Ethernet connection problem

Have small lan in house, up to 4-6 pcs at any one time. Two running Vista
and rest running XP, one Home and couple Pro. All legal, all updated to
latest "auto update" offers.

Two of the pc's can see each other, can see shares but will not connect
otherwise with "Workgroup" window usually hanging after double clicking in
Explorer to access the share. This happens going either direction between
the two pcs.

As I write this there's 2 XP Pro's, 1 XP Home and 2 Vista's turned on right
now. All have expected DHCP ip's from router and all can connect to
Internet. The two pc's in question can see each other but cannot connect to
the shared "Temp" folder on each pc, either direction. Yet both pcs can
connect to every other pc on network, access the shares etc.!!

As a workaround I'm copying files thru a third pc or if files big enough to
justify I instead just use portable hard disk.

I've been at this long enough (since 84) to notice anything unusual but I
can't see anything suspect. Protocols and settings all appear as expected
from all the pcs. etc. etc.

Any ideas on where effort should be spent?

"pjp" wrote in
:

Have small lan in house, up to 4-6 pcs at any one time. Two
running Vista and rest running XP, one Home and couple Pro. All
legal, all updated to latest "auto update" offers.

Two of the pc's can see each other, can see shares but will not
connect otherwise with "Workgroup" window usually hanging after
double clicking in Explorer to access the share. This happens
going either direction between the two pcs.

As I write this there's 2 XP Pro's, 1 XP Home and 2 Vista's
turned on right now. All have expected DHCP ip's from router and
all can connect to Internet. The two pc's in question can see each
other but cannot connect to the shared "Temp" folder on each pc,
either direction. Yet both pcs can connect to every other pc on
network, access the shares etc.!!

As a workaround I'm copying files thru a third pc or if files big
enough to justify I instead just use portable hard disk.

I've been at this long enough (since 84) to notice anything
unusual but I can't see anything suspect. Protocols and settings
all appear as expected from all the pcs. etc. etc.

Any ideas on where effort should be spent?

It would help to know which of the machines you are having problems
with. It would also be helpful to know whether the XP Pro machines
have "Simple File Sharing" (SFS) enabled or not (It is enforced on a
XP Home machine). Machines with Simple File Sharing enabled force
all incoming connections to authenticate with the "Guest" account.
With SFS disabled, authentication is done with usernames and
passwords. For an article that should help clear things up and also
contains a link for Vista machines, see:

"How to configure file sharing in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304040

Also, make sure that your computer names are different from each
other and that their names are different than the workgroup name.

Beyond that, I have found that error messages are more descriptive if
you try to connect using a Command window. Try bringing up a command
window (Start - Run - "cmd") and enter the command:

net use * \\computername\sharename

Where you replace "computername" with the name of the computer you
want to connect to and "sharename" with the name of the share on that
computer.

Make sure firewalls you may have on your machines have exceptions for
"File and Printer Sharing". (Check the "Windows Firewall" control
panel if you use the Windows Firewall).

HTH,
John

"John Wunderlich" wrote in message
9...
"pjp" wrote in
:

Have small lan in house, up to 4-6 pcs at any one time. Two
running Vista and rest running XP, one Home and couple Pro. All
legal, all updated to latest "auto update" offers.

Two of the pc's can see each other, can see shares but will not
connect otherwise with "Workgroup" window usually hanging after
double clicking in Explorer to access the share. This happens
going either direction between the two pcs.

As I write this there's 2 XP Pro's, 1 XP Home and 2 Vista's
turned on right now. All have expected DHCP ip's from router and
all can connect to Internet. The two pc's in question can see each
other but cannot connect to the shared "Temp" folder on each pc,
either direction. Yet both pcs can connect to every other pc on
network, access the shares etc.!!

As a workaround I'm copying files thru a third pc or if files big
enough to justify I instead just use portable hard disk.

I've been at this long enough (since 84) to notice anything
unusual but I can't see anything suspect. Protocols and settings
all appear as expected from all the pcs. etc. etc.

Any ideas on where effort should be spent?

It would help to know which of the machines you are having problems
with. It would also be helpful to know whether the XP Pro machines
have "Simple File Sharing" (SFS) enabled or not (It is enforced on a
XP Home machine). Machines with Simple File Sharing enabled force
all incoming connections to authenticate with the "Guest" account.
With SFS disabled, authentication is done with usernames and
passwords. For an article that should help clear things up and also
contains a link for Vista machines, see:

"How to configure file sharing in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304040

Also, make sure that your computer names are different from each
other and that their names are different than the workgroup name.

Beyond that, I have found that error messages are more descriptive if
you try to connect using a Command window. Try bringing up a command
window (Start - Run - "cmd") and enter the command:

net use * \\computername\sharename

Where you replace "computername" with the name of the computer you
want to connect to and "sharename" with the name of the share on that
computer.

Make sure firewalls you may have on your machines have exceptions for
"File and Printer Sharing". (Check the "Windows Firewall" control
panel if you use the Windows Firewall).

HTH,
John


The two pc's having problems with are a laptop running XP-SP3 and all "auto
updates" Home and a XP-SP3 and all "auto updates" Pro. As said, each can see
and connect with others on the network but not between these specific two
pcs. As best as I know and this is starting before WFW 3.1 with Lantastic,
all's well. I can see each (although there does appear to be a longer than
expected delay), I can see the expected shares but if I try to connect it's
a no go but just between these two pcs. I can use any other connected pc at
the time, access a share on it, copy from either pc to that third pc then
copy that copy to the intended pc. Has me stumped as all settings are
identical under nics Propertis, e.g. protocols etc. and they get assigned an
IP from the router and that all checks out ok.

So as said, don't know really where and how to look at this point.

I get a "System error 53 has occured." "The network path was not found"
error using net use command (without the asterix on the system can't
connect to. So I'm off googling again

"pjp" wrote in
:

The two pc's having problems with are a laptop running XP-SP3 and
all "auto updates" Home and a XP-SP3 and all "auto updates" Pro.
As said, each can see and connect with others on the network but
not between these specific two pcs. As best as I know and this is
starting before WFW 3.1 with Lantastic, all's well. I can see each
(although there does appear to be a longer than expected delay), I
can see the expected shares but if I try to connect it's a no go
but just between these two pcs. I can use any other connected pc
at the time, access a share on it, copy from either pc to that
third pc then copy that copy to the intended pc. Has me stumped as
all settings are identical under nics Propertis, e.g. protocols
etc. and they get assigned an IP from the router and that all
checks out ok.

So as said, don't know really where and how to look at this point.

I get a "System error 53 has occured." "The network path was not
found" error using net use command (without the asterix on the
system can't connect to. So I'm off googling again


My Search came up with the following possibilities. Maybe one would
be of help:

"Your system stops responding, you experience slow file server
performance, or delays occur when you work with files that are
located on a file server"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822219

"Overview of problems that may occur when administrative shares are
missing"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/842715

Good Luck,
John

The delay keys memory of a Lantastic issue of probably 10 years ago.

Network expanded. Several machines had difficulty transfering files
and printing to other machines. One pair was like clockwork, dump file
to print, the receiving machine created the folder then everything went
into wait for just about 45 minutes, then they connected and the job
completed. Was an issues with NICs.

You might try throwing a switch, if you happen to have one, or a hub,
just to see if the communications get better.