[Samba] WINS problem?

[Chad Morgan]

I'm exeriencing a problem with about 10 Windows 2000 Professional clients connecting to Samba server on Solaris.

When connecting to the Solaris box, each of the clients gets a "duplicate name exists on the network" error. 

There are no duplicate names on the network and this affects all computers. The problem is temporarily resolved by unplugging the Solaris box from the network, booting all Win 2k boxes, then plugging the Solaris box back in.  This fix allows all clients to properly connect to the shares, but is not really a viable long-term solution.

This is a new problem that hasn't occured on a network that has been working properly until now, with one caviat.

The Solaris box is maintained by an outside vendor. I doubt they have changed anything in the Samba configuration, but I don't know for sure. Additionally, I do not have access to that machine.

All of the other information I've found so far relates to Win 2k servers and is in some way related to WINS. Also, all of the Microsoft information relates to servers. I haven't seen any solutions on the client side. So far the admin for the Solaris machine has been unwilling to look into the problem and is trying to shift blame.

I'm hoping someone here can provide some insight that I can pass along to the other admin that will hopefully cause him to look into the situation on his end. I would probably start by making sure the hostname (NetBIOS name) is not the same as the Workgroup/Domain name and possibly disabling WINS (if enabled). From there, I'm kind of at a loss of ideas. Also, if anyone has any ideas to fix this on the client side, your input would be appreciated.

Thanks
Chad Morgan