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Computer Not Showing up in My Network Places

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Hello,

My problem is, I have 3 PC’s, all running XP Pro SP2. When first setting them all up and adding them to “My Workgroup”, everything is fine and I can see the PC’s Shares in My Network Places, and see all PC’s under View Workgroup Computers. But the problem is after some time, we’ll say an hour or more (I usually see a change over night), I go back to one of the PC’s later, open My Network places then View Workgroup Computers, and 1 of the computers no longer displays in there. Though I can ping the computer by IP and NETBIOS name. I can even “Run ->\\nameofcomputer” and get to the computer and it’s shares with no problem. It just won’t show up in the View Workgroup Computers area. The only way I have found to rememdy this is to restart the comuter and then it will show up again for a little while and then disappear. I know this is not an Adaware/Virus issue for I have reformatted the entire drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Topic

Clarifications

In reply to Computer Not Showing up in My Network Places

Clarifications

hm

In reply to Computer Not Showing up in My Network Places

are all of the computers in the same workgroup?

How are the computers connected?

All the same

In reply to hm

Yeah, all the computers are the same workgroup. The computers are connected through an 8 port Linksys Gigabit switch.

Two things to try…….

In reply to All the same

(1) Try changing the name of the workgroup so there’s no space it its name.

(2) Look in the BIOS to see if the computer can be woken up through the network adapter.

Also, remember that sometimes it takes a while for the computer that was just awakened to show up on the other computer’s network list.

And, I just reread this last post. You’re using a switch? What is doing the IP assignment for you? If a computer is going to sleep, it may take some time to reassign the IP address and propogate it through the workgroup.

Two things to try…….

In reply to Two things to try…….

The workgroup is only one name. I only used “my workgroup” as an example. And I have tried naming the workgroup a multitude of different things. I’ll check the BIOS in the morning to see if anything like that is available. Maybe I should check the power settings also to see if the computer is going to “sleep” that way too… I’m running a Netgear Wireless N with integrated gigabit switch, running to an 8 port Linksys gigabit switch. The router is handling the DHCP. But a question, if a computer was actually going to “sleep”, wouldn’t that make it un-pingable and not able to do “Start->Run->\\computername” and pull the computer up that way? Just a thought! Thanks for all the help. I will check it out first thing in the morning and get back to you.

re: just a thought…….

In reply to Two things to try…….

Bear in mind that when a computer “goes to sleep”, it usually powers down the hard drive and video, but the motherboard, RAM, and network card are all still powered. You can ping a computer when the hard drive is down. But, there may not be anybody home to answer the doorbell. Is that particular computer set to hibernate instead of sleep?

same po

In reply to Computer Not Showing up in My Network Places

hi randy,

i ve got a similar problem, My laptop and pc are connected to the internet through a router and a wireless access point. everything works fine including the network. i can access files within the network. but the computer does not appear in the workgroup when i want to look it up on my laptop. i don’t understand why windows promotes a method when it’s not working. i guess i have the same problem like you. did you fix it ?

Hello Randy

In reply to Computer Not Showing up in My Network Places

Is this happening to the same pc all the time?

Still Happening

In reply to Computer Not Showing up in My Network Places

Sorry for the so late reply. Been out of town for awhile and didn’t get a chance to do any troubleshooting. I have checked all the power settings, and nothing is set to hibernate or sleep. I have also went into the Bios and nothing seems to stick out to me as far as the network adapter is concerned. It’s a Dell Optiplex GX270, so it’s a tad bit older and the BIOS is pretty simple. I did make a few changes that I thought just might make a difference, but alas, nothing. Still, the only thing that makes a difference is restarting the PC, and then it shows back up. Think I am just going to set up a NAS after the holidays and have all my shares in one location instead of a couple different PC’s. If anyone else has any suggestions, I’ll gladly give it a try! Thanks for all your help!

Also Having the same problem

In reply to Computer Not Showing up in My Network Places

I am having the same problem. I have 5 machines at home and the oldest one is having the problem. They are all running Win XP SP2, but on the older machine I turned off a lot of services to cut down on resources. What services are required to browse the local network? This also may be your problem.

Didn’t change any of my services

In reply to Also Having the same problem

Hmmm, that would be a good question. All of my machines are 2 years old and newer. The one I am having a problem with has a brand new board and hard drive in it (last 3 months). And while I had this problem with the old board and hard drive, I can safely say it’s not that (atleast for me). I haven’t turned any of my services off, so that wouldn’t be the issue for me, unless they managed to turn themselves off. I’ll do some research to see if there is a specific service that controls Network Places. Also, I did a full reformat (not image, in case my image was corrupted), and I came up with the same problem….I’m wondering by now at this point if it is a router problem? I have a Netgear Wireless N Router with the integrated GigE. Because funny thing is, I came down this morning, and nothing is working on the router….All I can get is power, and as you can see, it’s no my modem because I am typing this 🙂 So I’m off to get a replacement router today. I’ll post back the results when I get it reconfigured. Thanks for all your help!

Might be Fixed

In reply to Computer Not Showing up in My Network Places

I don’t know if any of you are set up the way I am, but I am static IP on all my machines. Though this wasn’t a problem for any of my other machines, for this one it seems to be? I don’t know why. What I had to do, was going into the TCP/IP Properties, under Advanced and then under Wins. Down at the bottom there is a checkbox that is selected as “Default”. I needed the 2nd Option, “Enable NetBios Over TCP/IP” selected. Seems to be working fine now. I can’t remember where I found this info that pertains to that setting with Static IP’s. But it’s working now for over 2 days without disappearing! Thanks for everyones help!

Thanks

In reply to Might be Fixed

I think that the ENABLE NETBIOS OVER TCPIP worked.

I also changed settings on my router for the UPNP to check every 5 minutes (I dont know if this did ANYTHING at all, but it has worked since i changed these settings).

THanks

Browsing service may be the culprit

In reply to Might be Fixed

check or better restart your browsing service in your server, only the DC and the file server (as a backup) should have browser service running.

hope that work.

a bit late, don’t we think?

In reply to Browsing service may be the culprit

post from 2007

and, secondly, I never saw any mention of a server…

name resolution is the issue

In reply to a bit late, don’t we think?

if you can ping by ip but when using the name the machine goes away that is more than likely the issue. Without a server on the network to handle the dns you will have this issue.

Even later, don’t you think?

In reply to name resolution is the issue

Did you READ the original date of the original post?

Firewall

In reply to Computer Not Showing up in My Network Places

Please turn off your windows firewall and your problem will be resolved.

Same problem here, and solved it !

In reply to Computer Not Showing up in My Network Places

I also had this problem:
1 PC (configured as server), running Windows7 disappears from the Windows network workgroup after some time (hours, days). After a reboot the PC always is there again.
When this PC is not shown in the network workgroup anymore, then I can always still access this PC through the direct folder shortcuts pointing to shares on this PC. I can also still remote desktop it, ping it, and also Lanscan utility still shows that the PC is still the Master Browser.
I tried millions of things: Enabled the guest account, changed settings in my router, bought another router, and then again another router, changed the computer name, changed the registry values of the LargeSystemCache (sorry, but the admin of this forum does not allow links, so google it yoursefl), set the service ‘Computer Browser’ to automatic….. Nothing helped.
But now, I found the solution: I deleted all clients, services and protocols from the network adapter (except from the tcpip)….. That did the trick. It turned out to be really simple
Let me know if this works for other people having this same problem to……
Greetings from Amsterdam.

[Author]

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