Swanwim,
I don't mean to question your tech savvy, but you're blowing right over allot of the details here. It's usually the little things that we miss which can trip us up for days on end trying to sort out these problems.
1. Did you try to ping local host from the invisible PC?
2. Have you tried to ping the invisible PC's IP address from another node?
3. IS the invisible PC on a different subnet?
...If you determine that the TCP/IP stack is all good within the invisible machine, then perhaps it's a matter DNS name resolution. If you can ping the IP address from another node, but cannot see/connect the PC by it's name, then that seems likely. If you cannot ping the IP address, then it could be a problem with the subnetting...
Please help us to visualize your network layout.
- Mr. Gone
A+, Net+, MCP (Win2K Pro)