Solved Win7 machine becomes invisible to XP laptop after sharing via network

[chev65]

Sounds good, continue with testing and report back in as required.

 

[Jaybee]

So relieved to finally mark this one as Solved!

If you've read the thread from top to bottom you can see I tried everything to find out why the XP machine got booted off the shares after the second Win 7 machine was using the network. Nothing worked until...

... a router & wireless usb adapter upgrade.

Went from Wireless 'G' to Wireless 'N' with a new TP Link machine. Wondered if this would cure the problem but it didn't. With both Win7 machines on wireless 'N' and the XP laptop on wireless 'G' the drop-outs continued. So I tried a wireless 'N' dongle in the XP laptop overriding its internal G wireless and.....

Hey Presto!

All machines can now be in the network at the same time with no drop outs I had wondered if it was something to do with bandwidth as it only happened if Win7 machine B was transferring large amounts of data (large images) back and forth. This appears to have been the problem. Either that or I've been miraculously visited by the Networking Fairy overnight...

Thanks to all for your suggestions. I hope this helps others who may be experiencing similar problems.