The router settings are probably OK; that error is usally a result of a misconfiguration on one or both of the workstations.
* Is the router connected to the Internet? If so, can both computers access the Net with any problems?
* Here are some things to check, and some troublehshooting steps to try. When going through the steps, please perform all of them, and give us the detailed results of each and every one in your next post:
1. When troubleshooting any network-related issue, the first thing you need to do is to completely disable any firewall software (including XP's built-in ICF/ICS features). Simply choosing the "Disable" option in the firewall program's settings/preferences rarely turns the firewall off entirely; you will need to deselect the preference setting that tells the firewall to automatically start when Windows boots, and then restart the computers. After reboot, verify that the firewall is indeed disabled.
Keep your firewalls dropped until you get things working.
2. Make sure the two computer's IPs and the router's IP are all in the same network range. If the router is configured as a DHCP server, it should supply the correct addressing info for you; you can check the computers' IP info by opening a DOS box and typing the following command at the prompt:
ipconfig /all
3. While still in the DOS box, verify basic connectivity by pinging the IP of each machine and the router. The syntax of the ping commands is:
From computer #1:
ping IP address of router
ping IP addresss of computer #2
From computer #2:
ping IP address of router
ping IP addresss of computer #1
You should get 4 positive replies from each ping command.
4. Make sure that the Computer Browser Service is running on at least one of the computers. To check/start the service:
* Click on the "Run..." option in your Start menu.
* Enter the following in the resulting "Open:" box, and hit OK: services.msc
* In the list of services, locate the service named "Computer Browser" and double-click on it.
* In the General tab of the Properties window that opens, click the Start button if the service is not already started.
* Once the service is started, choose Automatic in the "Startup Type" drop-down menu and then click OK.
5. Set up a shared folder on each machine. Once done, go back to the DOS box and try the following commands:
From computer #1:
net view IP addresss of computer #2
From computer #2:
net view IP addresss of computer #1
The "net view" command should list the available share(s) on the machine you target with command. If the command gives you an error, please post the exact text of that error.
One special problem that can occur:
If you've had your laptop connected to other networks, there's a chance that the DHCP server on one of those networks has made a modification to the laptop's Windows Registry which will cause browsing problems on a home network.
The Registry value in question is HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters\DHCPNodeType
For normal home networking, the Data Value should be set to "1" or "4".
Let us know if you need help with checking/modifying this value.
