i know i've posted similarly, but i've tried everything. smbd and nmbd just won't run; the puzzling thing is that i'm not getting any errors anywhere.

-daemons are enabled in boot process
-daemons supposedly start in boot without error
-swat shows that daemons aren't running
-network is never available
-pinging is successful on all machines
-testparm reveals no errors
-samba 3.0.4 has been installed and reinstalled
-susefirewall2 has been disabled
-firewalls on all other machines (2 xps's) have been disabled
-internet connection is consistent

does anyone have any suggestions?

can you try the commands below to ascertain whether smbd and nmbd are indeed running

If they come up with nothing, you can be assured the services are indeed down.

check the logs (messages and log.smb and log.nmb).

Are tcpwrappers blocking connections to smbd and nmbd (hosts.allow, hosts.deny)

Hope smbd and nmbd are configured to listen on the subnet you are on (the interfaces and hosts allow parameters)

SUSEBOX:~ # ps -C smbd
PID TTY TIME CMD
2653 ? 00:00:00 smbd
SUSEBOX:~ # ps -C nmbd
PID TTY TIME CMD
1942 ? 00:00:00 nmbd
1943 ? 00:00:00 nmbd

i guess they are running?

here's a bit from
/var/log/messages:

Jul 13 04:03:46 SUSEBOX nmbd[1942]: [2004/07/13 04:03:46, 0] nmbd/nmbd_become_dmb.c:become_domain_master_browser_wins(341)
Jul 13 04:03:46 SUSEBOX nmbd[1942]: become_domain_master_browser_wins: querying WINS server from IP 127.0.0.1 for domain master browser name MSHOME<1b> on workgroup MSHOME
Jul 13 04:03:47 SUSEBOX nmbd[1942]: [2004/07/13 04:03:47, 0] nmbd/nmbd_become_dmb.c:become_domain_master_query_success(225)
Jul 13 04:03:47 SUSEBOX nmbd[1942]: become_domain_master_query_success:
Jul 13 04:03:47 SUSEBOX nmbd[1942]: There is already a domain master browser at IP 24.88.127.149 for workgroup MSHOME registered on subnet UNICAST_SUBNET.
Jul 13 04:04:08 SUSEBOX nmbd[1942]: [2004/07/13 04:04:08, 0] nmbd/nmbd_browsesync.c:domain_master_node_status_fail(247)
Jul 13 04:04:08 SUSEBOX nmbd[1942]: domain_master_node_status_fail:
Jul 13 04:04:08 SUSEBOX nmbd[1942]: Doing a node status request to the domain master browser
Jul 13 04:04:08 SUSEBOX nmbd[1942]: for workgroup MSHOME at IP 24.88.127.149 failed.
Jul 13 04:04:08 SUSEBOX nmbd[1942]: Cannot sync browser lists.

/var/log/samba/log.smbd:

[2004/07/13 03:20:54, 0] smbd/server.c:main(757)
smbd version 3.0.4-SUSE started.
Copyright Andrew Tridgell and the Samba Team 1992-2004
[2004/07/13 03:20:57, 0] lib/pidfile.cidfile_create(84)
ERROR: smbd is already running. File /var/run/samba/smbd.pid exists and process id 4076 is running.
[2004/07/13 03:24:36, 0] smbd/server.c:main(757)
smbd version 3.0.4-SUSE started.
Copyright Andrew Tridgell and the Samba Team 1992-2004
[2004/07/13 03:24:37, 0] smbd/server.c:main(791)
standard input is not a socket, assuming -D option
[2004/07/13 03:24:38, 0] lib/pidfile.cidfile_create(84)
ERROR: smbd is already running. File /var/run/samba/smbd.pid exists and process id 4076 is running.
[2004/07/13 03:33:13, 0] smbd/server.c:main(757)
smbd version 3.0.4-SUSE started.
Copyright Andrew Tridgell and the Samba Team 1992-2004
[2004/07/13 03:33:13, 0] printing/print_cups.c:cups_printer_fn(108)
Unable to connect to CUPS server localhost - Connection refused

/var/log/samba/log.nmbd contains the same nmbd info. from messages.

i can't competently answer the question, but here's a line out of smb.conf:
hosts allow = 24.88.126.16, 24.88.127.149
hosts deny =

the second address is this machine. do i need to specify subnets too?

again, from smb.conf:
interfaces = eth0, lo

all of this info, especially the logs, probably means more to others than it does me. any ideas?

smbd and nmbd are indeed running.
If there are other machines on your network that need to access samba, you do need to include their IPs too ... or the subnet they are on.

alright, there was one more and i added that, still no luck with the daemons though...should that have made the difference?

also, .do those logs mean anything?

can you explain to us what you are trying to do, what commands you run to connect to this Samba server? Are you connecting from another Linux machine or Windows?
What error do you get on the client?

i want my suse machine to be part of my windows network (two xps), specifically for the purpose of playing media across the network. i originally intended it to be a server but plans have changed and now i just need accessibility on the windows network.

i was connecting from an xp machine when the network was working properly. my workgroup is still visible/accessible from each xp.

when the network was up, i didn't get an error on the xp client.