[Roaneveil]

I just hooked up a d-Link dsh-5 hub to connect my 2 computers. Soon as I turned them on they both found the internet, no problem. The problem is they don't seem to be able to see each other. I ran the network wizard, still no go. I made sure they have the same workgroup name and they both have individual computer names. Any help would be great, thanks! Just to add.... I can ping by ip address but not by computer name. Also, the computers don't show up in network places.

[VBScab]

My initial guess would be that you have either used a cross-over cable for one of the PCs or you have plugged one of them into the cross-over port. Most hubs have at least one such port, to enable simple piggy-back type connection to another hub or switch. Most vendors I've encountered use port 1 for that and some provide a hardware switch so that you can use it as a cross-over or normal port. So, the simple test is to move any cable plugged into port 1 to another port. If that fails, make sure you're using vanilla 10BaseT Ethernet cables and not cross-overs.

Also, are the PCs set up to use DHCP or have to hard-coded IP addresses for them?

[JohnWill]

Since they function for Internet connections through the hub, it's clearly not a cabling issue.


Top suspect here is a misconfigured firewall. Disable ALL firewalls as a test.



Turn off any firewalls for debugging. If the firewall is the problem, you'll have to configure it to allow access to "trusted zone" addresses. Note that some firewalls must be completely uninstalled to stop them from affecting your networking.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt.

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following commands:

PING each remote computer by IP address, and if successful, PING by name. Open a command prompt as described above and type.

PING <ip address>
or
PING <computer name>

Where:
<ip address> - is the x.x.x.x IP address
<computer name> - is the computer name

A failure to PING is almost always a firewall configuration issue. Any failure to PING needs to be corrected before you go any farther.

Note: You can obtain the IP address and computer name of a computer by opening a command prompt (DOS window) and typing IPCONFIG /ALL. This should work for any Windows version. The IPCONFIG /ALL display will provide a wealth of useful information for debugging your network connection.

Check your Services are Started on all PCs:

• COM+ Event System (for WZC issues)
• Computer Browser
• DHCP Client
• DNS Client
• Network Connections
• Network Location Awareness
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Server
• TCP/IP Netbios helper
• Windows Zero Configuration (wireless configurations)
• Workstation

Note: You can check the services in Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.

All of these services should be started, and their startup type should be automatic.

If a service is not running, open it's properties and check the dependencies. Check each of the dependencies and see which one is preventing the service from running. Checking the event log is also a good idea here, there may be clues to what is failing.


All computers should be in the same workgroup for computer browsing to function properly. File & Print Sharing has to be enabled on any computer you wish to share files or printers from. You also need to actually share the resource in question from My Computer, right click on the drive/printer/folder, and select sharing.

If you encounter difficulties accessing computers that are visible in Network Neighborhood, make sure the computer being accessed has an account with the same name/password as the system connecting to it uses to login.

While the default NetBIOS setting is correct for normal network configurations, it's possible for it to be altered, and it costs nothing to make sure it's correct. NETBIOS over TCP/IP must be enabled for normal network browsing.

[Roaneveil]

I can ping both computers by ip address but not by name. I haven't yet disabled the firewall. I have the xp firewall running. I don't think AVG Free acts as a firewall, does it? If it can ping by ip could it still be a firewall issue? All the services you listed are started, and their startup type is automatic. I named the workgroup the same & both computers have unique names. Nothing except the computer I am on is visible in Network Neighbourhood. I have sat for NETBIOS over TCP/IP. Actually, I used your post to someone else as a starting place. Thanks, what next?

[JohnWill]

Let's see this for each of them.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following commands, one at a time, followed by the Enter key:

Note that there is a space before the -n or the /ALL, but there is NOT a space after the - or / in the following commands.

NBTSTAT -n

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter to copy the contents to the clipboard.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

[Roaneveil]

This is the main computer

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

C:\Documents and Settings\Roaneveil>nbtstat -n

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [24.108.22.220] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
HOLLOWDARK <00> UNIQUE Registered
HIVE <00> GROUP Registered
HOLLOWDARK <20> UNIQUE Registered
HIVE <1E> GROUP Registered
HIVE <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

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

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : hollowdark
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : gv.shawcable.net

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : gv.shawcable.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/100 M Network Connectio
n
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-07-E9-C7-3D-CF
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 24.108.22.220
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 24.108.20.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.59.160.40
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.59.160.13
64.59.160.15
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 2-Jan-09 0:04:21
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 3-Jan-09 12:52:20

C:\Documents and Settings\Roaneveil>

And this is the other one.
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Starkweather>nbtstat -n

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [24.108.14.158] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
STARKWEATHER <00> UNIQUE Registered
HIVE <00> GROUP Registered
STARKWEATHER <20> UNIQUE Registered
HIVE <1E> GROUP Registered
HIVE <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

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

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : STARKWEATHER
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : gv.shawcable.net

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : gv.shawcable.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 PCI TX NIC
(3C905B-TX)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-10-4B-C8-6C-9E
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 24.108.14.158
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 24.108.12.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.59.160.40
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.59.160.13
64.59.160.15
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, January 02, 2009 12:16:27 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, January 03, 2009 9:02:47 P
M

C:\Documents and Settings\Starkweather>


Also I tired to pin this computer by name & ip (worked), ping Loopback address & loopback name (worked), ping other computer (worked), ping other computer name (didn't work). Could this mean NetBIOS name resolution failure. If so how do I resolve. Thanks much!

[JohnWill]

Yikes!

You have public IP addresses, and you're opening up network file/print sharing!

You need a broadband router, this is a VERY dangerous practice! In addition, there is no certainty that networking will work like this anyway, as you've already discovered. Also, when one of the addresses get changed, it will frequently be enabled on a different subnet and networking will fail. Note that both of them think they're the master browser, which indicates that they don't recognize that the other machine is connected. Doubtless the browser election packets are not being passed because the ISP network never expects to see file/print sharing enabled on a public IP address!

Get a broadband router PRONTO!

[Roaneveil]

What if I set IP to private? Would I then be able to keep both hooked to the net as they are now? I don't really care about the file/printer sharing. I mainly wanted to be able to multiplayer games and connect to the net (which seems to be functioning on both). Lost me a bit on the second paragraph... What is the difference with a broadband? Don't really understand subnet, etc. Thanks

[Roaneveil]

I re-ran the network setup wizard & said no to file sharing. Does this fix the security problem? How do you set ip private / public. Should i both turn off file sharing & set private? How is master / client determined / set? Without file sharing is it possible to just get the computers to recognize each other for gaming. Feeling very ignorant, please help

[JohnWill]

You can't set the IP address to a private address and have anything work. If you change from the subnet you're on, the computer will not have any connection.

Get a broadband router!