XP and Networking

I have 3 cpu connected thru a hub. I can see all 3 cpu's on two machines. But my main machine I cannot see the them. I can access it thru the other 2. Why would it not show up on here. The error I get is The Network path was not found. What is wierd is it has worked on this cpu then just disappeared. I made sure my workgroup name is all the same. Anyways any ideas would be great thanks .

Alemar

 

What protocol are you using and what OS on the various PCs?

 

You don't provide much information about your setup, but in general - make sure you remove ZoneAlarm from all systems. Not just disable - uninstall! Even if ZoneAlarm says the latest is XP compatible. I had to do that to fix my setup. Use Tiny Personal Firewall - it works. Does this help?

 

I had the same problem with a small network consisting of several machines with varying Win OS's (95, 98, 2000, XP). The WinXP machine could not "see" one of the win95 machines, while all others could.

I finally pinned down the problem which was that the XP machine did not have netBEUI protocol installed only TCP/IP. For some strange reason , the 'unseen' 95 machine did not have TCP/IP installed. By default XP is installed without netBEUI (apparently it has been discontinued) -- So I had two options, install (or somehow activate) TCP/IP on the troublesome 95 machine or install netBEUI on the XP using the install CD. I did the latter (because I was sitting at the XP machine and the XP CD was close by)

Assuming your CD drive is D, you'll find it in the following location:

D:\VALUEADD\MSFT\NET\NETBEUI

Read the file 'NETBEUI.TXT' for 'installation' instructions.

The moral of the story is that its probably a protocol issue.

Hope this helped.

 

DO NOT LOAD NETBUI!!!!

There's a reason it's discontinued....it SUX!!!

You need to move everything toward TCP/IP anyway, so now would be a good time!!

As far as not being able to see PCs while browsing, are you sure all your machines have the same workgroup name?

 

It does have limitations in that it will not route and resolves names by broadcast. Given that, it is fine for a small home network. The amount of broadcast traffic with 10 or 20 PCs on the LAN won't be significant. Also, doubtful you would have a router on a small network.

For many people who are using ICS to connect to the internet, there are significant advantages to NetBeui. And the protocol works just fine for what it was designed to do in addition to being by far the simplest to set up.

And FWIW, the protocol wasn't "discontinued" but simply not loaded. Same as WINS with 2K systems. Same sort of reasons. WINS has limitations.

Granted, since TCP/IP and DNS are the internet tools of choice, we will see less and less of either of these but that DOES NOT mean they are bad if used for their intended purposes.