Cross platform networking

[Maz2007]

I have a home network with three machines on it: a PC running Windows XP, one running Windows Vista and one running Ubuntu (I think "G").
The XP machine and the Ubuntu machine can see everybody on the network, but the Vista machine is making trouble (of course).
The Vista sees and talks to the XP, but denies all knowledge of the Ubuntu.
When I ping the Ubuntu I get all four packets through, and when I typed the IP address in Explorer I got the following message:


windows Network Diagnostics
windows confirmed that “1O.O.O.2’ is currently online, but is not responding to connection attempts at this time.
This usually means that a firewall is running somewhere between the two computers and is blocking “File and printer sharing (sMBY’. Windows has confirmed that windows Firewall on this computer is correctly configured to allow this connection. However, a remote firewall might be blocking your connection.
If you have access to this firewall then configure the firewall to allow connections through TCP port *CENSORED*. If you don't have access, contact your network administrator or Internet service provider.


Now, to the best of my knowledge there IS no firewall on the Ubuntu machine (whose internal IP address btw is 10.0.0.2).
Any suggestions? Could this mean the firewall on the router?

 

[JohnWill]

Typing the address in explorer assumes the Linux machine has a web server running, I'm guessing that's not the case.

See if this article helps: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=236

 

[Maz2007]

No.
Typing the address in Windows Explorer circumvents the DNS, so instead of typing, for example, PC1 you type the IP address and it gets there faster, and tells you that the computer is really there and that the problem is with the router.

 

[JohnWill]

MaZ2007, please think before you post. IE is looking for an HTTP based web server, and if the machine isn't running one, it won't matter if you use the IP address or the computer name, it won't work.

My guess is you didn't actually try this before posting, right?

 

[Maz2007]

Actually I did.
I successfully got to the XP pc on my network using only the IP address, and it isn't running a web server either.
When I typed the name of the Ubuntu PC (Ubox) I got nothing, a whole lot of nothing.
When I tried the IP address I got the above-mentioned message from windows.
It clearly recognizes that the pc is there, I can even see it on the ARP table of the router and when I ping it I get a response. When I look for the computer in Windows Explorer I get that message which says that the pc is there, just not talking to the Vista machine.

 

[TerryNet]

Sorry that I don't have any ideas to add, but please note that one of you is saying Windows Explorer and the other is saying Internet Explorer.

 

[JohnWill]

OK, I submit. I thought we were talking about IE, not Windows Explorer, sorry.

 

[Maz2007]

I accept your apology, and it is partially my fault, I wrote in the first post just plain Explorer, thinking it was clear that I meant Windows Explorer.
Anyway, any new thoughts on this issue?

 

[TerryNet]

Typing 10.0.0.2 into Windows Explorer on the XP machine gives the desired results, right? If so, my suspicion is a non-Windows firewall (security suite) on the VIsta PC is the "remote" firewall.

 

[Maz2007]

The XP PC has full access to the Linux PC, the Vista doesn't. But both PCs are using the same firewall, ZoneAlarm.
I will disable the firewall on the Vista and try again, but I don't think that that is the problem.

 

[JohnWill]

Maybe there's some filtering going on in the Linux machine, do you have any kind of firewall running there?

 

[TerryNet]

Sometimes ZoneAlarm causes more problems "disabled." But it's worth a try.

 

[Maz2007]

No firewall on the Linux machine, and disabling ZoneAlarm didn't help.
Any other ideas? I was thinking maybe the firewall in the router... but that doesn't make too much sense.

 

[JohnWill]

Router firewalls are on the WAN/LAN interface, not on LAN traffic. That end of the router is a simple Ethernet switch. What's the exact make/model of the router, some higher end models may indeed have firewall capability.

 

[Maz2007]

Siemens ADSL SL2-141