[thorkil]

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I am pretty sure that this has been dealt with before, so hope somebody will remember the solution and help out.

I have two computers (Dells) fairly new, both running xp-pro with sp2 & all patches, that have the problem. They will NOT network consistently, though both can sometimes see the workgroup, and sometimes one or both can see the other computer. Rarely, access across the network happens, but always on the next reboot it is gone again.

The error message shown above always appears when things go wrong. [sorry, I can't get my screenshot into this post. Anyway, it's "<computer name> is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact your system adminstrator " blah blah & so forth...

Dell tech support gave up, back when these were brand new computers. Naturally they saw it as a Windows problem, and maybe it is...I really don't know.

Edited by thorkil, 10 April 2007 - 05:42 PM.

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It almost sounds like a faulty cable or NIC if the systems on occasion can talk to each other...

[thenotch]

It almost sounds like a faulty cable or NIC if the systems on occasion can talk to each other...

[thorkil]

Yes, in the past I have replaced the cables along with hardware, each of the (3) sets of wireless gear I've bought came with new cables. Tried NetGear, Linksys , currently have DLink router .

Just to be sure, I unwrapped 2 new cables and changed out the cable from modem to router, & from router to desktop . After bringing the system up (modem first, then router, then computers) I have the same situation.

But good suggestion, we have to start by eliminating even the unlikely things. Wish it had worked. Thanks for the reply.

P.S. This makes me really uneasy, I won't sleep tonight thinking that Yes you could be right about the NIC, such a cheap ($20) little trinket could certainly be faulty, and I never thought of that before....I just assumed that a brand new one from Dell would be good. Which, considering I've already lost a hard drive onthis computer, is probably not a smart assumption.

so, Thanks again, I will check that out too.

Regards
Thorkil

Edited by thorkil, 10 April 2007 - 07:15 PM.

[thorkil]

checked out the NIC suggestion. That wasn't it, but at least I got ONE intelligent response which may be above average for this forum. (Grumbles don't help, I know, but since I'm talking to myself anyway, who cares?)

I finally fixed this problem. Funny thing is, the way I did it CAN'T be working, according to Dell. They say that installing NWLink NetBIOS and NWLink IPX/SPX NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol absolutely cannot be the solution. But again, who cares, I did this on both notebook and Desktop and now the network functions for the first time in months. Speed seems normal and sharing is fine. Only anomaly is that My Network Places is slow to come up and I have to click through Entire Network, Microsoft Windows Network, then after a long wait I see my workgroup, click that & wait again awhile, then see the computers on the workgroup. After that it works fairly well.

So not a very elegant solution, but it works so again, who cares? Maybe posting this will help some desparate person with the same problem. Or, a joke. It seems this unemployed bartender and a camel walk into an auto parts store. The counter guy sez "We don't get many bartenders in here."
Except for k, fractional dimensions such as d are derived from first discussing the dimentia with a berserk
camel driver, preferably in an auto parts store, which can lead to an accumulation of differences substantially in agreement with most forum members having full bladder control.