Uncommon Network Problem

I have two computers on a wired TCP/IP network. There is a cable modem attached to a router. The computers both see the internet connection. Both machines have all the proper services activated, both have names, and both are on the same workgroup. I can ping the router from each machine (no surprise) and can ping one machine from the other but not vice versa.

Both machines are running XP Professional. I have tried setting the network up manually and using the network wizard. Same results. These same two machines talked nicely when they were running Win 98.

IP addresses are established by DHCP.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

couple of things to check, each computer must have an indvidual computer name and share the same workgroup, second, try entering in you run command "\\the other computer name", or "\\the ip of the other computer"

Make sure that the firewall is disabled on both PC's. XP comes with a built in firewall, the settings are in the network settings. Just disable it and see if that helps the issue.

-DudeDomain

I think DudeDomain's suggestion about the firewalls is most likely, but if that doesn't resolve the issue, can I have a look at the ipconfig for each machine? Click Start, Run and type "ipconfig /all > C:\ipconfig.txt" (without the quotes). A black screen will flash onto your computer, after which you can copy the contents from the ipconfig.txt file into your next post. Do this on both computers.

Below find the output from the two ipconfig runs. I do NOT have the MS firewall on on either of the machines, but Zone Alarm is present. I am checking both Zone Alarms to see if that is the problem.

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : ehk
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : charterpipeline.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 PCI For Complete PC Management NIC (3C905C-TX)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-50-DA-27-92-45
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 24.205.224.36
66.215.64.14
24.205.1.14
Lease Obtained. . . . . : Friday, April 23, 2004 4:55:12 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . : Thursday, April 29, 2004 4:55:12 PM


Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : lwk
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : charterpipeline.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SMC EZ Card 10/100 PCI (SMC1211 Series)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-E0-29-33-B5-95
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.101
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 24.205.224.36
66.215.64.14
24.205.1.14
Lease Obtained. . : Saturday, April 24, 2004 8:13:47 AM
Lease Expires . .. : Friday, April 30, 2004 8:13:47 AM

Those settings look fine. I would do as you've already said and check ZoneAlarm. Either make sure that this is configured for home networking, or disable it completely for testing purposes. If it's set up incorrectly, it will block communciation between computers on the local network.

I gave Zone Alarm a range of IP addresses to work with and it got out of the way immediately. I guess it is true that there are no complicated problems, just simple ones we don't see the answer to.

Thank you all kindly.

Glad you got it working. Firewalls can be annoying on networks, because while they prevent your computer from external attacks, buy default (unless configured otherwise) they also block access to your computer from local networked computers. Anyway, you figured out what was wrong and that's all that matters