Networking Question

[ealvin]

I was using my Notebook computer on my home wireless LAN. All of a sudden I lost my network connection. I'm sure the problem is one that I created by something I did with my notebook computer because it was working before, I hit a key or something, and then I was no longer connected. So that may be the place for you to focus in analysing this problem.

I see the name of my network, Workgroup, in Explorer but when I click on it I get a message about it not being accessible and I may not have permission to use it and the network path is not found. Now, I was using it, no one changed any permissions, but suddenly I'm not able to access it.

I went to the Windows Knowledgebase and found what looked like an accurate description of the problem. It had several solutions, all related to opening up a port. I did those actions but my notebook still doesn't access the computers in my workgroup. Any ideas what I can do to get it back? Thanks.

 

[HoopaJoop]

First are you sure you are still connected to the wireless as far as ip connections are concerned? Have you checked your IP address, or pinged your gateway?

 

[ealvin]

Reply

Thanks for your reply. I am still connected to the wireless net. I can access the internet. I haven't checked my IP address, or pinged my gateway? Should I do these things, and if so, how do I do them?

 

[HoopaJoop]

If you can still connect to the internet then there is no need to ping anything.

If you want to know anyway:
Open a command window by clicking start, clicking run, and typing 'cmd' in the available box. Click ok

On the black command window (dos like screen) first type ipconfig /all and press enter. If you have multiple network cards on your machine it gets tricky here if you don't know what to look for. Basically you are looking for a listing of the IP address, DHCP server Subnet Mask, Gateway, DNS, and WINS server on an adapter. The tricky part is that there is usually more than one device listed here. The thing to look for is that all others except the one you want should say 'media disconnected.' I'm sorry, i'm not really good at describing these things.

Anyway, our purpose for the ipconfig /all command is to get the Gateway IP Address. Most private network routers use the 192.168.x.x for the ip address of the inside interface.

When you have your Gateway IP you can ping it to verify connection. At the same command prompt you used to do the ipconfig /all command, type 'ping gatewayipaddress'. Where 'gatewayipaddress' is the actual IP of the gateway. If you get 4 valid replies you are connected to your gateway's subnet.

As I said this doesn't matter in your situation as you are already connected to the internet.

It could be that you have a firewall blocking access, or that one of your machines had a change in domain membership.

What OS are you using on these machines? Any firewalls? Do you use your laptop anywhere but home?

 

[ealvin]

My Reply

Thanks for your reply. I basically use my notebook at home. I use Win XP home an my two desktops and Pro on my notebook, and I use Sygate's personal firewall on all of our computers.

 

[HoopaJoop]

Have you tried disabling the firewall? If you do have SP2 installed have you disabled the built in firewall?

 

[StormBringer]

You mentioned that you use XP home and pro, the easiest way to network home and pro together is to make sure that the pro system is set to "simple file sharing" since home only supports simple file sharing, otherwise you'll have to use the group policy editor to set permissions for the home systems to see the pro system's files. Also, make sure you have the workgroup names all set to the same thing.

BTW, if you search mskb for "filesharing XP" you should be able to find a 24pg document on troubleshooting common issues with filesharing in WinXP, this document is called fp_tshoot.doc. If you search that filename from anywhere within microsofts sites, you should turn up the document. Its pretty helpful when you've been over the basics and still have issues.