network places

[billq]

Hello,
I have a small home network that just started behaving badly. The computer
run xp home with one file server running suse 9.3 and a linksys 54g router
to connect all the computers to the internet. I have the computers setup
with static ip's and I have the xp firewall disabled on all the computers.
For some time I have been able look in the Network places and see all the
computer belonging to the workgroup. Lately, there are times when the
computers are not visible although, I can ping each computer and access the
folders using mapped drives. When I click on the view workgroup menu option
I get an error message telling me the workgroup is not accessible. If I
unplug the router a few times the computers will become visible for a while
and then dissappear.
I am totally confused by it behaving for a while and then misbehaving. Any
help will be appreciated.
thanks
bill

 

[Chuck]

Hello,
I have a small home network that just started behaving badly. The computer
run xp home with one file server running suse 9.3 and a linksys 54g router
to connect all the computers to the internet. I have the computers setup
with static ip's and I have the xp firewall disabled on all the computers.
For some time I have been able look in the Network places and see all the
computer belonging to the workgroup. Lately, there are times when the
computers are not visible although, I can ping each computer and access the
folders using mapped drives. When I click on the view workgroup menu option
I get an error message telling me the workgroup is not accessible. If I
unplug the router a few times the computers will become visible for a while
and then dissappear.
I am totally confused by it behaving for a while and then misbehaving. Any
help will be appreciated.
thanks
bill

Bill,

One of the most common causes of this problem would be a misconfigured or
overlooked personal firewall. There are other possibilities too. What
antivirus product do you use? Read this article with an open mind.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/10/irregularities-in-workgroup-visibility.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/10/irregularities-in-workgroup-visibility.html

If no help yet, provide "browstat status" and "ipconfig /all" from each Windows
XP computer (I don't know about the equivalents for Suse), so we can diagnose
the problem. Read this article, and linked articles, and follow instructions
precisely:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#AskingForHelp>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#AskingForHelp

 

[Guest]

As this looked like the same problem as Lyleb, I'd thought I'd post this to
this thread too. If you use Norton (Symantec) AV this might be the solution.
I have just spent 3 days trying to set up a home wireless network (2 PCs and
one laptop) and had the same problem with one PC.

What I had to do was 1. Open Norton Internet secuity 2. Click on the Support
& Help pages at the top right. 3. Search for networking. This instructed me
to 4. Double click on Personal firewall on the main Norton Internet Security
Home Page 5. Run the Network wizard. 6. Repeat on other PCs.

This solved the problem in 5 minutes, but in the 3 previous days I had made
calls to the helplines of 2 wireless equipment manufacturers, my ISP free
helpline, my ISP premium helpline and none told me to do this (and one told
me I was the second caller that day with the same problem). Possibly this is
because it is a relatively new feature on Norton, as I didn't have this
problem with my laptop where the subscription had lapsed.

I hope this solves the problem. If not not look at Chuck's Blog, which is
very complete if a bit technical for newbies like me.

 

[billq]

Hello
I turned off the firewall with the linux box and everything has worked
correctly for a day. By the way I am using Avast antivirus. Thanks for all
your help.