Workgroup is not accessible: Can't see my other computer on my WLAN

[Per Nermo]

I'm running a WIN 2000 PC with a wireless connection
to Internet via a private wireless WLAN router and an
ADSL modem.

To the same WLAN is connected a MS Vista LapTop as well.

Until recently, I was able to see the Vista LapTop computer name under
My Computer - Computers Near Me and
My Network Places - Entire Network - Microsoft Windows Network - Workgroup

but now, all I get is an error window message showing :

"Workgroup is not accessible.
The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently avialable."

What can I do to in order to be able to access the other computer
via the WLAN ?

(The other way around, my Win 2000 PC is also not
visible from the Vista LapTop. This was also funtioning until recently).

I would be very grateful for any help !

best regards
Per Nermo
Oslo, Norway

 

[John John]

Look in the Event Log for errors, you may find the cause or clues to the
problem there.

Make sure that the Browser Service is running.

Make sure that the Firewalls are not blocking traffic, lots of Security
Suites and software nowadays automatically block traffic or make changes
to firewall settings without really alerting the users that it has done so.

Also, the "Computers Near Me" relies on NetBios name resolution so make
sure that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled on the machines.

John

 

[Per Nermo]

Thanks for the advices, John !

I guess I'll start checking out 'no.2' (below), as my problems
appear to have started after I very recently upgraded my
Norton Internet Security sw. to ver. 2006 for Win 2000 (from ver. 2005).

I'll report the results ....

Per

 

[Per Nermo]

John;

On my Win2000 PC, how do I

1. make sure that the Browser Service is running

2. make sure that the Firewalls are not blocking traffic
(I'm running Norton Internet Secirity 2005 for Windows 2000)

3. make sure that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled

Per

 

[John John]

Questions 1 & 3: You can run the following command from a Command
Prompt: NET START that will list the running services.

You can look in the Services Management Console for the same information
and to change the start type for the services, to open the console enter
services.msc in the Start->Run box.

Question 2 check the firewall configuration settings in the Norton
firewall program, I don't use Norton products so I can't help more than
that with it, consult the firewalls help files. One easy way to find
out if the firewalls are at fault is to temporarily disable them and do
some test, if the network works fine when the firewalls are turned off
you pretty well know where the problem lies. You may want to disconnect
the connection to the internet while you disable the firewalls.

John

 

[Per Nermo]

Problem solved ! (I owe you, John John !)

What I had to was to allow access to/from
the IP-address range for the computers on
my wireless network (WLAN) at home.

Everything seems 'back to normal' now.

regards,
Per

 

[John John]

Glad to see that you got it sorted out, thanks for telling us how you
fixed it.

John