My home network is simple - three XP Pro machines on a switch with specified IP addresses. One of these machines is a notebook computer. Yesterday, everything worked properly. Today, my desktop and notebook can not longer communicate (but the two desktops continue to function together properly).
More specifically, ping works in both directions. Typing \\<ip address> into the address bar of an explorer window works. Typing \\<computer name> in the address bar of an explorer window yields "Windows cannot find <computer name>. Check the spelling and try again, or try searching for the item by clicking the Start button and then clicking search."
Searching for the other computer is "successful" in that the search does return and does show the computer name and in the proper workgroup. However, double clicking the computer yields "<computer name> is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permission. The network path was not found." I get the same result when I expand 'microsoft windows network->[my workgroup]->[computer name]'
These results are the same for both machines.
The only thing that happened on either computer today is that the laptop was set to "Obtain IP automatically" when I attempted (unsuccessfully) to join another domain. As far as I can determine, all settings on both computers are exactly the same as yesterday, but today, things don't work.
To say this is frustrating is an understatement. Also, do not believe that I am missing anything obvious - both machine are turned on, ping works, I have sufficient privilege on both machines, etc. My networking connections are the Windows XP defaults (and I did not change anything today except the IP address, which, of course, I changed back.)
Please help - I need these machines to be networked. I know this is possible since it worked yesterday. What the #($%$# went wrong?! More importantly, what should I do to fix this problem?
More specifically, ping works in both directions. Typing \\<ip address> into the address bar of an explorer window works. Typing \\<computer name> in the address bar of an explorer window yields "Windows cannot find <computer name>. Check the spelling and try again, or try searching for the item by clicking the Start button and then clicking search."
Searching for the other computer is "successful" in that the search does return and does show the computer name and in the proper workgroup. However, double clicking the computer yields "<computer name> is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permission. The network path was not found." I get the same result when I expand 'microsoft windows network->[my workgroup]->[computer name]'
These results are the same for both machines.
The only thing that happened on either computer today is that the laptop was set to "Obtain IP automatically" when I attempted (unsuccessfully) to join another domain. As far as I can determine, all settings on both computers are exactly the same as yesterday, but today, things don't work.
To say this is frustrating is an understatement. Also, do not believe that I am missing anything obvious - both machine are turned on, ping works, I have sufficient privilege on both machines, etc. My networking connections are the Windows XP defaults (and I did not change anything today except the IP address, which, of course, I changed back.)
Please help - I need these machines to be networked. I know this is possible since it worked yesterday. What the #($%$# went wrong?! More importantly, what should I do to fix this problem?
Good luck!!