Network issue [SOLVED]

[Khamsin]

So, I got my new laptop (Dell XPS1730 running Vista) and router (DLink DGL-4500) and everything seems to be working great. I had a desktop and another laptop (both running XP), previously. So currently, all three of them are on the network.

The desktop (directly connected to the router) sees both the new and old laptops just fine. The laptops (wirelessly networked), however, cannot see each other, although they both can see the desktop.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

[Cephius]

Make sure network discovery is on on both computers, see if you can ping the IPs from each wireless laptop. Take it from there.

[Khamsin]

Make sure network discovery is on on both computers, see if you can ping the IPs from each wireless laptop. Take it from there.

Network discovery is turned on for the new vista laptop. The old XP laptop had a setting for "Visible" on the network, which was checked. The desktop can access both, but they just can't access each other.

I didn't try pinging, but I did try going to \\laptop and \\laptop2, which are their names, but only the desktop could access those.

Oddly enough, the old XP laptop complains when I try to view the workgroup, saying it doesn't have access to see the other computers on the network (yet I can still access the desktop by name). And the new vista laptop shows the old laptop's name in the workgroup, and yet says its not there when I try to access it.

[Cephius]

Try it by IP, trying to open them by name can be spotty. Do a \\192.168.1.###\C$ from one to the other and see if that works.

[Khamsin]

I'll try when I get back home, but my old laptop is at .101, my desktop is at .102, and my new laptop is at .103.

Aside from the new laptop, I think that's how it was with my old router, too.

But on the note of my old laptop not being able to view the computers on the network (when trying to "View Workgroup" in XP), yet being able to still go to my desktop by name, what's up with that? How can I get it to see what's on the network? It used to be able to, before I switched the routers.

Also, think there'll be any issues with the fact that I never set up a new connection for my old laptop when I switched routers? I kept the same SSID and WEP key, so it never really noticed the change. However, I can access the internet just fine from it, and can access the router itself (192.168.0.1).

[Cephius]

Workgroup doesn't have much to do with computers being able to discover each other, I never use "view workgroup" as it rarely will show all the devices on your network. I always just log into the router, most will show you all devices connected to the network and what IPs they have assigned to them. Don't forget that on most home routers, IPs are dynamic and can change somewhat often. Your laptop may have been .103 yesterday but it could be different today.

[Khamsin]

Workgroup doesn't have much to do with computers being able to discover each other, I never use "view workgroup" as it rarely will show all the devices on your network. I always just log into the router, most will show you all devices connected to the network and what IPs they have assigned to them. Don't forget that on most home routers, IPs are dynamic and can change somewhat often. Your laptop may have been .103 yesterday but it could be different today.

I didn't use "View Workgroup" to see that info, used the router admin tools. I used "View Workgroup" to see if it noticed what was being shared on the network.

If I didn't know what was on the network, I'd normally view workgroup or network connections to see what computers, printers, or shared folders are up and then browse them. But on my old laptop, it complains that I can't. That's the issue.

I can on my new laptop, and desktop, however.

As for the IPs, yes they can change, but in the past couple years my laptop and desktop have never changed. My old laptop has always been .101 and my desktop has always been .102.

[spaghetti_monster]

Is windows firewall enabled? If not, do you run some other kind of software firewall? If you have ZoneAlarm ect. try to disable all your security software. Check your TCP/IP settings on your wireless network adapter and make sure you have "Enable NETBIOS over TCP/IP." checked. Your router might not be assigning your NETBIOS info correctly. I had this happen once before and this worked. Start by troubleshooting all the simple things first.

[Khamsin]

Disabling the firewall did nothing, and the laptops cannot ping each other. They can ping the desktop, however.

It appears that the directly-connected computer can access all computers on the wireless network, however the wirelessly connected computers cannot access anybody but the directly-connected computer.

Anyone ever heard of such a thing before?

[Shuemue]

Not taking the piss, but you did run the wizard, right? This sounds like the behaviour I get when I add a machine to my LAN, it'll get internet connectivity but most of it stays invisible.

[Killgannon]

tracert 192.168.0.101 from 103 and vice versa

does it make it to the router and die there? or does it try to go somewhere else?

[Khamsin]

The only wizard to run is the internet connection wizard, and I'm already connected to the internet.

tracert didn't make any stops, didn't go anywhere. It worked to/from my desktop, though.

[Killgannon]

can both laptops not see the other? can the laptops ping the desktop?

fuck there goes 666 posts =/

[Khamsin]

can both laptops not see the other? can the laptops ping the desktop?

fuck there goes 666 posts =/

It's like this:

Router is directly connected to the desktop.
Laptop1 is wirelessly connected to the router.
Laptop2 is wirelessly connected to the router.

The desktop can see, ping, and otherwise access Laptop1 and Laptop2.
Laptop1 can see, ping, and otherwise access the desktop.
Laptop2 can see, ping, and otherwise access the desktop.

however

Laptop1 cannot see or ping Laptop2.
Laptop2 cannot see or ping Laptop1.

Network discovery is on, NetBIOS announcement is enabled on the router, the firewall was turned off but didn't make a difference. Ping and tracert just time out.

[Khamsin]

Nevermind, problem solved.

It was a two-fold issue.

1) The "Security Center" service on my old laptop was disabled, and somehow prevented the laptop from seeing the network. I enabled it, which didn't fix the problem by itself but it did allow me to see the network.

2) Firewall issue on my old laptop. Disabling the firewall before didn't do anything because of problem #1. With problem #1 out of the way, what I had to do was tell my firewall to trust my home network based on my new router's MAC address. My old router's MAC address was trusted, but then I changed routers.