Home network

I had a home network which consisted of a xp pc, xp laptop, and a vista laptop. It failed and I have not been able to get it working again. I can ping each of my laptops from my pc, but I cannot ping my pc from either of the laptops. I have disabled the firewall of my pc and even uninstalled my firewall on my pc and I still cannot ping my pc from the laptops. What could be blocking my signal when I ping the pc?

 

Mmm Windows mshome networks let's hope Windows Home Server makes things easier.

Are there any error messages?

I've found that sometimes you have to run the home network wizard again! If your using xphome in there change the default 'mshome' to Vista's 'Workgroup' you don't have to have the same name on the Vista machine as I understand it but it is recommended to simplify discovery.
Vista makes discovering a network easier but there is still some sharing configuring.

Enter the machine names into the trusted zones of the firewalls or try disabling the firewalls on the laptops plus any intrusion detection(ids). - Try ping again.

Note you won't be able to utilize Network places unless you install the Link Layer Topology Discovery on the xp machines.

 

I changed the xp computers to workgroup. I had already entered the IP addresses of all the computers in the trusted zone of zone alarm. I tried pinging the pc again and it timed out without receiving a signal back from the pc.

 

Have you read through kb308007 it may help.

 

One problem I discovered when adding Vista to my network was that I could not use a shared printer, that is to say I couldn't print from vista to the printer connected to the xp computer giving an error message telling me that I had not enough memory to complete this operation and please close some programs and try again!
The thing with this is that it has nothing to do with memory and something which will have to be fixed as many people seemed to have the same problem, just google the error message and you'll see alot of people are tearing their hair out over this with no help from MS or printer manufacturer. - Anyway I did managed to fix the problem with a simple workaround by first connecting the printer to the vista computer and then adding a port for the printer to the xp machine - in Properties of the printer you have a Port tab where you can add a Local Port, you just enter the path to the printer normally connected to the xp computer. eg. //xpcomputer/nameofprinter then connect the printer back to the xp machine and you should be able to print.

 

I read the article and it did not help me. My problem is that there seems to be no way that my pc can be pinged from the other computers. I have added the IPs of both computers to my trusted zone of zone alarm without any luck. I have also uninstalled zone alarm and I still cannot ping the pc from the laptops. Is there some items in the services that are disabled that could keep the pc from letting signals through?

 

blackviper XP blackviperVISTA - take a look at the default for your system.

If you can only ping in one direction then it really sounds like a firewall issue, but you say you've uninstalled it. Perhaps there is a ZA issue. Has the Windows firewall been put back on without configuring the permissions.

Can you ping anything else apart from the other comp eg router? Tell us more about the setup.

Are you pinging with name or ip?

Have you any other network connections - clients running? (What is in your Network Connections.)

Have you tried to flush dns or repair winsock?

 

Windows firewall is off. ZA has been tried disabled and ununstalled.

I can ping the router and the two laptops from the pc. I cannot ping the pc from the laptops.

PC is hardwired. The two laptops are wireless with a Linksy router.

I am using the IP to ping

I can connect to the xp laptop from the vista laptop.

I have tried repair winsock.

 

Are you blocking ICMP pings? Also try booting it in Safe Mode with Networking and see if you can ping it that way.

If you can't ping by IP address, that's almost always a firewall issue.

When you say your network has failed can you see any folders, icons beloning to the other comps - do you recieve a message when trying to connect to the laptop such as location cannot be reached, or you might not have permission to use this network resource or something similar?

 

I did the safe mode with networking and I was not able to ping the pc from the pc.

 

Are there 2 PCs with the SAME name (i.e. client) in your network workgroup?

 

No, I don't have two computers with the same name. I just tried pinging the pc from the pc and it timed out. I then pinged the vista laptop from the pc and it worked. As I said previously all the computers are in the trusted zone of zone alarm. Even with zone alarm uninstalled I am still not able to ping the pc.

 

How are they physically connected? Wired? Wireless? And how is the device allowing the connections configured?

Blue

 

My pc is hardwired. My two laptops are both wireless. It sure seems like a firewall problem but as I stated previously I have not been able to ping the pc even after uninstalling zone alarm from the pc.

 

Focus on the router and how it's configured Precisely what router/firmware are you running?

Blue

 

I have a Linksys wireless-g 2.4 GHz. I do not know how to check anything about the router configuration. I am a novice in that area as well as other areas of computers.

 

I found my router settings. What should I look for that might be causing my problem?

 

Well, the first thing I'd do, before heading to the router, is to verify again that the Windows ICF on the desktop is disabled. Use Start>Control Panel>Security Center and verify that the Firewall is OFF. If it shows as ON/Green, go to the bottom of that page (Manage security settings for and select Windows Firewall, select off and OK.

I was going to say that with the router, navigate to the router (192.168.1.1), logon to the Adminstration facility and select the Wireless tab, Advanced Wireless, and verify that AP Isolation is OFF. But you've already stated above that you can connect laptop to laptop, so it's unlikely that this is the issue - but verify anyway - firmware sometimes behaves in strange ways. You have done a laptop-to-laptop ping, correct?

Although I wouldn't expect the router based firewall to yield what you are observing, I would verify that it is not an issue by disabling it (it's under the Security tab on the main menu).

Blue

 

Thanks for the help but I have tried everything and nothing seems to work. I just manually uninstalled zone alarm hoping that would solve my problem but had the same results.

 

I have my network working. I have been using easy cleaner and another registry cleaner. I had exhausted all the things I thought were the problem and what other people told me to check. I reinstalled the backups from when I ran easy cleaner and another registry cleaner and I was able to connect to my pc and the network worked.

 

Glad your sorted out.

As for registry cleaners I feel they are not generally needed.