Computer Not Seen (partially) Vista

[Cathie]

I have 3 Vista computers networked wirelessly through a wireless router.
Until today, I had no problems. Now, only two of the computers can see each
other to share files. One can not be seen in the "View Computers and
Devices" screen on the other two computers. However, when I go to the
"Network and Sharing" screen, all three computers can be seen.

All computers are on a "Private" network. All three computers have "Network
Discovery", "File Sharing" and "Public Folder Sharing" enabled. All
computers have the LLTC Protocol enabled. All 3 computers are in the same
"Workgroup". And I even went so far as to turn off the Firewalls of the
three computers to see if that is the problem. The firewall is not.

Now, just to confuse the issue, I also had a 4th computer, a Windows 2000
computer, in the same workgroup. And it cannot see any of the other three
computers today. It was able to do so yesterday.

C

 

[Cathie]

Further information you may need to know to diagnose the problem ... All 4
computers are able to access the internet through the wireless router.

C

 

[Robert L. \(MS-MVP\)]

Can they ping each other by IP? If yes, can they ping by name?

--
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com

 

[Cathie]

They can ping each other by IP. They cannot ping each other by name. As an
experiment, I ran a tracert to the IP and the computer was named, but a
tracert to the computer name failed.

C

 

[Robert L. \(MS-MVP\)]

If you can ping IP but name, that may be the name resolution issue. This
search result may help.

Vista Name Resolution IssuesSolved: Vista one way access · Vista name
resolution - can access by IP but name · Vista printer and name resolution
issue ...
www.chicagotech.net/vista/vistanameissues.htm


--
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com

 

[Cathie]

I worked most of the morning and into the afternoon trying various things to
fix this problem when a curious thing happened, I could no longer connect to
the internet. Finally, after a frustrating hour, I called Verizon Tech
Support, and after about 45 minutes working with some guy in India, I
learned that my internet outage was not only mine, but was widespread in the
area I live, probably caused by heavy snow breaking a line somewhere.

But something else happened at the same time as the internet outage. Since
my internal wireless network was still working, I found that I could now see
all 4 computers, the three Vista Machines and the Win 2000 machine. For some
reason, the problem (evidently) was outside my computers. A couple of hours
later, Verizon repaired the problem at their end and I could get the
internet directly from the modem, but my wireless network didn't seem to be
connected to the internet. Eventually, I "reset" my wireless router and
laboriously entered in all the security features I had originally given it.

A reboot of all the computers and finally, all could see each other, and all
could finally print from my network printer which was directly connected to
one the Vista which could not be seen by the others. I'm not sure which of
the actions, if any, I had taken earlier in the day helped to fix the
problem. After reading the links you gave, I tried many things, none of
which seemed to work. But I also changed the name of each computer, and I
changed the workgroup name, too.

Whatever I did finally worked.

C

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I worked most of the morning and into the afternoon trying various things to
fix this problem when a curious thing happened, I could no longer connect to
the internet. Finally, after a frustrating hour, I called Verizon Tech
Support, and after about 45 minutes working with some guy in India, I
learned that my internet outage was not only mine, but was widespread in the
area I live, probably caused by heavy snow breaking a line somewhere.

But something else happened at the same time as the internet outage. Since
my internal wireless network was still working, I found that I could now see
all 4 computers, the three Vista Machines and the Win 2000 machine. For some
reason, the problem (evidently) was outside my computers. A couple of hours
later, Verizon repaired the problem at their end and I could get the
internet directly from the modem, but my wireless network didn't seem to be
connected to the internet. Eventually, I "reset" my wireless router and
laboriously entered in all the security features I had originally given it.

A reboot of all the computers and finally, all could see each other, and all
could finally print from my network printer which was directly connected to
one the Vista which could not be seen by the others. I'm not sure which of
the actions, if any, I had taken earlier in the day helped to fix the
problem. After reading the links you gave, I tried many things, none of
which seemed to work. But I also changed the name of each computer, and I
changed the workgroup name, too.

Whatever I did finally worked.

Cathie,

thanks for reporting back! I'm not Robert, but I'm certain he's
just as grateful for a user report like yours. (Haven't seen him
here in at least 24 hours. He'll be back.)

Too bad that the actual cause couldn't be determined, but that
often happens and we can't help it. Glad your network is working
now.

Hans-Georg