Wireless home network question

Hello everybody, PLEASE HELP ME WITH THIS ONE!!
I have two laptops that connect wirelessly to a belkin router and want to revive my still very good desktop computer so that my husband and I can have access to all our files in the desktop and can also print wirelessly.
I tried to run the wirelees network set up that comes with the xp but instead of helping, it confused our sensitive windows vista laptops.:cry to the point that they could not recognized the wireless connection in the house... not to worry I did fixed that problem already
When looking at the network map I can see both laptops but not the desktop, the desktop is not wireless able but is connected to the router at this time and does have a working internet connection.
Please help!!! Have tried many different things but haven't had good results.
THAKS!!!

I have two HP Pavilion dv2700 Notebook PC's both have Windows Vista Home Premium SP 1, a dexktop that a friend of ours put together with windows XP Home edition SP 2. Also have a belkin wireless router and a canon i850.

 

can the desktop see the laptops?

 

No it can't

 

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=171865

this person had a similar problem read through his solution and see if you can adapt his solution

 

Sorry Buggabear,
I tried to make sense of the solution that you gave me, but I'm not sure it applies to me, I want to be able to print on the XP pc from the 2 vista laptops and to have access to a file in the XP PC from the laptops. I already set up the file as a shared file.

Points to clarify:
I'm able to see the two vista laptops and the router from the vista laptops.
I'm not able to see the XP PC from the vista laptops

The xp pc cannot see the 2 vista laptops, I can see the network that I created or initiated from the XP PC.
I can't see the router either

Help:cry Thank you!!!!

 

UPDATE!!
Now one of the vista laptops can see the xp pc but when I click on file it tells me {WINDOWS CANNOT ACCESS \\COMP} "check the spelling of the name.Otherwise, there might be a problem with your network. To try to identify and resolve network problems, click diagnose" when i do nothing happens. When i click on details error code 0x80070035 the network path was not found. How can I fix this, and what to do with the other one?
thanks!!!

 

sorry it didn't work, have you tried to set it up using a different network name, basically starting from the beginning. try setting it up on the xp machine first then follow with the vista machines.

In order to get the printer on line with all machines. one the xp machine which has the printer installed>click start>settings>printer>right click canon i850>comedown to share>check enable sharing.give it a name or use the default. then goto the vista machines and follow the same steps. this will however only work if you have successfully networked the computers already.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/setup/homenet.mspx

these are the instructions i used when i set mine up they are the ones that you probably used to do yours, again try to set it up again just pick a different network name and use the xp machine first

 

:wave
i was told to reset belkin router and set up again , dont know for sure if this will help youre problem but good luck!!!i will be watching youre thread!!!!:major

 

I'm nowhere near an expert on this, but I had the same trouble with the Name error message.
Like buggabear said, reset your PC name, restart your PC, and keep banging away at it.

There is a solution without using Windows to set up your network.
Network Magic Basic 4.7.8023
It is not fully freeware, although you get to try out the full features for 7 days for free.This is what I used for a couple of years and it was well worth the price.
The only reason I dumped it, is that I am trying to keep my XP machine as free of processes and unnecessary software, as possible.
(This one of the few apps I actually decided to buy, instead of using freeware)

 

Various articles and procedures for setting up networks.
The first link has a procedure to go to simplified sharing on Vista that may help. It is in the Password Protected Sharing section near the end.
The last link is a patch for XP computers on a Vista network.
Have a read through them to see what you have set up correctly so far.

File and Printer Sharing in Windows Vista
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

How to configure file sharing in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304040

Share Your Printer Over a Home Network Using Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/honeycutt_july2.mspx

Troubleshooting Windows Firewall settings in Windows XP Service Pack 2 for advanced users
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875357

Network Map in Windows Vista does not display computers that are running Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120

Hope this helps.