Problems with wireless network and WinXP/2000

[SupraGuru]

New on the forums, so hello to all!

Anyhow, I've been having a reoccuring problem with networking my XP computer with the others. Let me give an idea of my current setup.

--Cable Modem--
----Belkin 54G wireless---
------XP Media Center P4, connected directly to router via Cat5
.........4 Win2k systems on wireless G PCI

The problem is that all the wireless Win2k will communicate with each other through windows, whereas the XP computer is not recognized. The only way I have been able to send/receive with the XP computer is through DOS via a net file server. The XP system has internet access and is in the same workgroup as the others, but does not show up when searched for or linked on the Win2K computers. I cannot access the Win2K systems from the XP computer either.

Hope this is easy to follow, since I am not in the least a network expert.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PartieHonteuse]

What's the IP Addy (private IP, not the public ) for the XP machine, and what is the IP addy for the 4 win2k machines...also the subnet masks... and what is the router via cat5 connected into, your diagram is a little misleading lol

I'm amussing the cat5 router is on a different network address.

 

[SupraGuru]

Private IPs: 192.168.2.*

Router: 1
Laptop 1: 2
XP: 3
Laptop 2: 4
Win2k PC: 5
Win2k PC 2: 6

Subnet: 255.255.255.0

The CAT5 runs from the modem to the router, and off the router is another cable that runs to the XP system. All others are connected through the 802.11

I should also add that the XP machine will not even allow me to access the network when I try to view the contents of the network or search for computers.

 

[PartieHonteuse]

ah ok, so i looked up the specs on the wireless router and it seems that it also has ports for wired networks. But if all IP blocks are the same and subnet masks are the same...

from the XP machine, can you ping any of the win2k machine names?

And is DHCP enabled on the router?

Edit: also, try opening internet explorer & in the address bar try..

\\xpMachineIPaddress\shareNAME

where XPMachineIPaddress is the IP address of one of the machines and the ShareNAME is the share on the XP machine...of course do this from a 2k machine, if it connects, then you have a naming problem.

 

[SupraGuru]

Thanks, I'll give it a try. I'm positive that it's a Windows problem, but it's just that the XP system is the only one giving me trouble. Like I said, I can connect to the XP machine from the wireless machines, but only through Netfile server.

 

[SupraGuru]

Well, turns out that in fact it was a naming problem. (Despite the fact that I've been trying this for the last few weeks.) One thing I did change in the router setup was the network name, but I do not know how that relates directly to Windows. My take is that the network name in the router is required to match the Windows network name in order to link the wired and wireless computers together, which seemed to be the case. Sometimes all it takes if for someone to point me in the right direction! I tend to over-complicate things at times.

Thanks for the help.

I am still having one odd problem..

I can now access the wireless computers from the XP machine, and the 2K machines will show the XP machine, but whenever I try to logon to the XP machine from another computer, I get the following error: 'Path not found'.

 

[SupraGuru]

OKAY!

I found a really easy solution. Norton internet security and the Windows firewall were giving me hell. Norton now allows traffic from the other computers on the network.

 

[rasputinj]

OKAY!

I found a really easy solution. Norton internet security and the Windows firewall were giving me hell. Norton now allows traffic from the other computers on the network.

I was just going to post check XP firewall, those firewalls are great but they also a pain.

 

[SupraGuru]

I was just going to post check XP firewall, those firewalls are great but they also a pain.

The router's firewall seems to be doing a great job. It's logged and stopped so many odd-ball IPs that it actually scares me, as I've been a dialup guy for a long time. The only thing that Norton ever picks up are outgoing; such as program registration ap's. Now I just have to find out where all the extra MAC addresses are coming from! :eek!:

Looks like I'm in to do the whole security thing now.