This may help, quoted from
http://howtonetworking.com.
How to announce a networking computer t to a Mater Browser
In general, upon boot up, members of the domain or workgroup announce themselves to the master browser once a minute for 5 minutes then every 12 minutes afterwards. They do this by sending a server announcement packet to the master browser. If a computer sharing resources does not respond for three announcement periods of 12 minutes each, the master browser removes that computer from its browse list. If this is the case, you may not be able to browse in My Network Places, or the net view command will receive system 53 - No network path found.
To force a networking computer to announce itself to the Master Browser, you may have som eoptions;
1. Restart the Computer Services.
2. Use ping -a Ip option.
3. Run browstat.exe.
Don't send e-mail or reply to me except you need consulting services. Posting on MS newsgroup will benefit all readers and you may get more help.
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
How to Setup Windows, Network, Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.
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"PeteL" wrote in message ...
I've being having the same or similar problems as many others, namely when
using My Network Places it fails with a no server list error when attempting
to access "this computer" or any others for that matter. It happens whether
or not my XP (SR2) PC is alone or not on the network. My other PCs (both
Win98) however never exhibit the problem.
However, I have discovered that if I run "browstat status" prior to trying
to access the resources using 'my network places' it works everytime. At
least until now I have had 100% success with it. I also only appear to need
to run it once ie at startup.
Can anybody explain why this should resolve the issue, given a restart of
the browser service has no impact and niether has anything else I've tried.