File sharing issues on my home network

I am having problems getting my file sharing set up on my home network.
I am using a Dell Dimension 4600 with Windows XP pro and a Sony Vaio laptop with Windows XP media center 2005.
When I bought the laptop, I also bought a Netgear wireless router and as a free promotional service it was setup by the Geek Squad.
Everything was fine after a second agent came to fix what the first one messed up. They set up sharing of my main printers and the (D) hard drive in my desktop system with the Sony laptop. This all works fine.

Here's my problem:
I have a Western Digital 250 GB external hard drive I want to use for back ups and no mater what I try I am unable to get the file sharing to work.
And it gets weirder, I have a Seagate 100GB external drive that I had no trouble sharing folders from it to the laptop.

Anyone have some words of wisdom for this issue?

skyhigh

 

I used to have these same problems when I was setting up my first shared files and folders on a network. and here is what I would do.

Un-share all the folders on your network, and restart the desktop and laptop.
Once you've done that, start to go to the files/folders you want to share and right click, go to properties. And then select the sharing tab, if sharing isn't already enabled (although it should be) then enable it, skip the wizard and just share the folder. Make sure to check the permissions on the folders to grant yourself access to it.

Also, if you're running service pack 2 on these machines, please make sure to check your network connections tab in the control panel and insure that the windows firewall is disabled. this sometimes interferes with file sharing (or atleast it used to with me in the past)

and if you're working on a wireless network, I would suggest MAC filterting, or wep/wpa encryption on your network (if geek squad hasn't already set it up)

If you continue to have any other problems or quetsions, feel free to PM/im/email me.