I just set up my roommate with a wireless PCI card so he can be online via my router. So he's wireless, and I'm wired... so why can't I see him on my network? I thought it might be my firewall (I'm using Sygate), but I turned it off and I still can't see him. He's not running any kind of firewall either, so I'm stumped. I should be able to see him, right?

 

See him as in File sharing? What OS are you running? Is he getting online ok?

 

I don't see him in file sharing. We're both running XP.

I also noticed something last nite when his computer started running suspiciously slow... the fan on his power supply isn't running. Bad news, I know. I have no idea how long it had been running like this or what kind of damage it caused. I'll find that out today and see if maybe that had something to do with this problem.

 

Re Fan: He's likely overheating big tim! A suspiciously slow system can also mean he's been bombarded with spyware..Look into that. About file sharing/networking. Try running XP's (almost useless) network setup wizard. Than make sure you both have the same network name. Make sure you both have the client for ms networking, and file/printer sharing.

When all else fails, get a mac and use Rendezvous!

 

Dont forget to actually "share" the drives you want to shar. Right click the folder/drive and select the sharing option.

 

You can Oil most power supply fans. remove the Fan. flip it around and peel off the circle sticker. Under that is a either a hole or a round rubber seal (remove the rubber seal) Add some 3in1 Oil and spin the fan with your finger for a bit. It it still feels stiff its more than likely SHOT.

 

Personally I wouldn't use 3 in 1 oil, IMO it attracts way too much dust and the issue will probably start up again real soon. For the same price as a bottle of good parafin based bike chain lube, or less, you could go buy a new fan!

 

dont forget the windows xp firewall

 

Yep, a few Xmas's back my youngest son brought over his XP Pro machine.
We had the same network name setup (a must by the way, for all PCs to see each other and share, they must have the same network name) but I could not see him, and he could not see me.

Turned out it was his XP firewall.
Tunred it off, and both PCs showed up in the "My Network Places" on the desktop.
Do not need the firewall when behind a NAT equiped router such as my Netgear 614.

 

First things first though, I gotta check out the power supply and find out what's wrong with it, and probably order a new one. I didn't know the fans on power supplies could be replaced. I'll check it out once I pull it out.

I didn't think about XP's firewall. I'll look at that once I get it up and running. I'll also check out if he's got any folders set to "share". Thanks a bunch, guys!

 

bump...thats my idea too....

start off by trying to share the entire computer (C: Drive or whatever)

 

I only have the stock shared folder on both PCs set to share, and they see each other fiine.

The laptop is set to not share at all, and it too shows up on both of my desktops, and the two desktops on it when viewing Network Neighborhood.
Only have Win 98 on the laptop.

XP Pro on the two desktops.

You should not have to set anything up to share in order to see it in the network area.

Even though I am behind a NAT firewall (Netgear 614 router) I will not share my entire C drive.
Now the older desktop I will sometimes when I want to listen to MP3s from the 2nd hard drive on it, and listen to them on my new PC in the other room.

 

Greetings,
In a good security set-up, you should have multiple layers of security. Most of the security issues that have come into play lately have been threats from INSIDE your network or FROM your PC out to the internet. These mostly come in the form of rogue active x controls, java applets and from downloaded spyware, trojans, virii and worms.
NAT or network address translation in either static or dynamic form does nothing to combat these problems. If you have no software/hardware firewall or any other type software to let you know what is going OUT of your PC, you can have a problem and never know it.
I would highly recommend that you utilize any software or hardware firewall you have available. They have a bit of a learning curve but they are not impossible to learn how to use and will provide a big benefit.

One other comment, hardware firewalls are Computers that are designed to specifically operate at certain layers of the network. I agree that "hardware" may be better but software is better than nothing.
There are several available for free on the net. Tiny Firewall is a rules based firewall that is easy to use and very robust.

Good luck!!!

 

Well, I don't know what I did, but it's working now. Thanks for all the help.

 

glad to hear you fixed....lets hope you dont have to do it again if you dont know what you did....

 

Well, he just bought his machine from a friend, so its settins were all fubar'd. The network connections were all bridged, and I deleted the bridge to get them back to normal, and I think that's what did it.

 

Greetings,
Nework settings that are fubared. at the command prompt
Ipconfig /all to see them
IPconfig /release to get rid of them
Ipconfig /renew to get your IP settings renewed from your router (DHCP)

Thhis is also good if your having trouble getting on line and don't want to keep restarting your PC. Has the same effect as a restart,,,NOT A COLD POWER DOWN START.

MV

 

MvCrash I think nailed the possibly cause of the problem. If the bridge was offering an IP address starting with 169.x.x.x (default Microsoft) and the client was either static or wasn't asking for a new IP address then fubar indeed.

Wireless host ot host: ADHOC

I perfer using cross over cables and adding static IP address with each client having the other client's IP address has a gateway.

I used this setup to backup files between a host and a server both on a wireless network. Something about 100 meg network interface versus 11 meg wireless that motivated me.

 

explain to me what this is actually doing and how it can help a connection....I like knowing what is actually happening when I do stuff...thanks

 

CynicX one of the hosts could have had a static IP address while the other client would have had a different IP address, that's one explanation.

Second explanation, both hosts had dynamic IP address that were dissimiliar.

Third, both hosts were asking each host for a dynamic IP address and neither host was getting one. This explanation is complicated because Microsoft dynamic hosts will default to 169.x.x.x IP address if they don't receive an address from a DHCP host or server.

Troubleshooting commands;

ipconfig (provides IP address of network interfaces -- including wireless)
ipconfig /release (refreshes IP address to 0.0.0.0)
ipconfig /renew (requests a new IP address -- assumes a host or server will provide an IP address)

A wireless configuration needs to be adhoc configured between the two hosts. Wireless network connection still needs an IP address to function.