Wireless laptop can see other wireless PCs but not wired ones

[tukatz]

I have three PCs that connect to my home network wireless and two others that connect wired through a hub. Periodically one of the wireless PCs will see the other wireless devices but not the wired ones. This morning I installed some Win 7 updates and after the restart my laptop can't see the wired devices. My wife's Win 7 laptop sees everything. So the problem is intermittent. I have fiddled with Advanced Settings in Network Sharing, such as turning Network Discovery off and back on again. I can't seem to find the silver bullet that will cure this problem when it occurs. Any help would be appreciated.

The hub is cabled off of my wireless router. The two PCs that are cabled to the hub are a laptop running XP and a Windows Home Server. I have one share on the WHS mapped and can access all files there. I can also map another share if I type in the server name, but can't browse for it.

 

[severedsolo]

Hi tukatz,

What happens if you manually try and browse to the wired machines in explorer? For instance by typing \\<IP address>\<shared folder> into the address bar in Explorer?

 

[tukatz]

I typed in the \\ and the device name and the list popped down showing all the shares on the device. I typed the \ and the share name and the contents showed up. But then, I have one share mapped to a drive letter and can click on that 'drive' and see and access all the contents. I still can't see the wired devices in Explorer under Network. Arrgghhh!

 

[severedsolo]

Hmm... ok your network is obviously set up correctly then, or that wouldn't be happening.

Are the machines in a Homegroup? or a Workgroup? Are they all running Windows 7?

 

[tukatz]

I don't use the Homegroup feature. They are all part of the same Workgroup. The three that are wireless are all running a version of Win 7. The wired devices are a laptop running XP and a Windows Home Server.

If I type just the \\ and the device name and hit enter, the list of shares shows up in the right pane and the device shows up in the list under Network. But if I shut down and relaunch Explorer, the device has disappeared again.

 

[Baja Maniac 913]

You said you were using a Hub outside of your wireless router? In other words, your desktop connections come from your router, then to a hub, then to the PC's? If so, is the hub really a hub? Or is it a switch? I have found that when I connected a computer via the second device, I can't see other PC's from that PC, and vice versa. I think Win7 gets confused when there is too many network devices between computers.

This is just what I have experienced, try connecting those PC's to your wireless router (assuming you have enough ports to do so) and see if you can view them from your laptop then.

 

[tukatz]

There is a cable connecting the hub to the wireless router. The hub is an old 10 Mbps dumb hub, not a switch. The two devices I can't see are cabled to the hub. Sometimes fiddling with Network Discovery and rebooting my laptop resolves the problem and all devices show up under Network. Sometimes that does NOT resolve the problem. I'm hoping to learn what I can do to permanently resolve it.

 

[severedsolo]

There is a cable connecting the hub to the wireless router. The hub is an old 10 Mbps dumb hub, not a switch.

I suspect this may be the issue. Can you please, from both a wireless, and a wired machine open command prompt, and type:

ipconfig /all

and post the results

 

[tukatz]

The IP address of my laptop is 192.168.0.3. That of a wired laptop was 192.168.0.6. Just for grins, I disabled the cabled connection on that PC and enabled the wireless connection. It acquired 192.168.0.12. I checked my laptop again and it still can't see the other laptop that has now been changed from cabled to wireless.

 

[Baja Maniac 913]

Just to try to eliminate or confirm the hub as the problem (which is what I think it is IMO)...try connecting one of the computers that you can't see to the router directly and then tell us if you can see it in the network.

 

[tukatz]

Just to try to eliminate or confirm the hub as the problem (which is what I think it is IMO)...try connecting one of the computers that you can't see to the router directly and then tell us if you can see it in the network.

I appreciate your pitching in and trying to help, but given that I have disabled the cabled connection to one of the computers and connected it to the router over Wi-Fi and I still can't see it, that eliminates the hub.

 

[Baja Maniac 913]

I appreciate your pitching in and trying to help, but given that I have disabled the cabled connection to one of the computers and connected it to the router over Wi-Fi and I still can't see it, that eliminates the hub.

Oh sorry...I missed that part...I'll ask about you problem at work today...we have a few guru's there (networking and win7).

 

[tukatz]

So I powered off my laptop and left for a long weekend. I powered it back up when I returned home, having made no changes, and it could once again see all the other computers in the network. I have concluded that network discovery does not always discover everyone. No idea why.