Only one computer can see the other

[DocNsanE]

Hey everyone,

I need some help with a networking problem, because for once I'm stumped. My uncle bought a new computer a few months ago, and finally decided to network his new computer with his old computer. He did this via a 25 foot long crossover cable from one ethernet card to the next (I confirmed that it was indeed a crossover). The host computer servicing the internet is in the basement in his office, and the client is in his room on the second floor. The cable passes through a couple of inches of ciment, which is what my uncle says he had to drill through to pass the cable. Both machines are running windows xp and have all the standard protocoles installed (TCP/IP, Client for Microsoft Networks, File and Printer Sharing), both computers are in the same workgroup (in this case, simply 'home'). Both computers have an IP address assigned in the the 192.168.0.X subnet, and I even assigned 192.168.0.1 to the host computer. So as you can see, nothing special going on here, just your regular network.

Here's the breakdown:

From the Host Computer, I can:
- Ping the client PC (physical and protocals seem fine)
- Connect to the Internet (usb)
- Access the client PC's shared folders and files (file and printer sharing's working)

However,
From the Client Computer, I can:
- Do pretty much nothing 🙁

The client systematically refuses to ping the host computer, or access its shared resources.

One thing to note is that I did try turning off all firewalls (disconnecting from the internet before), and I still had no success.
I then reanbled the firewall (McAffee's, not Microsoft's), and attempted to ping the host again. This time I accessed the firewall's logs and confirmed that did indeed receive a ping request from the said client. I made sure the client's IP address had authorized access to the host machine and tried again. This time the IP showed up in my logs in green, yet the client still hasn't received a reply.

I searched the web and tried things like ensuring that NetBIOS over TCP/IP was enabled on both machines, confirming that the Computer Browser (service) was started, and everything looked picture perfect.

So PLEASE TELL ME that someone has been in my shoes before. I know I've seen it, but I can't recall for the life of me what was done to fix it.

Thanks for your help, even if it was just taking the time to read my lengthy message hehehe 😉

-- Doc

 

[folken]

Have you enabled ICS on the host machine?
Have you shared a folder using simple filesharing?
What static information did you enter on the client computer? (dns, gateway, etc)

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[DocNsanE]

I do have ICS enabled on the Host machine, but at this point, I'd be happy if the client comptuer could at least ping the host machine, let alone use the internet.

I have shared a folder on both machines, I'd have to confirm whether or not it's simple filesharing or another form, but from the host I was able to access files and folders on the client, however the client can't even see or find the host machine.

The only static information I entered on the client-side is the IP address. Since I can't even ping the host, there's no real point in setting it up as a gateway. Or maybe I'm wrong.

Thanks for trying to help me Folken!!

 

[umheint0]

So, through deduction, we can see that it's an issue with the host machine allowing access to the client machine. Not being able to respond to pings is somewhat curious. Simply, I would start with resetting all the network configs on the host machine to the defaults.

At the command prompt, reset tcp/ip with "netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt".

Then, type in "net share". Make sure $IPC is listed.

You can also try uninstalling the firewalls (just as a test), and then uninstalling and reinstalling TCP/IP. To do that, get into the registry, and navigate to HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/, and delete the Winsock and Winsock2 keys. MAKE SURE YOU BACKUP THE REGISTRY FIRST!!!!

Once they're gone, open up your NIC properties and make sure TCP/IP is gone. If not, uninstall it. Then restart the computer. When you're back up, reinstall TCP/IP by going into the NIC properties and doing it there.

Once that's all taken care of, try getting both machines to ping each other again. Start setting up firewall and F&PS one step at a time, making sure you can ping all the way through, so you can see which step is the problem.

If this still doesn't work, post back.

umheint0's phat setup --> <A HREF="http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~umheint0/system.html" target="_new">http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~umheint0/system.html</A><--