I can't get my Vista to XP network to work!

I have a desktop that is running XP SP2 that is connected from the network card to a TP-LINK wireless router from china which is connected to my ADSL modem which is connected to the internet. I have a laptop that is also running XP and it connects to the network and has access to the internet.
Recently i bought another desktop that is running Vista Home Premium and a D-Link USB wireless adapter is connected to it. I have downloaded the beta drivers for Vista for the adapter and i connected to the network.
Sometimes, everything works and I can connect to the internet through the network but it is unstable and drops off, sometimes, it says i'm connected to the network but have no internet and other times it says i'm connected to the network but i cannot find the computer in search -> Computer in the Network on my XP computer and also can't connect to the internet and also can't ping my router from my Vista computer.

It's a bit confusing but please help! i dont get how even though i didnt change any settings, it connects sometimes and sometimes doesnt

 

The drivers have to be suspect. If it was a configuration problem you would get no connection. The fact that connection comes and goes must point at problematic hardware or software. Beta drivers have to be at the top of the list of likely causes of such a problem.

 

Make sure both have the same workgroup names.
Go to the network card properties , power managment and take the tick out of the box to turn of the adapter to save power

 

Thanks for the advice everyone! i found the problem, i moved my whole computer closer to the router and the internet became stable, didnt think that would be a problem since my laptop is downstairs and it still works, but it is

 

Wireless can have a mind of its own sometimes

Wireless is attenuated quite a lot by walls. The thicker the wall, the more the signal is cut. The material the wall is made of also has a big effect. Plasterboard stub walls and wooden partition do not cut the signal too much. Reinforced concrete and stone can kill a signal dead.

If your house has stone or brick walls it is often common for the signal to pass more easily through your wooden floors than through the walls. So it is very common to get a better signal in the room above or below the wireless bridge than you get in rooms on the same floor as the wireless bridge.

 

And yet another good reason to upgrade immeadiately to Vista !
What is the Vista default network name
Windows 98 and XP have diffirent default networks names on setup

 

Vista is WORKGROUP
Xp is MSHOME

 

Vista's networking is dreadfully unstable, unreliable and prone to lockups or long timeouts for no apparent reason. Even sharing an EMPTY folder takes several minutes?? Really just not very good. I've experienced numerous problems with Vista integration whilst on-site at many locations, and 90% of the time, the customer decided to wipe the new Vista pre-installed machines and install XP Pro on them instead.

Everything about Vista seems to end up in just 1 word. WAIT. No matter what you do, there's often some reason you have to wait for Vista to do something ridiculous. It's fine when it's working, nice and fast and friendly, but ask it to do any heavy network (mainly windows samba networking) tasks and be prepared for long pauses, timeouts and lockups.

 

I know I made a post here but for some reason I don't find it.

I am trying to network my vista desktop which is the host with xp pc.

I can see the other pc on my vista but the XP pc cannot see the shared files from the vista pc.

I have gone through all the tutorials and found something about Link Layer Topology http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...1D-EE46-481E-BA11-37F485FA34EA&displaylang=en ...is this something I need to install on the XP pc?

What steps are required to network a Vista pc with XP pc? I have all the settings set to share on the Vista (at least I think I do) and assuming the are correct as they do show in the shared view under networks and also have renamed the workgroup to match the group on the XP.

What else do I need to do?

 

I split your post out to a separate thread here:

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=64628

Yours is a new problem and therefore warrants its own thread. If you just tack it on to the end of another thread, it is likely to be over looked by people who think you are just adding to an existing conversation. I'm sorry if that confused you.