Network Neighborhood quit

Hello All:

I have two computers networked...A and B. Computer B Network Neighborhood
doesn't see itself sometimes but sees computer A. So I reinstalled Windows
hoping to resolve the problem. Both computers can see each other by mapped
drives. After reinstalling windows on computer B Network Neighborhood
doesn't work at all. I get an error "Unable to browse the network ", but the
network does work using mapped network drives on both computers.
I did have a problem with
"file and printer sharing for microsoft networks" on B computer. I went
into network icon and it did not show file and printer sharing in the list.
Tried to install it numerous times but would not install. I would reboot
the computer like it asked me to but it wasn't there. Then about the fifth
time it finally installed. All this time Network Neighborhood would not see
B computer from A computer but mapped networked drives worked from B to A
computer and A to B "Whew" that was a mouth full. Then finally everything
started working correctly on both computers. I really don't know how that
all happened. Oh by the way, I forgot to mention I'm running Win98SE on
both machines.

Any possible ideas as to what may have happened??
I'll keep in touch in case it faults again.


Does anyone have any ideas as to what might have happened?

Thanks much in advance

rjshenal

 

There is a long, long list of possible causes for what you describe. And with things working now, it probably isn't worth trying to figure out which one or which combination caused the issue.

Network Neighborhood is useful on a medium size network where you aren't familiar with all the shares available.

Small networks like yours, easier to map the connections you use regularly and for any occasional ones, start~run~\\pc-name\share-name to get a connection that will last until you log off or reboot.

Large networks, it is just a good way to drive yourself crazy looking for things with huge delays while network resources display themselves. The only reasonable option is to map / connect in the same fashion as you do with a small network.

I have a small network at home and a large network (several thousand PCs) at work and can't remember the last time I had occasion to mess with Network Neighborhood. At my previous job with only around 150 PCs, network neighborhood was worth using once in a while.