Can't find an external hard drive connected to my router

[jackc]

I just bought a new comstar external hard drive and connected it to a linksys router. I have a pc wired to the router and a wireless laptop. Can someone help me determine why I can not see the computers drives or the external hard drive from the other pc.

My laptop is running vista.
My other pc is running XP.

Help.

 

[Nodsu]

"can not see" means what?

Did you read the manual of the network storage box and actually set it up properly?

 

[jackc]

Unfortunately it did not come with a manual. By "Can Not See" I mean I can not locate it from my laptop or from my wired PC. At the same time I can not locate my wired pc from my laptop. It seem the PC's connect to the router and to the internet, however the router does not recognize the secondary hardware (PC or External Hard Drive).

 

[Nodsu]

The router is not supposed to "recognise" anything. Nor are your computers supposed to recognise anything. At best, your router may tell you which IP address it assigned to the network hard drive and you may be access some setup page at that address using a web bowser.

Network devices are supposed to be independent and secure. As a rule you don't get plug and play. (I am not going to mention the eevil, eevil sucky uPNP here) You have to set up stuff. Perhaps the external hard drive came with a CD with a PDF manual or a setup utility? Or maybe they have a homepage with some guidance?

 

[jackc]

Seems as my operating system on my PC was corrupt. Rebuilt the PC and all connections on my home network are working.

Thanks for your input.