Chuck,

thanks for the reply. I disabled my personal firewalls
after setting up my Netgear router/firewall so that's not
the issue. Simple File Sharing is enabled (and recall
that file sharing was working up to a week ago). As
such, I'm attaching the ipconfig info with the MAC
addresses truncated for security reasons:

DESKTOP----

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Sethmain
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : GVC-REALTEK
Ethernet 10/100 PCI Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-C0
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday,
April 28, 2004 8:37:30 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday,
April 29, 2004 8:37:30 AM

PPP adapter Kavado e-mail:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN
(PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.66.66.9
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . :
255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.66.66.3
10.66.66.5
10.66.66.3
10.66.66.5

LAPTOP---

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : sethlaptop
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No


Ethernet adapter Network Bridge:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : MAC Bridge
Miniport
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : B2-66-6
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.3
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday,
April 28, 2004 3:27:46 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday,
April 29, 2004 3:27:46 PM



-----Original Message-----
On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 09:03:08 -0700, "Seth Weinstock"
wrote:

Hoping someone can lend some troubleshooting advice. I
have an XP Home desktop and and XP Pro laptop both
running on my network (Netgear 802.11b router). The
laptop connects via 802.11b. I had added them both to
a
common workgroup and had set up shared directories on
each which were viewable from both systems. However,
as
of around a week ago, I couldn't access my desktop
machine from the laptop - the network resource
disappeared. I could ping each device from the other
but
could not re-establish the shared folders. I tried
straight from the Run box (\\servername\share and \\ip
address\share) but nothing worked. I could see the
laptop from my desktop but not the otherway around. I
removed the laptop from the workgroup and re-added it
but
still nothing. I can't even see the laptop in the
workgroup when i'm on the laptop eventhough it finds
the
workgroup (shows no machines in the workgroup). This
should be easy but i'm about to give up. any thoughts?

Seth,

Do any of the computers have a software firewall (ICF or
third party)? If so,
you need to configure them for file sharing, by opening
ports TCP 139, 445 and
UDP 137, 138, 445, and / or by identifying the other
computers as present in the
Local (Trusted) zone. Firewall configurations are a
very common cause of
(network) browser problems like yours.

On the XP Pro computer, check to see if Simple File
Sharing (Control Panel -
Folder Options - View - Advanced settings) is enabled or
disabled.

If SFS is disabled, check the Local Security Policy
(Control Panel -
Administrative Tools). Under Local Policies - Security
Options, look at
"Network access: Sharing and security model", and ensure
it's set to "Classic -
local users authenticate as themselves".

If you set the Local Security Policy to "Guest only",
make sure that the Guest
account is enabled, and has an identical, non-blank,
password on all computers.
If "Classic", setup and use a common account with
identical, non-blank, password
on all computers.

If no solution yet, provide ipconfig information for
each computer.
Start - Run - "cmd". Type "ipconfig /all
c:\ipconfig.txt" into the command
window - Open c:\ipconfig.txt in Notepad, copy and paste
into your next post.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily
a bad thing.
.