Wired + Wireless Won't Share Files

[Fox 3]

Hello,
I'm going to try to explain everything as best I can, please be patient :)

First off, I have a DSL modem (D-Link 604+) which is just acting as a router to my wireless router (Linksys WRT54GS). On this wireless router I have my laptop (wireless) and my two Desktop's (wired) connected. The internet works just perfect on all machines. Now here comes the tricky part.

- My #1 Computer can (i call it) talk to my #2 Computer and visa versa just fine.
- My #2 Computer can talk to my Laptop just fine.
- My Laptop and my #1 Computer are not speaking to each other.

So I ran the "setup home network" wizard on my #1 Computer and it says that it's currently set to connect through another "unknown connection" to the internet. So I think, ok that's weird, so I set my #1 Computer to be the one that the others connect through, because that's how it's set-up physically.

Well it tells me there was an error in setting up the network and to go back an select different settings. There really isn't much else I can select, the only one is my ethernet adaptor...I had the choice of my (onboard) Marvel Yukon or 1394, so I selected the Marvel Yukon.

Anyways I then went to my Laptop and ran the same wizard just to be sure and it set it up just fine.

So when I go to add a network place on either my Laptop or my #1 Computer I get the same result...I go to the screen where you Browse for a folder, so I expand "Entire Network" then "Microsoft Windows Network" then "mshome" to which it shows me all three of my computers...but then when I select (for example) my Laptop (from my #1 Computer) it just thinks for a minute and then it doesn't expand.

So here we are, at the end of my long winded problem. Fun wasn't it?? :)

Thanks for any ideas.

~FOX~

[glc]

You are trying to use 2 routers - this is not the right way to do it. You should be using a standard broadband MODEM, not a router.

You do NOT set the wizard for ANY of the computers to connect through each other. All computers should be set to connect to the Internet through a gateway.

[Fox 3]

mmm, I can't remember how we set up my modem and router, but you helped me with that so i'm sure that part is ok.
I'm going to run the wizard on all the computers again and make sure I select the right option.

here's the post i'm talking about:
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=158918

[Fox 3]

ok, just ran the wizard again on both machines, restarted them....no luck.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[DynamicTech]

What OSes are your machines running? If one of the problematic machines is running 2k, there may be a conflict to resolve.

Does the computer return any error messages or dialogs?

[Fox 3]

Hi Dynamic Tech,
My #1 Computer is running Windows XP Pro. SP2 and my Laptop is running Windows XP Home SP2. I do not get any error messages, it just won't show any files under the computer shown (eg. computer name "fox")

Thanks for the reply.

[glc]

Have you shared any folders?

[Fox 3]

yes, i just double checked. This one is making me really scratch my head. It seems to be my #1 computer giving all the grief.

[DynamicTech]

I have the same setup. I struggled all afternoon with this same connection issue. In my case, I had misspelled the name of my workgroup.

[Fox 3]

i used the default workgroup "MsHome" but I will double check. Thanks!

[Fox 3]

ok, yes i checked all 3 computers and ran the wizard again. They are all on the default ms home. Here is what it looks like when I try to "add a network place"

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h205/foxrocks76/Network/NetworkComputer1.jpg

and when I try to expand "mobile" it shows nothing.

All this networking stuff brings on another question. When I am setting up a network on my laptop (via Wireless) would I select (i know this sounds dumb)

"setup a home or small office network" or
"setup a wireless network for a home or small office"

Thanks again.

~FOX~

[Fox 3]

***SOLVED***

YAY!! I figured out the problem!!

Ok so it was my McAfee Firewall which was preventing access through certain ports. This is what I did to fix it:

- Opened McAfee Security Center
- Clicked on the Firewall tab on the left side
- Clicked on View Internet Applications List
- Clicked on Inbound Events tab on Left side

At this point I could see my other computers trying to get access and it was saying they were blocked...so then I selected one of the blocked events and it gave a summary report below which said what ports they were trying to access. I then clicked on System Services tool link and it brought me to a page where you have to specifically select which ports you want to open, so I opened ports 445 (Microsoft Directory Server) and port 139 (Windows File Sharing).

Now everything is fixed, all my computers are talking again like one big happy family!! :)

Thank you so much for your suggestions, I appreciate the help.

~FOX~

[glc]

All the more reason not to use McAfee. A router along with the standard XP SP2 firewall is plenty adequate for security.

[Fox 3]

I didn't know that. To be honest I've never been a fan of firewall software, it's been the root cause of may problems such as this one. I will take your advice and dump the firewall portion.

Thanks again.

~FOX~

[glc]

I'd dump the entire package and put the free AVG or Avast on there.