Resolved Can't see 1 computer on network

Sorry but this may be a long post.
Not my home network but one I looked at for a friend.
Laptop: XP Pro SP2, can see and connect to all but one machine on the network. Can see the desktop computer but gives an error about may not have permission to access it. Pinging the desktop won't work either.
Desktop: Can see itself but no other machine on the network.
1)turned off firewall on both machines.
2)since I'm only interested in accessing the desktop from the laptop I only checked sharing on the desktop and enabled sharing.
3)netbios over tcp/ip is on both machines.
4)laptop obtains ip and dns automatically, desktop won't so it has a static ip (I did try letting it automatically detect but it wouldn't so I entered them again).
5) both machines connect to the internet fine.

Both go through a wireless router. Since the desktop can't automatically obtain the settings I suspect there is a problem there but not sure how to find it.
Any ideas?
Thanks

 

Have you checked the names of the 2 computers they should be individual ie: my-ltpc for the laptop and my-dtpc for the desktop, descriptions should probably be individual as well ie: desktop 'Home', laptop 'the traveller'
A stab in the dark but might help

Jac

 

Hi Jac, The names are unique so that isn't the problem. I do appreciate the reply

 

You said you couldn't ping it so I would start with turning off any personal firewall products or Windows Firewall.

The message you got makes me think the computer you are trying to access is also XP Pro.

Pro has to have a common user name and password on both machines.

 

Not sure exactly what it was but it is working now. I brought both the machines home so I could check them over but didn't have the wireless adapter for the desktop when they got here so had to use one that I had. First I used the internal network card and it worked fine so I knew tcp-ip was correct, firewalls turned off, could see it and connect from the laptop. Added the wireless adapter I had, installed drivers and it worked fine.
Conclusion: Either there was a problem with their wireless adapter or drivers. In either event they are up and running now.
Thanks to everyone who replied