I have 2 laptops and an office computer. Up until a couple days ago they all could talk to each other without issue. No new programs were installed on any of them, no configurations changed, nothing. The network just stopped working.

So i set all the permissions back to as open as possible, turned off all the firewalls, had to re "set up a network" on two of them. Now i have this:

Laptop 2 can talk to Laptop1, and Office
Office can talk to Laptop1
Laptop 2 can talk to Laptop1

Laptop1 CANNOT talk to Office.

Please explain how this happens. I'm not sure whats more amazing, that the network just quit for no reason, or this retardedness its doing now. Unbelieveable.

All the settings are the same on all the computers by the way. I've reset each one about a dozen times. All are XP SP 2.

 

SP2 is a ***** fuger for networking, you also probably have the home edition as well right?

Yeah you do, it sucks for networking. With most OS the home = standard and pro = upgrade, with xp the pro = standard and the home = crap.

wait till you get to vista and when Msoft really comes out and hits us with rights mgt software coding. ugh.

sorry cant be of much help, i left the sh!tty world of windows for a mac, kinda like going from a 3.7 ram to a ctd lol. I still have a desktop with vista, dont really like vista, they tried to rip off mac a lot. its a good comp amd ath 64x2 Dual core proc 5600 = 2 2.8 ghz, 3gb ram 500 gb hd, 22.1 flat lcd. Great for drooling over the power wagons....

BTW you may want to move your thread to the computer section.

 

Now...

Office reaches Laptop 1 and 2
Latop 1 reaches 2
Laptop 2 reaches Office

This seriously is the most worthless operating system that has ever existed.

The sad part is as soon as i get all of them to talk to each other, i'm still going to be stuck with 3 firewalls turned off, and anytime i use my computer in public any files that are shared can be read/written by anyone...awful...

UPDATE:

Now 2 is back to reaching neither 1 nor Office.

Office still reaches 1 and 2.

1 only reaches O.

 

NO!!! while xp blows you cant give it the title of "most worthless operating system that has ever existed", that title is firmly held by windows ME, now that was about as much of a waste as ford making the ranger (thank god they are getting rid of it)

 

My first thought would be to look at Microsoft Updates, as if yours is set to autoupdate, then this is quite possibly the culprit. Last week they issued several critical patches, and some of those MAY have affected your systems.

Based on what you've stated, none of that makes sense, but I have seen dumb crap like this happen for no reason. Usually its an update or software update. I realize you've said you havent made any changes, and I believe that.

My suggestion would be to look at your recent updates for Windows and see if any were installed last week. If they were, that's where I'd start looking. Sometimes updates crap out settings for whatever reason...

You should be able to go to Windows or Microsoft Update and view the list of installed updates...

 

No, auto update is turned off on all 3 computers because they nailed me in the past with some of their "critical updates" that took down 2 of my computers. None of them have had updates in over a month. This is completely insane to me.

Literally, i had everything configured the way i wanted it, all the programs running how i wanted them, and everything has been fine for a couple months. Now all of a sudden 2 days ago i try to get some files off the office computer, and the laptop can't reach it. The day before it was fine. I hadn't changed a single thing on any of the computers, and i can guarantee no one else has either. Retarded...

 

Wait a minute here...seems microsoft decided im a moron and "fixed" my office desktop for me...there are 4 updates on friday...i swear to god i disabled autoupdates on all my computers after the last time this happened...what a ****ign nightmare...

What ****ign company sends out "fixes" that ****ign break everything...[:@]

 

Well, thanks for burying this in the forum no one looks in...

...anyways, I reversed the updates, trying re setting up the network, restating all, not fixed.

O and2 can talk back and forth.

1 can't talk to anyone or be viewed by anyone.

This is like playing whack a mole with windows netwokring

 

Did you update to Microsoft Update or are you still using Windows Update? I know the update for Microsoft Update also handles Office updates, and this may be why you missed it.

As for the updates breaking things, I can only say that unfortunately sometimes fixing something means something else breaks. Different security in one area means something else cant run, some stuff gets shut off by default, etc...Yes it blows, but that's software for you. Linux and OSX arent any better, because they have similar issues. The only difference is that they support alot less software and hardware, so it is harder to screw up, but it still happens.

Actually, most of our computers guys actually pay attention to this section, but ifyou'd like, I'll put it back in Off Topic. However, chances are it'll get moved back here anyways.....

Have you had any issues with hardware recently? Have you tried resetting your networking hardware (router, network hub, etc)???

I'm sure you may have done alot of these, but I've got to ask the dumb questions so I can stop asking them....

 

no hardware issues recently, the router gets reset every couple days when the cable modem hangs...nothing ouf of the ordinary...

right now i read something about the different type of DhcpNode that each computer can be, and am editing the registry to try to get them all on the same page...see if that owrks....