Wireless Network Problems

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J

Josh

I'm having a problem successfully networking my desktop (Dell Dimension 8200
running WinXP Pro) and my notebook (Dell Inspiron 6000 running WinXP Home
Edition) successfully. The desktop is wired to a D-Link DI-624 Router and
to a DSL connection.

The desktop is only using WinXP firewall and the notebook WinXp and McAfee
firewall. The notebook is able to see and access all folders on the desktop
with no problems. The desktop is able to see the notebook but not able to
access any folders. It keeps coming back with an error, unable to find
path, unauthorized, etc.

I have tried to disable the McAfee firewall all together but doesn't seem to
help at all. In addition, if I try to use WEP or WPA security on the
desktop to establish a secure network, the network connection is completely
lost. The desktop will always come back with limited or no connection
error. So as it stands, the only way I can get the networking working is to
disable security all together. Its driving me crazy ... since I'm no
networking guru.

Can anyone shed some light on what I'm missing or doing wrong. Any info
would be appreciated. If you can help, please explain it in a way this
novice will understand it. :) Thank you.
 
Josh said:
I'm having a problem successfully networking my desktop (Dell Dimension 8200
running WinXP Pro) and my notebook (Dell Inspiron 6000 running WinXP Home
Edition) successfully. The desktop is wired to a D-Link DI-624 Router and
to a DSL connection.

The desktop is only using WinXP firewall and the notebook WinXp and McAfee
firewall. The notebook is able to see and access all folders on the desktop
with no problems. The desktop is able to see the notebook but not able to
access any folders. It keeps coming back with an error, unable to find
path, unauthorized, etc.

I have tried to disable the McAfee firewall all together but doesn't seem to
help at all. In addition, if I try to use WEP or WPA security on the
desktop to establish a secure network, the network connection is completely
lost. The desktop will always come back with limited or no connection
error. So as it stands, the only way I can get the networking working is to
disable security all together. Its driving me crazy ... since I'm no
networking guru.

Can anyone shed some light on what I'm missing or doing wrong. Any info
would be appreciated. If you can help, please explain it in a way this
novice will understand it. :) Thank you.
Click to expand...

Well you're first step was in the right direction, try disabling the
software firewalls on both machines. Technically you don't need to
leave the firewalls completely off; but since your router has a
firewall, you should be fine. Next, be sure the directories are shared;
to do so open Windows Explorer (Start -> Run -> Explorer [ok]) select
the folder, right click, choose properties, sharing (note, I'm using
Linux right now, so I'm doing this out of memory). Make sure the
files/folders are set to be shared over the network -- you should notice
the foler icon will change slightly on shared folders. Now locate the
other computer (Start -> Run -> Find, choose Computers or press Ctrl
WindowsKey F at the same time). Look for the server, it's usually
faster if you know it's IP rather than the computer name (to check an
ip, Start -> CMD [ok], ipconfig -- should be a number like 192.168.0.XXX
where XXX is likely 101 or close to it for D-Link). Hopefully now you
can see the other computer and its shared files.

Regarding WEP/WPA -- this should be set at the router level. Log onto
the router by opening a browser (like Firefox or if you must, IE) and
typing 192.168.0.1. It will prompt you for a username (admin) and
password (default is either admin or just leave it blank depending on
the revision of the router). If you still have the default password,
change it now. From here you can enable WEP, or possibly WPA if all you
wireless devices support it.
 
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