Wireless network help

I have an XP & Vista machine going through a wireless router. I am able to see the other machine in the network workgroup but I get a network error "Windows cannot access\\MACHINE Check the spelling of the name. Otherwise, there might be a problem with your network.", the Vista diagnostic says not a valid host name.
Both machines can access internet, file sharing is on and I have disabled firewalls just to check, and both are set up with static IP addresses and I have set enable netBIOS over TCP/IP.
I can ping the router, but not either client. When attempting to ping the XP machine from the Vista machine I get destination host unreachable when attempting the reverse I get request timed out. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Some routers have a privacy feature that prevents wireless and wired from talking to each other, so you will need to check that. Turn off IP6 on the vista. The use of static IP is not required. Most all routers will assign the same IP till the routers has be reset. Then if you turn them on in the same seq they are assign the same IP. I prefer to use IP Mapping over static, it less trouble than dealing with all of the network settings. Untill you can ping the machines sharing will not work. For firewalls, add a rule to allow your local subnet. But turning it off is fine as long as you do not have ports open on your router. If you do unplug the modem.

Once you started file sharing up did you select a folder to share? It also helps if you have an account on each pc with the same name.

 

Thanks for your response, both clients are wireless. Static IP's are needed for port forwarding. I'm curious, in order to to get a response from the client by ping, does file sharing even come into play?

 

No, You should be able to ping with out file sharing. My Guess a FW or security setting in the router is blocking it, the most common problem.

 

With the firewalls disabled on both machines and the router firewall off still no joy. I get destination host unreachable when pinging the XP box, and request timed out pinging the Vista notebook. I'm baffled...

 

vista has crappy file sharing, imo

disable qos on the router............

are you just wanting to share, or do a one time move of files?? if just wanting to move them, it's really easier to use a crossover cable and get it done!!!

i'll mess around with my xp-vista and try and get back with you.....

 

obviously, this isn't a file sharing issue

 

To answer the question, I'm not looking for a one time moving of files, the goal is to network the NB and the box.

 

DONT run with out the FW up on the router, your asking for big trouble in seconds. If you need to un plug the SIP connection while testing.

You did not mention what router you are using.

Most routers support reserved IP's. This will allow you to use DHCP and still have the PC's get the same IP address. I would like to see you use dhcp and kill the port forwarding for testing purposes.

I would run ipconfig from each pc. Then see if you can ping each pc form the other using the IP address vs name. Once you can ping then start working on the file sharing.

 

I only ran without the router FW with the modem off.I am using... gasp a Belkin F5D8232-4, got it on the cheap. I will try going back to DHCP and forgo static IP addresses for testing purposes as you suggest. I have to get a successful ping before file sharing comes in to play. As mentioned using the ping command to the IP addresses I get destination host unreachable pinging the XP machine from the Vista and I get request timed out pinging from the XP to the Vista.

 

You said the magic word. BELKIN, I have yet to get anything they make that works. Cheap is not a good decision in this case.

 

Well it can always be returned at this point if it simply comes down to it being a Belkin. I will post a question then to any and all Belkin N1 Vision owners, does anyone successfully have a wireless network with XP & Vista coexisting ?

 

Read the smallnetbuilder review on the belkin 11n. They did not like that it was v1 and had a very very large speed hit with security turned on.

 

Well aside from the networking issues I was having, the performance of the Belkin router was disappointing, periodically I had to reboot the thing to get it to work. So I've exchanged it for a DIR-655. So far it's noticeably faster and it's stable. I'll give networking a go again in the next day or so...

 

Well so far so good, I've got the Vista machine able to ping the XP machine and file sharing is working as well. The only problem now is that I can't ping the Vista machine from the XP machine...

 

I am new at this discussion but I have a similiar issue, how do I turn off IP6 in Vista

 

Go to Network Connections-> right click on Wireless Network Connection-> click Properties-> uncheck Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) then Ok.

 

My experience simply put:
Belkin N1 Vision = form
D-Link DIR-655 = function