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    Vista 64 laptop can't see other devices on wireless network

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by iudsis, Jun 24, 2009.

  1. iudsis

    iudsis Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm stumped here. The problem goes like this:

    -All of the computers (a Vista 32 desktop, an Ubuntu Linux laptop, and two Windows XP laptops) on my wireless home network can see each other and have no problems.
    -However, my laptop, a Sager NP2096 running Vista Home Premium 64, cannot see anything on the network.
    -All computers can see the NP2096. They can even open and access my shared folders.
    -All network discovery/file sharing/etc is turned on. Tried with Windows Firewall turned off. No difference.
    -NP2096 can access the internet through our Linksys WRT54G2 wireless router, as can all other machines on the network.
    -I can ping other machines on the network from the NP2096 and receive responses. They can ping the NP2096 and receive responses.

    In short, everything works but nothing shows up in the NP2096 Vista 64's network window. What the heck?!??
     
    iudsis, Jun 24, 2009
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  2. Shyster1

    Shyster1 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Is the network listed as public or private in the Sager?
     
    Shyster1, Jun 24, 2009
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  3. iudsis

    iudsis Notebook Enthusiast

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    Network is listed as Private Network in the "Network and Sharing Center"

    Another clue: In the Windows Vista network map on the Sager, when I click "view full map", the other Vista machine on my network shows up, but the XP and Linux machines do not.
     
    iudsis, Jun 24, 2009
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  4. Shyster1

    Shyster1 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    What service packs are the Vista-32 and the two XP machines running?
     
    Shyster1, Jun 24, 2009
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  5. iudsis

    iudsis Notebook Enthusiast

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    All computers on the network are up-to-date. XP machines are Service Pack 3 and Vista machines are Service Pack 2. Linux machine is Jaunty Jackalope and up-to-date (at least I am pretty sure; I'm no Linux master).

    Also of note: when I open up Run and type \\(ip address here) or \\(computer name here) it says:

    Network Error
    Windows cannot access \\192.168.1.100 (my Linux machine)
    Check the spelling of the name might be a problem with your network blah blah

    When I click "Diagnose" it says:

    Windows cannot connect to the server "192.168.1.100"
    Windows found a problem that cannot be repaired automatically
     
    iudsis, Jun 25, 2009
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  6. iudsis

    iudsis Notebook Enthusiast

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    Nevermind, I fixed it. Somehow the "Workstation" service at the bottom of the Windows services list got disabled. The description of this service is

    Lanman Workstation
    Creates and maintains client network connections to remote servers using the SMB protocol. If this service is stopped, these connections will be unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.

    I switched it on and then I could see everything. Good ole Samba protocol. Thanks for the replies Shyster.
     
    iudsis, Jun 25, 2009
    #6