Can't turn on network discovery!

metalmuscle · 17 Apr 2011

Can someone please help me with this problem?? I have just done a fresh re-install of Windows 7 Ultimate on my Dell XPS M1530 laptop. I was trying to connect my PS3 and Laptop together and one of the steps is to turn on network discovery. Every time I try to click on the network discovery and save changes, it automatically goes back to off. I've checked my services that are running in services.msc and it seems that everything is running fine. Can you guys help me figure this out? Thank you in advance!

WebMattR · 18 Apr 2011

Are you an administrator on the machine, and is it part of a domain? I'm guessing you're at home, given the PS3, but if it's a work laptop, then that may factor in here. :)

metalmuscle · 18 Apr 2011

I am Admin, yes. It is not part of a domain and I am at home. I do use it for business related projects, but it is my personal computer.

WebMattR · 18 Apr 2011

Alright. Well, here's some info I swindled from Microsoft's Knowledge Base:

: Check if network related services are up and running
a. Click Start, type services.msc and hit enter.
b. From the list of services, double click on "Function Discovery Provider Host" service, change the startup type to automatic and start the service.
c. Apply the changes.
d. Restart the computer and check if the issue persists

If that doesn't help, let me know, and I'll suggest something further. :)

metalmuscle · 18 Apr 2011

I changed the setting for that specific service, restarted my computer, and got the same result when trying to turn on network discovery. Next suggestion...?

WebMattR · 18 Apr 2011

First, a question: What're you running as far as a firewall/antivirus? Try turning your firewall off, enabling it, and then turning the firewall back on.

metalmuscle · 18 Apr 2011

I am using avast (v 6.0.1000) for an anti-virus and windows firewall. I have tried disabling them both, but still no luck; I get the same results.

metalmuscle · 20 Apr 2011

Any more suggestions??

WebMattR · 21 Apr 2011

Sorry. I somehow missed the previous email about this.

Could you try a few things for me? open a command prompt, and type 'net view' and let me know if it sees other machines. Having done so, try and ping all of those machines, and let me know the results.

After both of those, run a full virus scan. Just in case.

metalmuscle · 21 Apr 2011

This is what I got when I typed the net view command:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Frank>net view
Server Name Remark

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\\FRANK-PC
The command completed successfully.

And here is the ping: (by IP)

C:\Users\Frank>ping 74.88.232.183

Pinging 74.88.232.183 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 74.88.232.183: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=64
Reply from 74.88.232.183: bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=64
Reply from 74.88.232.183: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=64
Reply from 74.88.232.183: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 74.88.232.183:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 13ms, Maximum = 61ms, Average = 33ms

Now by machine name:

C:\Users\Frank>ping Frank-PC

Pinging Frank-PC [fe80::448:4352:8a01:9ba8%11] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from fe80::448:4352:8a01:9ba8%11: time<1ms
Reply from fe80::448:4352:8a01:9ba8%11: time<1ms
Reply from fe80::448:4352:8a01:9ba8%11: time<1ms
Reply from fe80::448:4352:8a01:9ba8%11: time<1ms

Ping statistics for fe80::448:4352:8a01:9ba8%11:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms