Can't access "workgroup computers"

[Julian]

Which is to say that if I click the "view workgroup computers" item in the
Network Tasks pane of "My Network Places" I get

"<workgroup> is not accessible... The list of servers for this workgroup is
not currently available"

and attempting to "Add a Network Place" sits forever at "Downloading
information from the Internet [sic]"

The XP machine is also not not visible to Vista's "Network" view - although
I can access it as \\XPmachinename (and everything is in the same workgroup)

I *can* actually access existing network places (and the internet) and can
explore, copy to, rename files, delete, etc. I can reach devices by
\\IPaddress or \\computername.

However, with regard to browsing the network or being seen by it, it makes
no difference whether the Windows firewall is on or off (no 3rd party
firewalls, and file/print sharing is an enabled exception in the firewall
settings), the Browser service is running (and restarting it doesn't affect
anything), restarting the machine hasn't affected it... NetBios over TCP is
enabled - everything seems to be the way it was when everything worked.
Running Advanced IPscanner on the Vista machine shows not only the XP
machine's IP address but also confirms that the computer name and workgroup
are being correctly broadcast.

The only changes of note are the regular MS updates: the system is currently
at SP3 fully patched (except for 1 ActiveX killbits roll-up)

Any ideas?

 

[Julian]

Update: installed the NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol
(as suggested somewhere) and the XP machine no longer generates "<workgroup>
not accessible" (and Add Network place doesn't hang...) but when I browse
the workgroup the only machine is the XP machine (existing network places
remain accessible)

Still baffled...

Julian

Which is to say that if I click the "view workgroup computers" item in the
Network Tasks pane of "My Network Places" I get

"<workgroup> is not accessible... The list of servers for this workgroup
is not currently available"

and attempting to "Add a Network Place" sits forever at "Downloading
information from the Internet [sic]"

The XP machine is also not not visible to Vista's "Network" view -
although I can access it as \\XPmachinename (and everything is in the same
workgroup)

I *can* actually access existing network places (and the internet) and can
explore, copy to, rename files, delete, etc. I can reach devices by
\\IPaddress or \\computername.

However, with regard to browsing the network or being seen by it, it makes
no difference whether the Windows firewall is on or off (no 3rd party
firewalls, and file/print sharing is an enabled exception in the firewall
settings), the Browser service is running (and restarting it doesn't
affect anything), restarting the machine hasn't affected it... NetBios
over TCP is enabled - everything seems to be the way it was when
everything worked. Running Advanced IPscanner on the Vista machine shows
not only the XP machine's IP address but also confirms that the computer
name and workgroup are being correctly broadcast.

The only changes of note are the regular MS updates: the system is
currently at SP3 fully patched (except for 1 ActiveX killbits roll-up)

Any ideas?

 

[Julian]

Rebooted the Freecom Storage Gateway everything connects through to the net
and problem solved.

Isn't that strange. (?)

Update: installed the NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol
(as suggested somewhere) and the XP machine no longer generates
"<workgroup> not accessible" (and Add Network place doesn't hang...) but
when I browse the workgroup the only machine is the XP machine (existing
network places remain accessible)

Still baffled...

Julian

Which is to say that if I click the "view workgroup computers" item in
the Network Tasks pane of "My Network Places" I get

"<workgroup> is not accessible... The list of servers for this workgroup
is not currently available"

and attempting to "Add a Network Place" sits forever at "Downloading
information from the Internet [sic]"

The XP machine is also not not visible to Vista's "Network" view -
although I can access it as \\XPmachinename (and everything is in the
same workgroup)

I *can* actually access existing network places (and the internet) and
can explore, copy to, rename files, delete, etc. I can reach devices by
\\IPaddress or \\computername.

However, with regard to browsing the network or being seen by it, it
makes no difference whether the Windows firewall is on or off (no 3rd
party firewalls, and file/print sharing is an enabled exception in the
firewall settings), the Browser service is running (and restarting it
doesn't affect anything), restarting the machine hasn't affected it...
NetBios over TCP is enabled - everything seems to be the way it was when
everything worked. Running Advanced IPscanner on the Vista machine shows
not only the XP machine's IP address but also confirms that the computer
name and workgroup are being correctly broadcast.

The only changes of note are the regular MS updates: the system is
currently at SP3 fully patched (except for 1 ActiveX killbits roll-up)

Any ideas?