LAN?Gaming?Ping?

[rubber chicken]

I've got a small network going between 2 pc's mainly for gaming.The whole thing was working fine until one day it just stopped working.
I've tried the "test direct play" thingy in the dxdiag app and hosted a session on pc #1 then tried to join from pc#2 to no avail. Then i tried to ping pc#1 from pc#2 and that worked,then i tried to ping pc#2 from pc#1 which didnt work(request timed out) so i tried to ping pc#2 from itself which didnt work either(request timed out). Then i unistalled the drivers and the network protocols on both pc's and reinstalled them again and reassigned them their ip's but that didnt solve the problem eiter.
Both pc's are running win xp pro with sp2 and the firewalls are both turned off.
The strange thing is we can still send each other data over the network with no problem,but are unable to see each other when hosting a game or in the dxdiag app.
Am i missing something or what???
Desperately need help plzz!!!

Thx.

 

[bluestrobe]

Its an endless list with the info you gave. More details on the system, software, hamster wheel RPM, ect.

 

[rubber chicken]

err....sorry
its a pentium 4 2.4ghz
512 ram , intel mobo(dont know exactly what)
its on a network with another pc sharing its internet connection. The file sharing thingy is working fine but we cant play games over the lan so i tried pinging this other pc ( amd2.7 , 1.5g ram blah blah) which worked,i got a reply,but when i tried to ping the intel from the amd it said "request timed out" and when i tried to ping the intel from itself i got the same response.
Both pc's got win xp with sp 2.

Thx

 

[nweaver]

probably the windows firewall on the INtel PC.....or another firewall

 

[rubber chicken]

nope, both firewalls on pc's are off , norton firewall on intel pc off aswell.

 

[rubber chicken]

Read somewhere that firewalls run background apps even when their disabled? Can this be ???

 

[Concillian]

If PC#1 can ping PC#2
but
PC#2 cannot ping PC#1

there are only two things that I can think could be a problem:
1) The ip address you tried for PC#1 is not really the IP address assigned to PC#1
2) PC#1 has some software that is acting like a firewall

I can't think of any other scenarios, though that doesn't mean that there are no other scenarios

 

[Jon855]

Originally posted by: rubber chicken

The strange thing is we can still send each other data over the network with no problem,but are unable to see each other when hosting a game or in the dxdiag app.
Am i missing something or what???
Desperately need help plzz!!!

Thx.

Are you postive that you have the same workgroup name assigned to these computers? They can ping but maybe not to share data to eachother... Shouldn't matter but I had an issue similiar to this one last year, might want to check it out.

 

[nweaver]

does not matter, Workgroup is a windows network neighborhood thing.


I still think some sort of firewall is running/blocking. Can you do a net view //pc1 from pc2? or vice versa.....how about use event viewer to check event logs on other pc (ensure TCP/IP is working, RPC's are working).

the day it "stopped working" (or the day before) What changed (if you say nothing, then I might drive cross country and strangle you ) i.e. replaced net cable, windows updates, drivers, didn't sacrifice the goat before testing, etc

 

[rubber chicken]

ok . . . i ran the net view cmd on both pc's with no problems,gave me a list of cmd options.am i looking for something in there?? if so, what ?? also pinged the loopback addr on both pc's,no problems.But i still dont get a reply from pc#2 after pinging its ip.
I dont think its a firewall though,how can a firewall block a ping sent to a pc, from the same pc???
This is crazy,any other suggestions plz!! Or would a good old format do the trick???
Thx anyway