Cannot ping a computer on a home network

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Yarko, Feb 26, 2005.

  1. Yarko

    Yarko Private E-2

    OK. This is a weird one and it's driving me crazy.

    I have DSL. I just got a Linksys router. I have both my laptop and my tower connected to the router with cables. The tower is running Windows XP Home, and the laptop is running Windows XP Professional. Both computers have been assigned unique IP addresses. Both can access the internet through the router. Neither has a firewall enabled.

    Here is my main problem:

    I can get on the tower and ping the laptop just fine. However, I cannot ping the tower from the laptop. What gives?

    Other weird things:

    I can't seem to see each computer from the other in "My Network Places." I cannot share files between them.

    Finally, In computer games, when finding game servers to play on, the laptop always shows many more servers available than the tower. What could possibly be happening?

    Thanks!

    Yarko
     
  2. Yarko

    Yarko Private E-2

    Updated my subscription setting
     
  3. gay2jp

    gay2jp Private First Class

    If xppro is set up for Domain logon (such as for a NT network at work), it will not be set for a home (group) network login. While you can use internet with it, sharing printers and files won't work. I have this issue with a work laptop I bring home.

    If you change the xppro system to have the same group name as your xp home machine, you will lose the domain settings and you may have difficulty reestablishing them.

    XPpro has more capability for networks than does XP-home. This might explain why the two machines have different views of things.
     
  4. Yarko

    Yarko Private E-2

    That is exactly my situation. I can see that MAYBE I might not be able to see the home workgroup from my laptop which would mean I could not access shared folders on the tower (why the domain setup would limit this I don't know), but shouldn't I still be able to ping? I would think that I could ping ANY machine on a network as long as it has the TCP/IP protocal setup regardless of the operating system it is running.

    This makes no sense to me.
     
  5. eclectic

    eclectic Private E-2

    Asymmetric Ping - I can think of only two reasons -

    1) either the computers do not both think they are on the same network - the usual reason is they do not have the same subnet mask.
    2) or - a firewall function in one is blocking the ping (but you say you have checked that the firewalls are disabled on the LAN interfaces).

    For the ping to work in one 'direction' in the first case, the internet router might be acting as a relay, but not in the other case.

    Browsing for File and Print sharing is a much higher level issue and is discussed by others. But if ping is not working it could / would affect the F & P share.
     
  6. evilevets

    evilevets Sergeant Major

    Are you using Zone Alarm on either PC?




    Steve
     
  7. Yarko

    Yarko Private E-2

    eclectic:

    Thanks for your reponse. I will check into the subnet mask possbililty. I will also check the Router configuration to see if there is a problem there.

    evilevets:

    I don't think so.
     
  8. Ilearn

    Ilearn Private E-2

    I have an exact problem only both my windows are XP home. I wonder if and how you resolved this problem?

    Thanks
     
  9. Yarko

    Yarko Private E-2

    I no longer have the laptop I was using before, and I don't have the same problem on my new laptop. So, technically, I never solved this problem.

    However, I found some entries in Microsoft help that might be useful:

    If the ping command fails with a Request timed out message, verify that the host IP address is correct, that the host is operational, and that all of the gateways (routers) between this computer and the host are operational.

    The ping command uses Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request and Echo Reply messages. Packet filtering policies on routers, firewalls, or other types of security gateways might prevent the forwarding of this traffic.

    If the ping command is not found or the command fails, you can use Event Viewer to check the system log and look for problems reported by Setup or the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) service.

    To open Event Viewer, click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Event Viewer.
     
  10. Ilearn

    Ilearn Private E-2

    Thanks for your response. I turned off Norton virus and everything is working again. I turned Norton back on and went into the Personal Firewall and enable the 192.168.1.1 IP address (which is my router IP). The problem is solved now.

    Thanks again for your response.

    Ilearn
     
  11. Yarko

    Yarko Private E-2

    Good news! I like when people win! :D
     

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