Another Windows XP networking question

OK, I have almost gotten this home network figured out, but I am having one problem still. On my laptop, running Windows XP home, I can see both of the other computers I have networked with. I can access the folders I want and all. All three computers I networked can print to the networked printer. Now for the problem. I am running Windows XP on two desktop computers. They can see each other, but neither of them can see the laptop. I have tried all of the troubleshooting techniques in the Help file and get no help.

Also, when I click on My Network Places, I see all three computers' shared document folders on the laptop. On the two desktops, there are only two folders, one for each desktop. When I click on "View workgroup computers", I can see all three computers from any of the three, but from the two desktops I cannot click on the laptop icon and see the folder either. When I click on the Laptop icon, I get a message that says "Laptop is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The network path was not found."

I have run Network Wizard numerous times, and re-booted each time. I have logged off and back on. I have made sure the folder was set for sharing files. I can't think of anything else to try. Any suggestions?

 

Two questions - Are the desktop PCs running XP Home or Pro?
Can you ping all three computers between each other? (Start button>Run> ping "IP address" eg ping 194.234.0.122)

If they all ping each other, then they are talking and the problem is elsewhere...if they cannot ping, then it is still a networking problem.

Try manually assigning IP adresses (Contorl Panel>Network Connections
right click on Local Area Network then select Properties. Under TCP/IP's properties set each computer's IP manually to something like 192.168.0.* where star is a number between 1-255 that is different on each machine) Subnet mask defaults to 255.255.255.0 and that is fine.

 

Ping by computername as well. When using my network places, netbios name resolution must exist and be working.

In addition, ping is a generic test, as file and printer sharing does not use port 80.

In regards to the laptop:

Boot it to SafeMode w/ Networking. See if it works there.

Try start, run:

\\computername
and
\\ip address

Which works, if any?

Check the laptop and remove the XP firewall if its enabled (for now). Same with 3rd party firewalls. If its narrowed down to either, exceptions can be created to leave them up and still have it work. But for now its easier to remove them if third party, disable them if they are built in.

Edit: oh, and I am moving this to Networking, as well.

 

OK. Not sure what happened, but when I had shut the laptop all the way down again when I went to bed. I got up this morning to start working on it and when I turned it back on and it booted back up, the other computers saw it. I know I had re-started it, logged off and back on at least 6 times. Maybe it was shutting it all the way down and re-starting from there, or maybe the Microsoft Pixie dusted it with network dust while I slept. Whatever it was, now my network seems to be complete and I am very happy. Thanks for the suggestions. You guys are a world of help.

 

Spoke too soon. The computer in the library never did see the laptop and when I shutdown and started back up the laptop I lost the connection to the living room desktop. I still can access the two desktops from the laptop, but they won't go the other way now.