weird networking behavior - 4 computers

I have four computers networked together in my house. It is a standard wired (TCP/IP and file sharing) LAN 10/100 network and the computers are as follows: 2 XP Pro, 1 2000 Pro, and 98SE. The NT based PCs do not see the network via MSHOME unless the 98SE computer is on. When the 98SE computer is on, all is fine; when it is off, the computers go blind. Besides keeping the 98SE on all the time, what can do I do to make this work better? Each PC has it own individal IP address. They all can access the Internet via one cable modem and router regardless of what computer is on or off. The software firewalls are configured to allow access across the LAN.

Thanks! Please let me know if more info is needed.

 

have you tried disabling the firewalls while the 98 is off just to see? sounds like the XP machines are having a broadcast problem.

worth a try.

 

No difference with firewalls on or off. The NT based computers do not even see themselves on the network.

 

sounds like you have the 98 machine set up as the server so all the other computers rely on that computer being on. but then you said that all pcs can access the internet no matter what then i don't know if that is what it is. (just thinking in type)

eric

 

Weird

Maybe try on xp rig running network wizard and make network set up floppy, then run on the other rigs.
Turn off firewall's during setup till all can be seen.

another thought Router settings?

 

Ok... I have one XP Pro computer on and I just booted up my 2000 Pro (SP4) computer. They both show MSHOME under Microsoft Windows Network. Neither computer is able to see any farther than MSHOME. They do not see any computers on the network including themselves. When I double-click on MSHOME, I get the following message:

"Mshome is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator..."

Again, both PCs can access the Internet with not problems. What settings am I missing here?

 

I belive ASUS is right. From one of the XP computers, run the network wizard and set up a floppy, then run on ALL of the other 3 machines. This will update Windows networking and file sharing to the most recent. This is vital in order to be able to browse the network from the win98 machine (especielly).

Good luck

 

I don't think that is it. The Win98SE computer is the only one that can browse the network alone. The other 3 computers (all NT-based OS's) need the Win98SE computer on to see the network including themselves. I need the 2 WinXP Pro computers and the Win2000 Pro computer to be able to communicate without the Win98SE being on all the time.