PCA Forums

None of my computers are seeing each other now!
I unplugged the router and when it went off I got a popup message from 2 computers I was looking at, so they were seeing the router and I guess it was working fine. I guess I'll start playing the PING game and see if I can ping everything from various PC's.

I have been having trouble getting all the computers to see all the others.
Sometimes 1 may see another but then that one does not see the first one.

All I really want to do is have access to EVERYTHING on any computer from any other computer! Regardless which computers are turned on or turned off I want all the ones running to see all others that are running.

Any simple way to do that with the following setup?

OLD laptop Win98 SE wireless (not used much now)
Tower 1 W2K Cat5e with Linksys 10/100 PCI card (used for internet also)
Tower 2 XP PRO Cat5E onboard 100/1000 (gigabyte board)
Tower 3 XP PRO 64 bit Cat5e onboard 100/1000 (gigabyte board)
New Laptop Vista Home using either Cat5e or wireless both built in.
Tower 4 XP Pro Cat5E I think Linksys 10/100 PCI card, not used much

That is what I have right now and I don't share internet on any, just the W2K connects with modem on dialup.

Router is a Linksys wireless.

I have never been able to get all these computers to see all the others. I often have 1 computer see 2 others, and 1 of those will see one other but not the same two. So when I want to transfer files it's a crap shoot which computers see each other. Often PC 1 will see PC 2, but PC 2 will not see PC1 so I have to run back and forth between them.
This is driving me buggy already and now tonight nothing sees anything!

To make this a bit worse soon, I have an external HD case with Lan connection I was going to put on the router when I get a new drive for it.
I Just ordered a new printer, I think it has built in wireless also and I may want to use that.
I am rebuilding an older system and will be adding it to the works.
I have another Linksys 10/100 router sitting here (not wireless) I thought I might add to get more cable connections. cratch

When you say "See each other" what do you mean exactly? Do you mean going into My Network Places (or whatever it's called now) and not seeing all the computers when you click on "View Workgroup Computers"?

If so, this is a notoriously unreliable way to find computers on your network - especially since you're mixing Operating Systems. When you use this method you're relying on a very ad-hoc system where one computer on the network arbitrarily decides to be the network browser and index all the machines on the workgroup. It never works reliably even when you configure all the PCs to be on the same workgroup.

You should browse a computer directly by it's network name or IP address. If that works reliably then all is okay.

For instance if the network name of your laptop is "LAPTOP1" then on any other computer you should be able to click on the Start button, then click Run and type \\LAPTOP1 and click Ok (you can also type this into the Address bar in any Explorer window). That should bring up the laptop (assuming it's setup to share).

Optionally you could use the IP address. All the computers on my LAN have static IPs (except the wireless laptops). Same deal: If (for instance) the PC's IP is 192.168.1.12 then at the Run prompt type \\192.168.1.12

You can create shortcuts to your network PCs by opening an Explorer view to the computer's shares (using either method mentioned above) and then dragging the address from the Explorer address bar to the desktop.

Now all this assumes there is nothing wrong with your network (bad router, bad switch, bad cables, etc). It also assumes you have shares and share permissions setup properly on all the PCs.

Hope this helps.

I always just use Windows Explorer to browse the network and look for the files I want to move so I guess I'm always going through the My network places that way.

I tried the \\PC1 but get error cannot find it and the name is correct I used.
I also have a shortcut direct to that hard drive I made before that normally works every time, today it is not working either.

I have to go for a bit. I will startup all the computers later today and try them all. I'll look up all their IP addresses also if set. I think I have them to obtain address automatically though, at least on the W2K system used online.

I unplug the cable or shut off the router and I get the popup cable unpluged message so I guess the computers are getting to the router fine.

I lost the power supply for the other router. I would think they both would use the same P/S and be the same volts although 1 is wireless and the other ain't. Maybe I will swap routers later today also.

I would see if you can ping the PC1 computer. If you can't then something is really screwed up.

Check the IP of each PC and make sure they're all on the same subnet (first three numbers of the IP should be the same). I've seen situations where there's a second DHCP server on a network (like a PC with VMWare Workstation installed) and half the computers were getting their IPs configured by the wrong DHCP server.

Just because the NIC lights up and Windows says it's connected to the router doesn't mean everything is okay with the network. You could have a bad cable, or a bad port, or a bad NIC or a switch patched back to itself causing a loop.

Are all these store bought cables or home made? If home made did you use a tester on the cables? Did you wire them standard? If you break the internal wire pairs you will have major packet loss.

I am using all store bought cables, though the longest one was store made on site but working fine for years. Removed it for now anyway.

I could ping 1 way but not the other between 2 PCs, I shut down the firewall on the internet PC and could ping both ways then. I'll have to see what TINY is blocking that is wrong for incoming.

Still can't find anything with explorer using \\name or \\ipaddress yet going either direction.

I think I might rename my systems and start over, 1 step at a time using names that are easier to distinguish which pc is which. Like 3dStuff PC, Internet PC, etc..

I have to run back to town again now.

Back again for a few minutes.

When I look in network properties some systems have more junk installed than others.

For the network and internet with modem, what all should be installed for W2K to share with Vista home, XP Pro and XP pro 64? Also 98SE?

I will call this one "Internet PC" and it runs W2K
Client for MS networks
File print sharing for MS networks
NWlink Netbios
NWlink IPX/SPX/Netbios compatible transport protocal
Netbeui protocal
Internet protocal (TCP/IP)


My main work box right now is XP Pro and I'll call it "3Dstuff" and it needs to connect with XP PRO 64 and Vista Home and W2K
This one now only has
File and print sharing for MS networks.
Internet Protocal (TCP/IP)

I had just removed some things earlier that were installed. This one is lan only no Internet ever. Onboard Realtek lan on Gigabyte board.

I'll look at my other PC suing XP Pro and see what it has in a few minutes.