Networking Problem

[Guest]

We have a three person wireless network in our house. Here's the problem.
Sometimes I can see the other two locations on the network diagram. But most
of the time I cannot. Why would they be there sometimes and not at other
times. All three computers are left on all the time.

Jim

 

[R. McCarty]

Are the other PCs in a low-power state (Hibernate, Standby) ?
By default most NICs are turned off in those sleep states and
wouldn't be active until awakened.

 

[Guest]

The other computers are in use when I test this - not hybernating. Once in
awhile they show up under networking and I can read and transfer files fine,
but later on when I check again they are gone. It seems to me that the fact
that they show up at all means I have everything set up right. So why do
they disappear. Never had this problem when all three computers were XP. Is
this because my computer is Vista Business and my two sons are XP? Maybe
there is a compatibility issue. Very frustrating.

 

[R. McCarty]

Does the problem exist only looking onto the workgroup from the
Vista machine ? - or do the XP PCs have trouble seeing each other.

Vista uses the newer IP protocol in addition to the Standard
TCP/IP version that is used with XP. It seems more like a problem
with the Computer Browser service and which of the PCs gets the
designation as Master Browser. You can manually designate your
machine to take on the Master Browser role. You might want to
re-post to one of the Networking specific groups. If it's a known
issue you'll likely get a confirmation/(fix) from those folks.

microsoft.public.windows.vista.networking_sharing