XP Networking

[Racer7201]

I have 3 desktops and a laptop on my network. Desktops have w98se, laptop has XP Home. I loaded XP Pro on one desktop and it can't see the other computers and the other computers can't see it. The laptop can only see one desktop and not the others.
Setup and things i've tried:
1. Cable modem to Netgear MR314 router, 1 port to primary computer, 1 port to Linksys 5port switch in another room, then from switch to computers in that room.
2. With w98se all the computers can see each other.
3. All computers have different IP addresses.
4. All computers in the same workgroup.
5. Firewall disabled in XP and no software firewall on any computer.
6. Netbeui added to XP computers.
7. Desktop with XP Pro is FAT32, Laptop is NTFS.
8. Straight cat5 cable used on all connections. Netgear info says thats ok.
9. All computers can access the internet with no problems.
Hopefully this is understandable.
Thanks

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Do you have any resources shared? sometimes that's all it takes, If there is no shares available there is no reason for your computers to know what computers are available on the network. How did you get netbeui loaded on the XP home box, XP home doesn't have support for netbeui?!? Only tcp/ip with netbois overlay.

 

[Racer7201]

Exactly what do you mean by resources shared? On the XP Pro cd in the valueadd folder, netbeui is there. Copy the .sys file to the system32 folder and the inf file to the INF folder. Then go to your network and add the service, reboot and its installed.
JF

 

[JackMDS]

You have to set the sharing, and permissions on WinXP.

Windows XP Simple File Sharing

Windows XP Professional File Sharing.

XP File Sharing Trouble

 

[Racer7201]

I'm using simple file sharing so setting permissions shouldn't be necessary. I read through most of the links and all of the simple file sharing has been done. The only computer that shows up in network places is the XP one. It doesn't see the others and they don't see the XP computer.
Would crossover cables make a difference from the switch to XP computer? I have a straight cat5 from the router to uplink port on the switch, then straight cat5's to each computer.
With the current setup of router, switch and cabling all win98 machines see each other. The XP one just refuses to cooperate.
JF

 

[her209]

I don't know if you did this, but did you:

Click on Network Neighborhood
(on the left) Click Setup this computer for small network (or something like that)
Follow the wizard.

 

[Racer7201]

Yep, been there, done that--3x's. I've been playing with it all afternoon, changing cables, setup, deleting the nic and reinstalling everything, still no go. Ghosted a win98 image back over XP and w98 comes right up in the network like it should. So much for XP right now. Maybe i'll give it a try at a future date when i'm really bored.
JF

 

[wjsulliv]

1) If you Windows 98 machines do not have anything setup to be shared (I.e. you have not shared any files or folders on the network) then the Windows 98 machines will not appear on the network. Just turning on sharing isn't enough for the Windows 98 machines to appear on the network, you have to share a file or folder. That folder will appear on the network, under that machines name.

2) You may need to run the Windows XP networking Wizard on the Windows 98 machines. You can do this by putting in you Windows XP (or any windows XP) CD into the Windows 98 machines. When the menu appears choose the networking or other options and run the wizard. Or rerun the networking wizard on the XP machines and at the end when it asks you to create a Wizard disk for other/older machines, do that and then run the disk in the Windows 98 machines.

3) Make sure the same user is not logged in the all the machines. Sometimes Windows has trouble recognizing other machines with identical users.

 

[Racer7201]

I know you have to share a file/folder. The entire drive is shared on all computers. All w98 machines can see each other and transfer files between each other, just not the XP one. Anyone know exactly what running the xp network setup wizard on other computers does?
JF

 

[wjsulliv]

Running the XP Networking wizard will install the same exact networking setup as you've got on your XP system...

I don't know for sure what all the differences are but the one I can think of off the top of my head is the tcp/ip netbeui overlay thing mentioned above.

 

[Racer7201]

I made a floppy to try and run setup on my other computer. Didn't work. Got an error message about not being able to run it because i didn't have permission are some crap. Like Duh, this is my computer dummy. So, i ran it from the CD. It did its thing. Powered everything down, restarted everything--still no can see the XP machine and it can't see the others. But it will access the internet no problem. Looks like i'm destined to stay with w98 for awhile longer since i can't get the network to work and a couple of my wife's game don't play correctly in XP. But, i'm determined, so i'll probably keep at it and maybe one day i'll figure it out. There's probably one little setting someplace that i haven't found yet.
Also, i tried using a crossover cable but never got a link light so that wasn't it.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
JF

 

[wjsulliv]

Check Practically Networked, as I am out of ideas.