and see if the file is there, if so then copy it to your system32 directory. The file will delete itself once you reboot so right click on the file and make sure it is set to Read Only so that it will not delete itself.

That should work for the Autoexec.nt error, and it might work as well for the command.com file also.

[EMT]

Are they in the same workgroup? Can you try connecting by IP address instead of searching the LAN?

[bothered]

Same workgroup, everything on the network is fine. The problem is just with CoD. I tried adding new favourite and entered the ip address and it still wouldn't see the game. I can ping the ip address though.

[Clutch]

Did you happen to try what I suggested above. That should fix it, I know it fixed the same problem I had at work a week ago.

[bothered]

To be honest clutch, not yet. It looks a little scary. I will do it but I'm into a 75 hour week at work which started on Saturday. I'm off next week so I'll try it when I'm not tired and have more time. Thanks for that.

[Clutch]

No problem Bothered. It isn't that bad, it is just really taking the file from the cd and putting it on the hard drive. I'm sure if you look into your system32 dir you will see that the autoexec.nt file has deleted itself.

[bothered]

OK, I tried just copying autoexec.nt to the kids PC, it didn't work but you were right clutch, it was missing. I did an install of XP so now it has sp1 as well. It still won't work! The network is fine, I can ping everything from everywhere, both PCs have email internet ect and both can play games online. BUT I can't see a LAN game from the kids PC! There is no firewall. We've played before so I know I don't have to open ports or anything. HELP!!!

[Clutch]

Is it only CoD that has this problem, or other games as well. After the install of XP, are you getting that same error? If it is, look into the system32 directory to see if autoexec.nt is still there. Also, when you copied autoexec.nt to the kids PC did you expand it off of the install cd? If not, then use that command in my other post to expand the file into a temp directory then copy it over, and make it read-only so it doesn't delete itself. I had this problem with a customer computer about 3 weeks ago, but it wasn't for a game it was for a program he used in his business. I tried expanding hte file off of a XP cd, made it read-only and it worked like a charm.

[bothered]

Thanks clutch.
After reinstalling XP I did the same with CoD. Little bothered is killing me all over Europe now.
Thanks again.

[Clutch]

Glad you got it all fixed, got to love Windows eh, heheh