Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Unable to file / printer share - checked all sources of help i can !


macros
07-23-2007, 05:06 PM
Firstly, thanks to anyone able to help me on this problem. I have a PC (XP Pro SP2) and a Laptop (XP Media Centre). My network was all working ok until 2 weeks ago, when - i upgraded my laptop to vista (didn't like it and did a complete system restore to original setitngs of xp) and a hdd died in my main PC and did a full re-install of xp. Now, both are on internet ok, but i cannot file share or printer share between the two. I have looked on here, and many many searches on google and tried everything i could find to get the network working, but to no avail. Below is a list of all system info, and things i have tried.

Basically, my printer is on my office PC and i want to print to it from the laptop, and secondly i want to have certain folders shared on PC & laptop between each other.

All work was done before installing zone alarm on laptop & pc, but as i have been unable to get it working for over a week i have installed za suite until i can get some more ideas to try. Will uninstall on both if required to do any work needed.

I am on sky broadband with netgear wireless router. IP's are assigned via dhcp (but i have reserved ip address's in router for each device, as i have 2 xbox's running xbmc connecting to server pc as well)

Main PC :

XP Pro SP2 New install
All windows updates applied, no firewall installed
ipconfig /all gives the following info ....

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Matt>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : OFFICE
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8001/8003/8010 PCI
Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-D8-5C-41-78
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 18 July 2007 16:42:42
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 21 July 2007 16:42:42

C:\Documents and Settings\Matt>

Latop is running XP Media Centre edition
Fresh install (to factory spec)
All windows updates applied, no firewall installed.
ipconfig /all gives the following info ....

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Matt>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : SUSAN
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Networ
k Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-18-DE-7E-B4-AC
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.3
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 18 July 2007 19:30:02
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 21 July 2007 19:30:02

C:\Documents and Settings\Matt>

On both PC and laptop user account is Matt as administrator, with no password. I have seen sites saying to use password - so i set same password on both PC's - but still no working.

I have used the network setup wizard on both machines, set different machines names with no spaces or charectors, same workgroup same as detailed by most sites. I have also assigned names & workgroups manually to both but still no luck.

- Both machines can ping each others, as well as the gateway
- Both machines are on internet with no problems
- Both machines show shared documents folder in My Computer\My Network Places - but only the shared docs folder for that particular PC.
- Have tried with simple file sharing on and off on both PC's
- Both network connections have the fllowing installed
Client for MS Network
File & Printer sharing
Qos Packet Scheduler
Tcp / ip protocols
- I have tried changing node types to hybrid as described in certain websites - made no difference
- Have manually enabled netbios over dhcp in both machines - still comes up as disbaled.
- Have manually turned off windows firewall in both - still no luck.

SO, hopefully you can see that i have tried a lot of options (including pulling out any remaining hair on my head - but that didn't work either), so any help anyone can offer me would be very welcome.

Regards

Matt

tjfitzgerald
07-25-2007, 07:04 AM
Just a few things from these forums which have helped me in the past, first has been the big sticky note : http://forums.practicallynetworked.com/showthread.php?t=833

Although both are XP (MCE vs Pro SP2), you might try to enable the NetBIOS over TCP/IP which is currently disabled on both NICs.

Since you can ping, they can at least see each other, so I'm assuming that you have the same workgroup name set but check that out too (Keep it simple, I once misspelled the word WORKGROUP and didn't see it even after checking it several time, an old trick is catch spelling errors is to spell check backwards). Since you can ping both machines, try starting in SAFE MODE WITH NETWORKING to try to narrow the problem down (See if software is blocking your connection with firewalls, internet security, etc.).

Try opening up MY NETWORK PLACES to VIEW WORKGROUP COMPUTERS. Can each computer see the other one?