Re: Network just stopped working

"Trevor A" <trevor@(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:a3e2b$4b489b45$50e5af86$(E-Mail Removed). com...
> Normally I can access my sons PC and he mine via our home network. Using a
> wireless router. He's on XP Home, me Vista. It's just stopped working.
> Both computers show when I open the networking icon. I now get the message
> Windows cannot access computer X, check the spelling of the name,
> otherwise there might be a problem with the network.
>
> Both are in same network and connect to the internet via the wireless
> router.
>
> How can I connect them up again?

The simple and expedient first step is to reboot both PCs and the router,
and see if that solves the problem.

If you want, you could try investigating a bit. For the sake of a few
minutes' work, it might be worth trying it *before you reboot*:

In the following examples, I'm assuming that the PCs are called PC1 and
PC2 - substitute the correct PC names in the following commands.

Do the following at PC1

1. Open a Command Prompt by pressing Start and then Run, typing "cmd" in the
Command field [Windows XP] or typing "cmd" in the Start Search field
[Vista]. Press Enter.
2. A black window with white writing opens.
3. Type "ping PC2" and press Enter
4. You should see four "reply from" lines.
5. Type "net view \\PC2", Enter
6. You should see one or more shared folders and/or printers.
7. Type "net use", Enter
8. You should see one or more drive letters which are linked to shares on
the other PC (eg \\PC2\documents)
9. Type "dir \\PC2\documents" (substitute the name of a shared folder in
place of "documents".


Repeat all those steps at PC2, using "PC1" in the commands.

"Trevor A" <trevor@(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d4ff1$4b48bcd1$50e5af86$(E-Mail Removed). com...
>
> "Mortimer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>> "Trevor A" <trevor@(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:a3e2b$4b489b45$50e5af86$(E-Mail Removed). com...
>>> Normally I can access my sons PC and he mine via our home network. Using
>>> a wireless router. He's on XP Home, me Vista. It's just stopped working.
>>> Both computers show when I open the networking icon. I now get the
>>> message Windows cannot access computer X, check the spelling of the
>>> name, otherwise there might be a problem with the network.
>>>
>>> Both are in same network and connect to the internet via the wireless
>>> router.
>>>
>>> How can I connect them up again?
>>
>> The simple and expedient first step is to reboot both PCs and the router,
>> and see if that solves the problem.
>>
>> If you want, you could try investigating a bit. For the sake of a few
>> minutes' work, it might be worth trying it *before you reboot*:
>>
>> In the following examples, I'm assuming that the PCs are called PC1 and
>> PC2 - substitute the correct PC names in the following commands.
>>
>> Do the following at PC1
>>
>> 1. Open a Command Prompt by pressing Start and then Run, typing "cmd" in
>> the Command field [Windows XP] or typing "cmd" in the Start Search field
>> [Vista]. Press Enter.
>> 2. A black window with white writing opens.
>> 3. Type "ping PC2" and press Enter
>> 4. You should see four "reply from" lines.
>> 5. Type "net view \\PC2", Enter
>> 6. You should see one or more shared folders and/or printers.
>> 7. Type "net use", Enter
>> 8. You should see one or more drive letters which are linked to shares on
>> the other PC (eg \\PC2\documents)
>> 9. Type "dir \\PC2\documents" (substitute the name of a shared folder in
>> place of "documents".
>>
>>
>> Repeat all those steps at PC2, using "PC1" in the commands.
>
> i HAVE TRIED THE FIRST 2 STEPS PING pc2 GIves me:
>
> Ping request could not find pc2

OK. If you can't ping PC2, nothing else will work.

In a Command prompt window on PC2, run "ipconfig" and note the IP (IPv4)
address for the Wireless Networking device. It will probably be something
like 192.168.0.2.

At PC1, in a Command prompt, try "ping 192.168.0.2" (or whatever PC2's
address was). This will tell you whether it's the translation from PC2's
name to its IP address that is failing or whether all IP traffic is being
blocked.

If it's name-address translation that has failed, rebooting everything in
sight may help. I've come across routers which occasionally get their
knickers in a twist.

If this doesn't help or if PC1 can't ping PC2 even using its IP address,
especially if PC2 can ping PC1 (ie going in the opposite direction) then I'd
suspect a firewall problem, probably at PC2.

Has anything changed in the PC setup since the last time it all worked?