Can't browse network using wireless adapter (but wired works)

[Dylan Keon]

Hi,

My head hurts. I have a new WinXP laptop, SP2, everything up to date.
I'm trying to browse shares on my network (workgroup) via "My Network
Places." My network consists of two other WinXP machines, plus a couple
of Linux boxes running Samba. I've performed every trick I could find
to get it to work, including all steps listed at
http://www.michna.com/kb/wxnet.htm. NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled on
all WinXP machines, Computer Browser and TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper services
are running, registry values have been changed on all machines to enable
them to be browsers, File and Printer Sharing exception is checked in
Firewall, rebooted multiple times, etc., etc.

When I try to access a shared directory that I know works between the
other WinXP machines, the laptop gives the "network path not found"
error after pausing for a while.

The funny thing is, if I plug the laptop into the router (Linksys
WRT54G) via the wired adapter I can immediately access the Windows
shares. That works great. It just doesn't work if I am connected via
the wireless adapter. On wireless I can connect to the Internet and
even ping the IP addresses of the other machines on my network. nbtstat
-A <ip> works from the laptop, I can list every machine that way.

I'm not sure what to try next. The only thing I haven't done is wipe
the disk and reinstall WinXP, but that seems extreme. I can't see what
would be different between the wireless and wired adapters that would be
causing this.

THANKS for any help!

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

My head hurts. I have a new WinXP laptop, SP2, everything up to date.
I'm trying to browse shares on my network (workgroup) via "My Network
Places." My network consists of two other WinXP machines, plus a couple
of Linux boxes running Samba. I've performed every trick I could find
to get it to work, including all steps listed at
http://www.michna.com/kb/wxnet.htm. NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled on
all WinXP machines, Computer Browser and TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper services
are running, registry values have been changed on all machines to enable
them to be browsers, File and Printer Sharing exception is checked in
Firewall, rebooted multiple times, etc., etc.

When I try to access a shared directory that I know works between the
other WinXP machines, the laptop gives the "network path not found"
error after pausing for a while.

The funny thing is, if I plug the laptop into the router (Linksys
WRT54G) via the wired adapter I can immediately access the Windows
shares. ...

Dylan,

please use http://www.michna.com/kb/wxnet.htm to determine the
solution.

Hans-Georg

 

[Matt DuBois [MSFT]]

The problem may be that you are getting an IP address in a different range
when you connect to the wireless network than when you connect to the wired
network. When you open an exception in XP SP2, you have two options: subnet
and any. If your File and Printer exception is set to subnet right now, try
changing it to any. Just double click on the File and Printer Sharing
option, and "change scope" on each of the ports listed as "subnet".

 

[Dylan Keon]

The problem may be that you are getting an IP address in a different range
when you connect to the wireless network than when you connect to the wired
network. When you open an exception in XP SP2, you have two options: subnet
and any. If your File and Printer exception is set to subnet right now, try
changing it to any. Just double click on the File and Printer Sharing
option, and "change scope" on each of the ports listed as "subnet".

Thanks Matt. I think I figured it out - it's working for the moment
anyway. Everything was configured correctly on the laptop. After
reinstalling XP I went through all the steps at
http://www.michna.com/kb/wxnet.htm, just like before, to no avail. I
started to suspect the wireless router, seeing as how the wired ethernet
adapter was connecting to workgroup shares just fine. I had been
running the Satori firmware on my Linksys WRT54G. I reverted to the
standard Linksys firmware (2.04.4), and now works great! I can connect
to my workgroup shares over the wireless network. It was either a
setting on the Satori firmware, or the firmware itself, I'm not sure.
Just glad to have it working

--Dylan

 

[Dylan Keon]

Dylan,

please use http://www.michna.com/kb/wxnet.htm to determine the
solution.

Yep, tried that (as I wrote above). Turned out to be a problem with my
router firmware, as far as I can tell. See my other reply.

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

please use http://www.michna.com/kb/wxnet.htm to determine the

Yep, tried that (as I wrote above). Turned out to be a problem with my
router firmware, as far as I can tell. See my other reply.

Dylan,

not too bad. At least my troubleshooter pointed squarely at the
router firmware, by saying in the subchapter:

"Router or base station firmware

"Update the firmware on your wireless router to the latest
version, particularly if your current version is older than
2004-09. Quite a few older firmware versions are incompatible
with Wireless Zero Configuration."

That's not an absolutely precise hit, but the case that somebody
loads third party firmware is rare.

Hans-Georg

 

[Dylan Keon]

Dylan,

not too bad. At least my troubleshooter pointed squarely at the
router firmware, by saying in the subchapter:

"Router or base station firmware

"Update the firmware on your wireless router to the latest
version, particularly if your current version is older than
2004-09. Quite a few older firmware versions are incompatible
with Wireless Zero Configuration."

That's not an absolutely precise hit, but the case that somebody
loads third party firmware is rare.

Agreed. By the way, thanks for making that site. It's very helpful.

--Dylan