Networking XP with Win98SE

OK, here is the problem. Had a working network (via ethernet hub) of 3 Win98SE machines. Replaced the host Win98SE machine with a new XP pro machine. All machines on same workgroup. Host is 192.168.0.1 - others are .2 and .3 Win98SE machines use Windows Family Logon. OK, now for the problem - the XP host can see the internet, and can ping the two 98 machines, but it can't "see" (browse) the 98 machines. The two 98 machines can "see" each other and ping each other, but cannot ping the XP host. However, the 98 machines can "find" the XP host with a search of the network neighborhood and then "browse" it. XP firewalls are not enabled. I have tried the XP network wizard without success. Any ideas? This was supposed to be a simple replacement for a TCP/IP net!

Could you just explain what you mean when you say:



Do you get an error messages which you could tell me about?

What I mean by cannot "see" is that I can't find the 98 machines using a network search, nor do they show up in the "My Network Places" for the workgroup. I don't get an error message, no machines are found. This is odd, since I can "see" (search network neighborhood and find then open) the XP host from the 98 machines.

I may have a lead to a possible solution (although I've tried several things already). I forgot that PC-Cillin was installed as I was configuring my new system. I have recently learned that this may be cause some network problems. I will shut it down, and see if anything clears up. I hope so, because it seems so odd that the XP machine can ping but not see the clients, and that the clients can "see" but not ping the host (networking just shouldn't be this hard, right?!)

Yep PC-Cillin could well make a difference. Firewalls often protect your computer from local networks unless configured otherwise. This means that they'll stop the computer from being accessed by other computers. I'd be interested to see what happens when you disable this.

Okay, now I feel better (a little stupid, but better). It was the PC-Cillin firewall which was wreaking all the havoc with my home network. I had missed the firewall being activated and hadn't checked it when I was disabling all of the XP and other software firewalls! So, now I can communicate between the machines on my network again. Next step - enabling ICS. With win98 I had real trouble getting the DNS to work and ended up running a simple proxy server. Hopefully that won't be necessary with XP as the new host. Thanks for your replies - its good to have a forum which seems to have such good response times.

I'm glad you got it working

ICS should be reasonably straight-forward, but if you have any problems, then you know where to find help!