Weird problem adding XP box to a LAN

Hi Folks,

I have a friend with a really strange problem and I am throwing up my hands. I'd be greatful for any suggestions. He has and XP pro machine and a 98 machine on a LAN sharing a DSL connection on a Netgear router using DHCP. All is fine and he can share files between them. He recently added an XP home machine that can access the internet, get an IP from the router, BUT can't see the other machines. I have disabled the XP firewalla, checked the cables, network settings, and router. And even , more unusual is that the new XP home machine can ping the 98 box but the 98 box cannot ping the XP home machine. The XP pro and 98 machine still function normally and don't seem to be affected by the XP home pc.

I'm going to have a Beer and think about this one.

Thanks for any sugestions,

-Beer

Is he pinging by Name or by IP? Name resolution is my first guess.

check if you can ping via ips and then netbios names and report the out comes

we are pinging by IP

but not by netbios names

okie this normally means that it's not enabled on the box try pinging the 98 from the xp pro box and vice versa because they should be working if you can see them. then check in you network cards properties that netbios names are enabled and working. you can still browse the machines via the machines ip

example

\\xx.xx.xx.xx\

where xx.xx.xx.xx = the ip address of the xp home box

maybe something to do with domains? xp home cant cope with em

Try disabling Simple File Sharing on the XP machine.
Also you say the firewall is disabled but is the service running? If the service is running then stop it and set it to manual startup

:cool:

OK, here is the scoop. I just got back from my friends house and found out he had only disabled the firewall on the XP pro PC. I disabled it on the XP home machine and was able to ping the other machines right away using both IP's and Netbios names. Great, I could ping but the shares did not show when I tried to browse to them using "Add new network place". All worked fine though when I just typed in the address of the share. Once I did that I was able to browse to other shares on the network.

Thanks for your suggestions and remember, XP FIREWALL BAD!