[wombatau]

Thanks -- will try that

[wombatau]

I uninstalled Trendmicro from all. I made sure Windows firewall was off. It seems <gmw> and <dad> are still fighting each other. In Network Places Dad can see Lifebook, but NOT gmw, gmw can see Lifebook but NOT Dad, Lifebook can see Dad and gmw. If I ping from each then the results for that are exactly the same as I described for Network Places.

[wombatau]

I made some changes and clean-ups and the only remaining problem is that gmw see can Dad but cannot access Dad -- "//Dad is not accessible -- pathway no found"

[JohnWill]

We're making progress. Can any computers access the Dad computer properly.

[wombatau]

Yes -- the laptop (XP Pro) can access the Dad (XP Pro) and gmw (XP Home) fully.

[TerryNet]

Which computer(s) is/are the Master Browser now?

[wombatau]

I don't know how to work that out. What do I have to do to find that?

[TerryNet]

Sorry; run the nbtstat -n on each PC. The line "..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered" means Master Browser.

[wombatau]

The computer <Dad> is the master -- that line does not appear on the others.

[JohnWill]

Try booting the Dad computer in Safe Mode with Networking and see if you can access it that way.

[wombatau]

All computers access all other computers crisply and fully. Also, all computers can ping all others without hesitation.

[JohnWill]

Is this only in Safe Mode, or did you get it all working?

[wombatau]

This is only in safe mode -- when I load normally it is the same as before the safe mode. Lifebook can access Dad and gmw, Dad can access Lifebook and gmw, gmw can access Lifebook but cannot access Dad.

[JohnWill]

This screams out a firewall is blocking.

Using MSCONFIG, try disabling groups of applications in Normal Mode until it works, you should be able to narrow down what is blocking it.

[wombatau]

That is what I would have thought right from the start, but right now Trendmicro has been uninstalled and I have not re-installed it as yet. The only firewall now is Windows and I have that turned off. I will try the msconfig........thanks for persisting with me.