I currently have 4 PCs I am trying to network, plus a printer on a print server. Two of the PCs are running WinXP Pro, one is running Win2000 Pro, and the last is running WinXP Home. The print server is connected to the network using TCP/IP though a Hawking Technology PN7127P print server. One of the PCs (WinXP Pro) is a laptop, and is the ''problem'' at this point.
All PCs can see each other in My Network Places (at least the icons are visible for each computer). Double-clicking on the laptop's icon from another machine gives me an ''\\Inspiron is not accessible'' error. Each of the PCs and the Print Server all have static IP addresses, and are sitting behind a Linksys 4-port cable/DSL router with an additional hub, with the following addresses:
All PCs have the same workgroup name, and all can get to the internet using the router as a gateway/DNS, even the laptop. I have placed all of the IP addresses above into the HOSTS file on each machine. All machines can ''ping'' the Dimension, Upstairs, Pavilion machines and the print server. None of them can ping the laptop, even though it shows up in the ''View Workgroup Computers'' list. The laptop cannot even ping itself. As far as I can tell, all networking parameters match.
I have tried re-installing XP four times on the laptop to get this working, but to no avail. I have also tried using the Network Wizard (XP) on it to get it to work, and it doesn't.
Normally I would agree with you, but there are two things about that theory:
If the NIC *WAS* bad, then how could I even get out onto the internet at all? I can browse, do e-mail, ping (www.yahoo.com) and all of those work fine...
Also, the desktop machine (Dimension) can't Ping itself either, but it can do all the internet stuff fine too, as well as talk to the rest of the network.
Yes, the only addresses that are different are the IPs of the respective machines. The netmask and DNS entries are all the same.
I have a Linksys router that takes care of the external firewall, plus Norton Personal Firewall for the internal. It's only on the XP Pro machines (Dimension and laptop), but the other machine it is installed on works with the network just fine.
I don't use MacAfee - never liked it. I use Norton instead. It's installed on all of the machines.
I just tried the Network Setup Wizard floppy disk option, using the setup from another of the machines to try and set up the laptop. That didn't work either.
I'm sure you have sharing enabled on the laptop?..have you set the permissions on the laptop to allow access from your lan?
..ie..a guest account with access
Looks like turning on the guest account was the trick, although I am still at a loss as to why the other machines were still working with it turned off.
Anywho, everything seems to be working fine now. It does seem as though NPF is preventing some access. It looks like I will have to remove or disable it after all.
Thanks for the help guys - it was VERY much appreciated.
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