XP machine cannot see server even after host is added to hosts file

Question

I have added a machine to my network. One of my Windows machines (Vista Business) can ping it and see it, however, my XP machine cannot see the machine.

I have changed the c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file and added the entry:

123.345.567.890   foomachine

Strangely enough, I can ping 123.345.567.890 from the XP machine and get a reply, however when I attempt to ping foobar from the XP machine, I get a:

Can not find host foomachine. Error message

I am able to ping foobar (both by IP address and hostname) from my Vista machine.

Any ideas on what may be causing this, and how to resolve it?

Answer 1

Have you flushed the DNS cache on the problem machine? ipconfig /flushdns

Check the DNS lookup by typing nslookup foomachine and see what responds

Check the DNS entries on the server and see if entries exist for the system foomachine.