Windows 7 Strange Network Issue (Completely Stumped)

LordBarvis

New Member
I am running Windows 7 Professional on a desktop computer and Windows 7 Home Premium on a laptop. They both can successfully connect to the internet without a problem. The laptop connects through wireless and the desktop connects through a wired connection. These two computers, however, cannot communicate with one another. I am able to see both of them in the Network and HomeGroup, but I cannot access either of them. When trying to access either of them from the Network I receive the simple message that "Windows cannot access \\(computer name)", so I diagnose the issue. This is where things become different.

If I diagnose why I cannot access the laptop from the desktop computer I get the message "Your computer appears to be correctly configured, but the device or resource (Laptop) is not responding." If I diagnose why I cannot access the desktop computer from the laptop I get the message "File and print sharing resource (Desktop) is online but isn't responding to connection attempts." I should also note that I can ping the laptop from the desktop, but I cannot ping the desktop from the laptop.

Incidentally, there are two other computers on this network as well. One is a laptop let's call Laptop2 that runs Windows 7 Home Premium and the other is a desktop we'll call Desktop2 that runs Windows XP. They both connect wirelessly and have internet. They are a part of this concern only because Laptop can see and access these other two computers but Desktop cannot even see them. Laptop2 and Desktop2 can access Laptop, as well. This leads me to believe that the issue I'm having mainly lies with the Desktop, but I'm completely stumped. Why can't these two computers (Laptop and Desktop) communicate with each other and even more, why can't Desktop even see the other two computers?
 
Let's concentrate on the two Win 7 computers first, try this
Click start and type services.msc in the search box
Or hold down the windows logo key and hit the R key and type services.msc in the run dialog box
Make sure the following services are running and set to automatic on all machines.
Computer Browser
DHCP Client
DNS Client
Server
TCP/IP Netbios helper
Workstation
Look for Bonjour service and temporarily set it to manual or disable and stop, same with mdnsresponder. Also check services near the top for a peculiar string containing numbers and or special characters, disable and stop
Make sure Network Discovery is turned on, on the Win 7 machines
Under the network and sharing center, change “Advanced Sharing Settings” intelligently to suit your needs. Turn on network discovery, turn on file and printer sharing, turn on pulic folder sharing, turn off password protected sharing, and at the bottom Allow Windows to manage homegroup connections (recommended).
Make sure NetBios over TCP/IP is enabled in the properties of IPv4 on each of your network adapters.
Make sure file and printer sharing is enable on both and that local firewalls are supporting it. Temporarily uninstall any third party firewalls or Internet Security Suites that may include some type of Firewall applet. (This is very important)
Make sure that both Win7 machines are actually sharing something.
 
Did everything you said; still doesn't work. :confused:

My original post might have been confusing in my wording. My overall problem is that all the other computers on the network can interact with each other except for the Desktop. It is probably also worth mentioning that I installed a wireless adapter to the Desktop and suddenly Laptop and Desktop could interact with each other, but Laptop2 and Desktop2 would still not show up on Desktop's network. This, however, doesn't solve my problem of course because I still can't see all of the machines from Desktop and the wireless adapter has to be returned to where I found it. This is a clear indicator of an issue in my wired connection's configuration I think.
 
I am running Windows 7 Professional on a desktop computer and Windows 7 Home Premium on a laptop. They both can successfully connect to the internet without a problem. The laptop connects through wireless and the desktop connects through a wired connection. These two computers, however, cannot communicate with one another. I am able to see both of them in the Network and HomeGroup, but I cannot access either of them. When trying to access either of them from the Network I receive the simple message that "Windows cannot access \\(computer name)", so I diagnose the issue. This is where things become different.

If I diagnose why I cannot access the laptop from the desktop computer I get the message "Your computer appears to be correctly configured, but the device or resource (Laptop) is not responding." If I diagnose why I cannot access the desktop computer from the laptop I get the message "File and print sharing resource (Desktop) is online but isn't responding to connection attempts." I should also note that I can ping the laptop from the desktop, but I cannot ping the desktop from the laptop.

Incidentally, there are two other computers on this network as well. One is a laptop let's call Laptop2 that runs Windows 7 Home Premium and the other is a desktop we'll call Desktop2 that runs Windows XP. They both connect wirelessly and have internet. They are a part of this concern only because Laptop can see and access these other two computers but Desktop cannot even see them. Laptop2 and Desktop2 can access Laptop, as well. This leads me to believe that the issue I'm having mainly lies with the Desktop, but I'm completely stumped. Why can't these two computers (Laptop and Desktop) communicate with each other and even more, why can't Desktop even see the other two computers?

We need to concentrate on the issue that I highlighted above, if you can't ping, then you can't network. Also it's important to note and understand that if you have a downlevel client like XP in the mix, as you have noted, then you will need to abandon home groups and make sure all computers are in the same workgroup and you will need to make the adjustments in the Windows 7 Network and sharing center.
Let's take the wireless adapter, that you added in your last post, out for now and get back to the wired connections and diagnose the ping issue between the desktop and laptop. "cannot ping the desktop from the laptop." (This has to be resolved before we can proceed much further) if you haven't already uninstalled any third party firewalls and Antivirus / Internet security suites please do so, you can always reinstall them later. Also just for testing this ping issue, temporarily turn off the windows firewall on the desktop and see if the ping issue is resolved or persists. Keep us posted
 
Okay, I just realized I reversed the ping problem. It's actually that I cannot ping Laptop from Desktop, so I simply reversed your instructions and disabled the firewall on the laptop instead of the desktop and now they can ping each other no problem. Sorry for the wrong information, but at least now I feel like we're getting somewhere. Still cannot access computers over the network, but this is a start.
 
Okay, I just realized I reversed the ping problem. It's actually that I cannot ping Laptop from Desktop, so I simply reversed your instructions and disabled the firewall on the laptop instead of the desktop and now they can ping each other no problem. Sorry for the wrong information, but at least now I feel like we're getting somewhere. Still cannot access computers over the network, but this is a start.

That's a bit vague. Can you tell me what happens when from one of the machines that is having this issue, you type \\ipAddressOfAMachineYouCan'tAccess\ShareNameOnThatMachine
 
Well its exactly as I said in the original post. When I go into the network and try to click on either the Laptop from the Desktop or the Desktop from the Laptop I get that message "Windows cannot access \\(computer name)". The same thing occurs when I type \\(ipAddress)\(ShareName). I don't, however, get this issue while trying to access any other computer on my network from Laptop. Anyway, it prompts me then to run the Windows Networking Diagnostic and when I do I get one of those two messages (depending on which machine I'm on) that I mentioned in the original post.
 
Alright I tried the \\ipAddress and got the same message as I've been getting:
Link Removed due to 404 Error

So I click diagnose. If I'm on my Desktop and try to access the Laptop I get this message:
Link Removed due to 404 Error
 
And If I'm on my Laptop and try to access the Desktop I get this message in troubleshooting:
Link Removed due to 404 Error

Also, I can ping the Desktop from the Laptop by name, but not the other way around. When I ping from the Desktop it tells me the ping request could not find that host. I tried by ipAddress to double check and now for some reason I cannot ping the Laptop from the Desktop like I could before. Guess we're back where we started...Both firewalls are still disabled too.
 
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And If I'm on my Laptop and try to access the Desktop I get this message in troubleshooting:

Also, I can ping the Desktop from the Laptop by name, but not the other way around. When I ping from the Desktop it tells me the ping request could not find that host. I tried by ipAddress to double check and now for some reason I cannot ping the Laptop from the Desktop like I could before. Guess we're back where we started...Both firewalls are still disabled too.

We can't network if we can't at least ping by IP Address. So there has to be something running that's blocking. You say both firewalls are turned off. You mean the built in windows firewalls right. The reason I ask, and the reason I mentioned in my original post that it's important to uninstall, not just turn off or disable any third party firewalls, and third party antivirus / internet security suites. Anything short of uninstalling them often doesn't seem to get us to where we want to be. So please confirm this for me. We can not proceed unless we can ping in both directions reliably with the IP address of the respective machines.
 
How did you get it to ping again? What exactly did you have to do? Confirm removal of third party firewalls and internet security suites?
 
I guess the firewall on the Laptop got turned back on somehow. Any and all Anti-virus, etc. protection is removed from both machines. Also, somehow miraculously I can now access the Desktop from the Laptop. That I cannot explain but we're getting somewhere.
 
I noticed that in your earlier images you had obscured the actual IP address. I would just like to know that you are using something in the private reserved ipaddress space. Like 10.nnn.nnn.nnn or 192.169.nnn.nnn I don't really need to know the numbers, just that you are behind a nat or pat firewall and using private reserved numbers.
 
The Desktop computer's IP is something like 99.146.nnn.nnn and the Laptop's IP is something like 192.168.nnn.nnn. That's all I know about them lol. Also, you should know that now for some reason my Laptop isn't even appearing in the Desktop's network space just like the other two computers on the network. Those other two computers can interact with the Desktop just like the Laptop now can. The only problem I seem to be having now is that the Desktop cannot access or even see the three other computers.
 
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OK, that's not going to work. Maybe you can help me understand how these two computers are connected to your network. Something like computer->router->ISP provided device. Of computer->switch->router->ISP provided device. With those addresses, although admittedly a little rusty on subnetting and supernetting, I don't believe they are even on the same subnet. And I'm sure that the one beginning with 99 is not private reserved. So this needs to be attended to immediately since you don't have a firewall turned on nor antivirus installed. All of the computers should have, under ideal circumstance, the 192.168.nnn.nnn addressing scheme with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 so it's kinda important to understand why one of them doesn't so we can fix it.
 
I definitely thought it was odd that the Desktop had such a weird IP Address. Well as I said the Desktop is connected through a wired Ethernet connection in the wall. I guess then that setup is Computer/Switch/Router/Internet. The Laptop is connected wirelessly so that setup would be Computer/Router/Internet. I can definitely tell you upfront that the Subnet Mask for the Desktop is 255.255.252.0 whereas the Laptop is 255.255.255.0.

Our internet is provided by AT&T through that whole At&T U-Verse setup. I don't know if that matters.
 
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I've had Verizon Broadband and have Comcast, I've setup litterally hundreds of ATT DSL and I can tell you that they all used PPPoE, however I have absolutely no experience with U-Verse, so maybe if someone else is out there with U-Verse they might be able to help. But I can tell you for sure that until we get those two computers on the same subnet, we're stuck. Maybe give ATT a call and let them know what's happening, you may have to put the account information on the router so it's outside edge will have the 99.nnn.nnn.nnn and the 255.255.252.0 subnet and all your machines inside can have the private reserved addressing scheme.
 
Haha I actually figured it out :) I had my Network adapter set to automatically give me an IP Address. The switch that the guy installed with the U-Verse was giving me that IP automatically so I changed the setting to use a specific IP with the proper gateway and Subnet Mask for my network. Not only can I see every computer on my network now, I can access them without a problem. I'm even able to do this with the firewalls back on. Thank you so much for your help! This has been exhausting for me haha
 
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