XP box inaccessible from other XP/Vista boxes on a LAN

[Maverick]

Having a big problem with my main machine (running XP Pro). No other computer on my LAN is able to ping it or see any of its network shares. I've tried both Vista and other XP machines on the LAN with no avail. This box, however, can ping and access shares on the other LAN Machines.

It sounded like it was Windows Firewall related but I turned all that stuff off (both the application and the Windows Service). Still no luck.

There is a brief second or two where it is pingable and accessible from the other boxes during boot up, but it quickly gets blocked before fully booted. I thought this was a dead give away of a runaway process that was blocking the TCP ports, but I've thus far been unable to track down the culprit. I've tried a number of utilities and selective startup options but its still not clear whats causing this.

Anything else I could try? I'm at wits end here and I'm very close to reformatting/reinstalling Windows on this box if all else fails. Unfortunately all my Media shares reside on this computer so I'm trying to avoid that at all costs.

Please help!

 

[Netopia]

Try logging onto one of the other machines with a username and password from the unreachable machine. Could be a network permission issue.

Joe

 

[Maverick]

logging in? through remote desktop? At this point I can't even ping the unreachable machine to even try to log into it.

 

[Maverick]

still no luck...I've tried a number of things and still nothing can ping or access this machine even though its able to get out onto the internet and ping the other machines on the network. Please help.

 

[Netopia]

Let's say that the unaccessible machine has a user account called "fred" with a password of "fubar".

Go to one of the other machines, and create a user account called "fred" and give it the password of "fubar".

On the new "fred" machine, log in as "fred" with the appropriate password.

THEN, try to ping the other machine.

I seem to remember XP Pro having network security that does not network access unless it is from a known account (username/password).

The same test could be accomplished by going to user accounts, going to an account, and then to "manage my network passwords" and adding a username/password to use when you are accessing that box.

This may or may not solve your problem, but you should try it before bothering with anything else.

Joe