[Catalina]

Hi,

Have been running a small, two computer network since 12/05 with no probs. But today, 10/16/06, the net stopped working and the computers can no longer access each other. Computers HP Pavilion 2000 laptop (Catalina) running Win XP Home, no name desktop (CJ) running Win 2000 Pro.

They are both connected to a Belkin Wireless G Router (Laptop (Catalina) is wireless, Desktop (CJ) is wired), then to a Zyxel Prestige DSL 600 modem. Both computers can still access the internet individually, but they cannot access/connect to one another for file/print sharing, etc.

Both are in same workgroup, "Mshome." When I click the 'Mshome' icon on the Laptop (Catalina), it lists both 'Catalina' and 'CJ,' but when I click on CJ, it gives error message "\\CJ is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The network path was not found."

When I click the 'Mshome' icon on the Desktop (CJ), it lists only 'CJ.' That is it lists, and apparently sees, only itself, not the Laptop.

The XP Firewall is disabled.

Could access permissions for the Laptop (Catalina), have been corrupted or deleted somehow? If so, how can I restore them? If not???

I'm not that technical and am at a loss here...any suggestions or ideas would be welcome, 'cause I really need these fellas to talk to each other.

Thanks.

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Have you tried resetting the router

[peterm]

Have you tried resetting the router

[Catalina]

Hi,

Yes I did. Sorry I didn't mention it.

And when I go to the router page (192.168.2.1), from either computer and access the DHCP client list, both computers show up with their MAC Addresses & their separate router assigned addresses.

[peterm]

So what has changed have you added any software / hardware or updates?
go to the command prompt type in ipconfig enter
you shold get a list that shows Ip address, Subnet mask, Gateway. When you have both address for ip go to
Catalina and at the command prompt type in ping and the ip address for CJ enter eg C:\documents and settings\catalina> ping 10.1.1.3
Do you get a time out or a reply?
to get to the command prompt Start>all programs>accessories>command prompt
The ip address should be similar and the subnet mask and the gateway should be the same
Cheers
Peterm

Edited by peterm, 17 October 2006 - 12:34 PM.

[Catalina]

Hi

Only updates added in past week were 'official' windows updates from their site.

HOWEVER...it's working again and I have no idea why. I did two things last night:

Added user ASPNET to each machine.

Shut down the entire system (both computers, router, modem) for 8 hours.

When I got up this morning, they were speaking to each other, but differently. Back when it was working before, to access a file on CJ from Catalina, immediately after Catalina was booted, I was always prompted to enter the password for CJ Administrator. When I did, I had full access to everything.

This morning though, after starting the modem, then the router, then booting both computers, I could access everything except one file and was never prompted to enter the CJ Admin password at all.

The one file I couldn't access from Catalina, a spreadsheet data file on CJ, worked fine after I went into CJ opened the 'Properties' for the file, went to the security tab, added user 'everyone' and gave 'everyone' privileges.

Does anyone know what happened? Has my security been compromised in any way?

BTW, when I 'pinged' Catalina from CJ, 2-3 out of every 4 attempts received a reply. Never got all 4. When I pinged CJ from Catalina, got 4 for 4 every time.

Thanks for your time and for the suggestions, I appreciate both very much. Be curious to know when you have time, what you think happened, but I understand that you probably have more pressing stuff to deal with.

Thanks again.

[peterm]

Could have been the updates
Yes they come from Microsoft but they can cause trouble thats why we ask.
May I suggest you make a restore point on both computers.
Start>all programs>accessories>system tools>system restore. Create restore point.
Cheers
Peterm

[Catalina]

Hi,

Just wanted to add that the same thing happened again yesterday afternoon. Everything, both computers, suddenly stopped communicating exactly as described before. I again shut the system down for about 10 hours and the next morning it worked fine again, save for that one spreadsheet file.
When I went back to the permissions on that file, I discovered that the 'everyone' privileges I had added last October were gone! No idea why. I readded 'Everyone,' with full privileges, and everything seems to be working fine now.
BTW I had added no new programs for at least 2-3 weeks prior to this occurance.
Is there a poltergeist here? Just curious.

mm