Computer restart needed for home network discovery

Hi,

I have three computers on a home network. Sometimes they can not see each other on the network. Sometimes just one can not see the others. The only way I have been able to solve this is to turn off all machines and turn them on again. I just did that once again and it worked. This time I took a note of the sequence I turned them on and the fact that I turned them on quickly one after another and I put this note in my reminder database so it will not be forgotten. They are as of today all going to be running Win7 professional (I am removing Win 10 which is driving me up the wall). I have an old XP machine for weekly backups as well actually (4 on the network). Sometimes it does the same thing.

I have done a few google searches to solve this issue and found nothing (just stuff on how to make them discover each other all of which I have done). Does anyone know why might it be happening? Is there a better way to force them to discover each other when this happens (a way that does not involve turning off the machines). I found a way to force discovery with XP but it does not work on Win7.

Thanks,
John

When Windows looks for PCs it doesn't search it asks the master browser as PCs turn on it updates its network map but it can take up to 20 mins. If all PCs are off normally the first turned on is MB but there can be an election so another my take over. The problem is if you turn them all off then turn on in a different order another PC may be MB but it doesn't know what's there unlike the original which has a list so it takes time for it to build a new list

Thanks Samuria, so if I understand you correctly it sounds like my strategy of always turning them on in the same order is the best strategy?

How to Determine the Master Browser in a Windows Workgroup | Scottie's Tech.Info Tells you how to find MB that should be turned on first