Windows 7 Why can't my wireless laptop and PC access each other on my Home Network?

[Olidogg]

Hi,

I'm new to Windows 7 and networking but have an ASUS wireless laptop connected to my home PC by a Netgear ADSL modem/wireless router (DG834GVv2). Both systems are running Windows 7 - 32 bit and can both access the internet. They are both in the same Home Group and have everything ticked under the "Share libraries and printers" options.

I also have a 3rd PC hooked up to the network which is running Windows XP so I've given all 3 machines the same Workgroup name (which is a different name to the Home Group name). It would be good to have the Windows XP computer networked as well but that isn't a priority, I mainly want the wireless laptop to file share with the Windows 7 PC.

The laptop can see the PC on the network and the PC can see the laptop but when I try to access either of them I get the "Windows cannot access \\" error message and something about check the spelling of the name. When I run the network trouble-shooter it says "Your broadband modem is experiencing connectivity issues" and the Problems Found are "The connection between your access point, router, or cable modem and the internet is broken".

I don't really understand this error because as I said they can both access the internet ok and see each other on the network.

Anyone got any ideas what the problem might be because I rang Netgear for help and they wanted to charge me $159 to sign up for one years support.

 

[Trouble]

Olidogg:
Hello and welcome to the forums.
You may be having a problem with name resolution NetBIOS) on your network.
So attempt to access one of the Win7 machines from the other using the ip address of the machines.
Hold the windows key while hitting the "r", this will produce the run dialog box
type the ip address of the other machine preceeded by two backslashes.
Link Removed and hit enter
Are the results any different?
If not, now would be a good time to uninstall any third party firewalls and or third party security/antivirus suites containing firewall type applets, temporarily for troubleshooting, you can reinstall them after your issue is resolved.
Enable netbios over tcp/ip in the properties of both network adapters on both machines under the properties of IPv4 under the WINS tab.
Open the services console by typing services.msc into the search box and hitting enter, scroll down and make sure that the TCP NetBIOS helper service is started and running.

 

[Trouble]

Try running the "Access shared files and folders on other computers" trouble shooter.
Open control panel, top right View by:, change to small icons, select troubleshooting icon, then under Network and Internet, click the link that says "Access shared files and folder on other computers and follow it through and see if that resolves anything for you (see attachment).
Also, if as you mentioned in your original post, you want to include the XP machine at a later date, you may as well drop the whole homegroup thing now, since it is not supported in downlevel clients and may result in some confusion later on. Just make sure all computers are on the same subnet, and have the same workgroup name and that none of them have the same host name.

 

[Olidogg]

Thanks Trouble, you are a legend!

At first your suggestions didn't appear to be working but after following all the steps in your posts from start to finish it suddenly started working again (once I restarted the machines). I can't be sure which step fixed the problem but all 3 PC's are now sharing on the network. I'm very happy with that and appreciate your help.

Thanks again, Olidogg.

 

[Trouble]

I'm glad to hear that you were able to resolve your issue. Thanks for updating your thread with the info.
We appreciate your membership in the forums and hope to continue to see you around.
Randy

 

[Olidogg]

I'm glad to hear that you were able to resolve your issue. Thanks for updating your thread with the info.
We appreciate your membership in the forums and hope to continue to see you around.
Randy

No problem Randy. On a related topic, what do you know about "PC Streaming"? I've now hooked up a Samsung Blu-Ray home theatre system to my home network via network cable to my modem/router. When I run the Network test on the Blu-Ray player it says the network is working fine but only picks up the Windows XP PC. It can't see either of the two Windows 7 computers.

 

[Trouble]

Not much I'm affraid, but the first place to check is of course the Network and Sharing Center, change advanced settings, scroll down and make sure that you have media streaming turned on. While there you will see a link that says "Tell me more about media streaming", click it and see if that gets you any further along. If not you may want to create a new thread in the "Windows 7 Support" sub-forum, I know that there are a lot of people there who may have some additional ideas for you.
Good Luck