network problems

i have problems with the LAN in my house... the computers are all running windows xp. Just in the last few days the windows file sharing hasnt been working. I can ping all the other computers, even using the netbios names, but I can't access any computers on the workgroup.

when i try to access the network it says that "workgroup is not accessible, you might not have permission to access this resource. Network path was not found".

all the other computers are having the same problems, all using windows xp.

dont have a clue what is going on... I tried chaning the name of the workgroup... still doesnt work.

cheers all

You dont need to use netbios with XP. Have you tried accessing the computers using the UNC path? Try doing that, using the IP address instead of the using the netbios name. Also, make sure the account you are trying to access the network with has the appropriate permissions, or just try using the Admin account. Also try reinstalling the "File Sharing for Microsoft Networks" or whatever it is called on all the computers. Well hope this helps, good luck..
Nico

tried all that and it still doesnt work? i have no idea what is going on... all the computers on the network are doing the same thing! its really annoying!

thanks anyway

Well this doesnt surprise me with Microsoft products. MS Tech-Support would have probably told you to reinstall by now If you have any spare crossover, try disconnected two computers and hooking them together and see what happens. Sorry, I can't offer much more assistance, I think its a case of General Windows Weirdness. Good luck, maybe someone else will have some ideas..
Nico

My problem seems even weirder than the one described above.... (Are you sure that you don't have XP's automatically installed firewall enabled?). Rightclick my network places/ properties/local area connection /properties/advanced to check this.

I run 3 computers 2 XP professional and 1 Win 98.
I can see all local computers when going through: my network places/entire network/microsoft windows network/workgroup/, finally 3 computers.

I can click each of them and see the shared drives or folders, and everything to and fro the Win98 machine works fine... Cool eh?

But then when I try to access Win XP from Win XP, I get the eternal timeglass, and the whole machine more or less freezes. Sometimes it's possible to kill the process, (taskmanager) sometimes I have to reboot completely.

When I go through the "Add network place drill" (My network places) I easily connect to every shared item in a split second. A shortcut is added to "My network places". But next time I try to connect either by this link or by other means the same old "hanging party" starts all over again.

The problem exists from both ever XP boxes, though the seriousness of the "hanging business" differs slightly...
I've tried turning netbios on and off.
I've tried connecting the two directly (bypassing the switch) with a crossover cable, same problems...
Of course I turned any firewall or even virus scanner off and went through every aspect of the network setup I know.. which obvioulsy is not enough...


Sure hope somebody does....


Baldwin

Weird, but few minutes after I finally posted this I tried to remove the "Add Blocker" utility that comes with Tweak XP <URL> and... magic my network problems seem to have vanished.

Well I hope that at least somebody else will be able to use this info sometime so all my energy hasn't been completely wasted..

By the way, to get around the log on screen, and log on automatically, I used microsofts free "Tweak XP". The commercial program mentioned above said it could, but that didn't work for me for the log on part..

Baldwin

stuie,

Am having the same issue, did you solve this in the end?

What we are having is that if computer 1 is booted first it can be seen by computer 2. However computer 1 cannot see computer 2.

If computer 2 is booted first when computer 1 tries to "view networked computers" it comes back with the same message. "workgroup is not accessible, you might not have permission to access this resource. Network path was not found"