Flakey Home Networking

[SJP0tato]

Hi guys,

I have a question about my home network. My home network consists of 3 desktop computers connected to a Dlink wireless-b router by cat5, and a single laptop connected by the internal wireless card. My problem is this:

I can loadup my laptop, immediately get connection to my router and can surf the web, do anything online basically. But if I try to access any shared folders on my desktop computers my laptop will not see them. Accessing the shared folder that's located on my laptop from the desktops works fine. Any attempt to see the desktop computers from the laptop fails, but after maybe 10 minutes of using the laptop suddenly I can "see" the desktop shared folders and access/use them. All the desktops & laptop are using Windows XP with SP2.

Is there anything you guys could think of that would not allow my laptop to access the desktops through my network for a certain span of time? My network is encrypted using WEP, but I wouldn't think that would cause this sort of problem.

If anyone can offer any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[wseyller]

Turn off windows xp firewall and any other software firewall you might have for example norton internet security. If you need the firewall you have allow internal ip addresses for lan usage.

 

[SJP0tato]

Thanks for the suggestion...I completely forgot to mention the internal Xp firewall is turned off and there's no 3rd party firewall software installed. My fault for forgetting to mention that.

Something else I notice: I can go to "My Network Places" and can see/access the shared folders from the other computers, but if I browse through the "Entire Network" icon it's hit or miss. Generally though once I'm able to browse through Entire Network I'll have consistant access until I power-down the laptop. Then the problem begins again. My best guess is maybe it takes windows a few minutes to communicate from computer to computer & allow the shared folders to become recognized? This would seem like such an odd practice however. :-/

 

[wseyller]

Try going to Start, then Run and type in \\machinename

For example if the computer name is "Computer1" then type: \\Computer1
You might be able to access it that way. Some people of trouble networking with tcp/ip because of the high security. Some people use the Netbeui protocol over tcp/ip

 

[sjgmoney]

Ding, Ding, Ding Wseyller has hit the nail on the head. TCP/IP sharing seems to be hit or (mostly) miss. Using NetBEUI solved my problems, I've never failed to see my networks shares since. Check out
Jack's Site for instructions.

 

[CJP]

I've got a laptop on wifi and sometimes it takes a few clicks on My Network Places in Windows explorer to get my shared files to come up.

 

[VirtualLarry]

SJP0tato, sounds like you are seeing the behavior of the standard Windows' workgroup-based file-sharing networking features.

In a single workgroup/on the same IP LAN segment, the machines basically argue amongst themselves as to who will become the "browse master". This is called an "election". Once the "browse master" is elected, then it has the responsibility of maintaining the master browse list, basically a list of all of the machines in the workgroup, and their open shares. It sometimes takes some time before the "election" can finish and things start to settle-down on the workgroup LAN, and also for your client PC to find out which of the other machine (or itself), is the "browse master", and then to download the master share list.

It's a bit messy and annoying, I know. There's a reason why Windows' workgroup-based file-sharing protocols are somewhat well-hated in the industry, and why most places set up a Domain-based architecture instead.

 

[mstanchi]

Hi I'm using Norton Internet Security 2004 running (automatically enabled on start up). Also, I have two xp home edition computers (a laptop and a desktop) configured with DHCP and Home networking (XP's firewall is disabled). I can only remotely access the files from the deskop computer when Norton Internet Security firewall is disabled. is there a way to configure this software to allow computers in my LAN to not be blocked? thanks!

 

[wseyller]

Click on Personal Firewall, and click on configure. Go to the networking tab and specify the ip addresses assigned by the router. You could even set a range, like 192.168.0.100 to 192.168.0.200 depending on your router. If you go to Run and type in "cmd" without quotations and then type "ipconfig" without quotations in the console and beside Ip Address will be what your computer was assigned.

 

[jjoyner]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
SJP0tato, sounds like you are seeing the behavior of the standard Windows' workgroup-based file-sharing networking features.

In a single workgroup/on the same IP LAN segment, the machines basically argue amongst themselves as to who will become the "browse master". This is called an "election". Once the "browse master" is elected, then it has the responsibility of maintaining the master browse list, basically a list of all of the machines in the workgroup, and their open shares. It sometimes takes some time before the "election" can finish and things start to settle-down on the workgroup LAN, and also for your client PC to find out which of the other machine (or itself), is the "browse master", and then to download the master share list.

It's a bit messy and annoying, I know. There's a reason why Windows' workgroup-based file-sharing protocols are somewhat well-hated in the industry, and why most places set up a Domain-based architecture instead.

I second this statement. Make sure they are on the same workgroups. Also, nab the IP of the other machine and try to navigate to it that way (i.e \\192.168.1.200) and you prolly will be able to go to it.
If you are using network neighborhood, I can't remember if WinSocks is enabled in XP, but it would resolve computer names to IPs. IF you are all on the same subnet, you should be able to get to each other through IP addresses. (if you can ping i the other machine, you are talking to it.)