Continuing LAN problem

[Gustavus]

I have three computers that I wish to share files between and to share access to printers on two of them. The physical net consists of a D-link Dl-604 router which is connected to the LAN using a LinkSys ethernet powerline adapter. The router provides internet access through a cable modem. The other computers are connected to the LAN with a LinkSys powerline adapter at each computer. Each adapter "sees" the MAC for the other two adapters on the LAN in the LinkSys software. All three computers have excellent internet access -- average 4.4Mbps for the gateway computer connected directly to the router and a little over 3Mbps for the two that are communicating with the router over the powerline link. On several occasion the LAN has functioned just like it should. Clicking on Start/My Network Places on any one of the three, brings up the icons for the shared folders on all three computers, and clicking on the icon for any one of them opens a page with icons for the shared folders, printers etc. on that computer. That is when it works. The Lan does not work that way most of the time. For no apparent reason, one or both of the icons for the shared folders on other computers will go away. Right now none of the computers are seeing shared resources on any other computer.

The computers are named Gus (my computer), Gail (my wife's computer) and Lab (the gateway computer connected directly to the router). Here is the odd thing. Even though no icon for the shared folder on the other computers appears when I click on My Network Places, I can click on Start\Run and then enter \\Gail on either Gus or Lab and bring up all of the shared resources on Gail. Similarly I can enter \\Gus on either Lab or Gail and bring up all of the shared resourse on Gus etc. So clearly the router is able to resolve the address for each of the computers on the LAN. Things change, and sometimes one of the computers will "see" one of the others in the sense that the icon for it's shared folder will come up when My Network Places is clicked, but then won't come up when I do the same thing later. The LAN is broadband as shown by bandwidth measurements on net, and not noisy as shown by the absence of errors being corrected.

The other strange -- and probably related -- thing is that when I click on View Workgroup Computers only the local computer is shown.

When I started typing this (on Lab) the only icon shown when I clicked on My Network Place was the shared docs icon for Lab. Just now when I clicked on My Network Places to be sure of the wording for View Workgroup Computers, the shared docs icon for Lab and Gus were shown -- but not for Gail

I have been fighting this problem for weeks and it is driving me nuts. Anyone have a suggestion of what the explanation could be.

All computers are running Windows XP.

 

[ktwebb]

Yes, do not need network places. It's that simple. What exactly is it that you need it for anyway? You already know how to use the UNC path to get to remote resources. If you want to go one step further and have WIndows explorer accessibility then just map a drive to the shared resource. Just make sure connect at next logon is checked and your pretty much done. Network Places/Neighborhood has never been worth a crap without having either a WINS server, DNS server, or both. I use windows networking daily. Have for years but I bet it's been 4 or 5 years since I even thought about using Network Neighborhood/Places. For a peer to peer network it is, and always has been IMO, a joke.

 

[Gustavus]

ktwebb,

Thanks for the reply. It never occurred to me to simply ignore Network Places/Neighborhood since I assumed they would work if only I could figure out what was wrong and it seemed the natural way to get to the shared resources on the other computers on the LAN. I knew how to get to the shared resources on any computer from any of the other computers by going to Start/Run etc. and in fact have been using that route to get to the laser printer in the laboratory from Gus and Gail. I am surprised that MS would have fielded such an error prone bit of software for such a commonly needed funtion as networking.

 

[ktwebb]

NN works well in a corporate environment with WINS or DNS server in place and on a windows domain. To some degree I agree. MS could have done a better job with their utility but it's typically more a problem with name resolution than Network Places. However if you can use the computer name in a UNC path then your resolving fine. As mentioned, just map some drives if you don't want to use UNC all the time.