Invisible Windows 7 Machine! 6

[ca8msm]

Hi,

I've got a strange issue with my windows 7 machine at home that has been bugging me for weeks, but I really need to get it sorted now so I'll detail as much as I can and hopefully someone can spot what might might be wrong.

I have a wireless router connected to the internet and 3 devices connected to it. They are:
[tt]
Name OS Network IPv4
PC1 Windows 7 WORKGROUP 192.168.2.2
LAPTOP1 Vista WORKGROUP 192.168.2.3
PS3 192.168.2.4
[/tt]
and they all get their IP addresses dynamically.

Both PC1 and LAPTOP1 can ping PS3 and get a response. PC1 can ping LAPTOP1 and get a response. LAPTOP1 cannot ping PC1 by ip address but it will work if I ping by it's name (which bizarrely shows that it is pinging via the IPv6 address). Also, both PC1 and LAPTOP1 can ping each other via the long IPv6 address that they both have so they can obviously see each other just not via IPv4. Both PC1 and LAPTOP1 have file and print sharing turned on and I've disabled the firewalls on both machines as well to rule that out. PC1 still gets out to the internet ok as well so the issue must be "incoming" based.

I don't really know what IPv6 is used for and I've tried disabling it on PC1 but all that happens then is that I can't access PC1 at all. Does anyone have any idea of what may be stopping PC1 from being seen, any ways I can look at fixing this, or any network tools that may help identify where it is failing?

Thanks,
Mark


Mark,

Darlington Web Design
Experts, Information, Ideas & Knowledge
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[ca8msm]

well, I don't see anything wrong with the settings on both the PC and the Laptop...

have you tried to hook up the Laptop using a regular ethernet cable to the router, and see if it works then?

I am still leaning towards a router issue, between wireless and cabled networking...

No, I'd not tried them both wired (probably should have I guess) so I'll try that tonight.

Yeah, you could be right, I'll concentrate on that angle and see if I can come up with anything.

Thanks for your help

Mark,

Darlington Web Design
Experts, Information, Ideas & Knowledge
ASP.NET Tips & Tricks

 

[Kawdude]

Sorry, wrong terminology for 7. Zero Wireless Config is actually WLAN Autoconfig. As before if you are running a third party softwareware to monitor and configure your Wireless connectivity I'd turn it off completely and allow Windows 7 to handle the wifi features. This at least rules out the third party software as being an issue.

 

[ca8msm]

Sorry, wrong terminology for 7. Zero Wireless Config is actually WLAN Autoconfig. As before if you are running a third party softwareware to monitor and configure your Wireless connectivity I'd turn it off completely and allow Windows 7 to handle the wifi features. This at least rules out the third party software as being an issue.

That's OK, I read up on it and worked out that's what you meant. As above though, I haven't installed any specific software that manages my connections and it is all done through Windows, so that is ruled out.

I'm now running on my completely new router and still have the same issues, I've even reformatted the Windows 7 machine but to no avail. I think I've tried pretty much all the suggestions I've seen so there's obviously something uniquely wrong with my set up. Figuring out what that is though is becoming a bit of a nightmare!

Mark,

Darlington Web Design
Experts, Information, Ideas & Knowledge
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[kjv1611]

Is Windows 7 the native OS on the machine you've got it on? Be sure you've got the best/correct network adapter driver installed for your wireless, and your LAN connection.

Also, from your Windows 7 PC, are you able to see the other? I don't remember anymore, so I'm asking to be sure. If you can, then it still sounds like a networking issue between the two - could be a software firewall setting.

And did you ever try connecting the laptop via a wire instead of wireless to be sure and narrow out that sort of possibility? New router or not, it'd be good to check to be sure.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[ca8msm]

Is Windows 7 the native OS on the machine you've got it on? Be sure you've got the best/correct network adapter driver installed for your wireless, and your LAN connection.

Yes, Windows 7 was installed from scratch on it. The LAN driver is installed as it's an onboard LAN port (for a Asus p5kc) shows up as a "Atheros L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Controller" which says there are no updated drivers on the Asus website. I found an older driver which shows it as a "Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Controller" but this hasn't made any difference.

Also, from your Windows 7 PC, are you able to see the other? I don't remember anymore, so I'm asking to be sure. If you can, then it still sounds like a networking issue between the two - could be a software firewall setting.

No, neither machine can see the other using IPv4, there are no software firewalls apart from the Windows Firewall and I disabled this whilst testing. If I put IPv6 back on, then both machines can ping each other via the IPv6 address but this doesn't help me overall as I really need to connect via IPv4 for other devices.

And did you ever try connecting the laptop via a wire instead of wireless to be sure and narrow out that sort of possibility? New router or not, it'd be good to check to be sure.

No, I'm afraid I've not bought a crossover cable yet to try this out. I must try and do this soon though to see if it works.


Mark,

Darlington Web Design
Experts, Information, Ideas & Knowledge
ASP.NET Tips & Tricks

 

[kjv1611]

==>No, I'm afraid I've not bought a crossover cable yet...
I was actually referring to his mention of trying to connect via wire to the router from the laptop, and not wireless - that way to take wireless out of the puzzle to verify it's not anything to do with wireless, or anything to do with the communication between the wired switch and wireless adapter portions of the router. This would also help to verify whether or not it's a wireless issue or a pure networking issue. If pure networking issue, it'll still be there. If a wireless issue, connecting the laptop via wire will take care of the issue.


--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[ca8msm]

Ah, I see ok, I'll try that and let you know.

Thanks

Mark,

Darlington Web Design
Experts, Information, Ideas & Knowledge
ASP.NET Tips & Tricks