Wireless connection problems

Matthew

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Matthew
I have a wireless network with a NAS connected to the router.

I have 2 computers, Mac and WinXP, on that network. I have one wireless printer also on that network.

Recently, I lost the ability to connect the XP to the NAS. I can ping the NAS, connect to it, read/write and everything else, from the Mac. But the XP system can't see it. I can't ping it (192.168.1.67) from the XP pc, but I can from the Mac. The XP pc does print to the wireless printer.

Also, I have some shared folders on the XP. I did that so I could transfer files from the PC to the Mac and eventually retire the PC. I can't reach the XP pc from the Mac anymore.

XP Firewall is off.

I know this had been working, probably within the last couple weeks. But last night it stopped.

I'm pretty much at the extent of my network knowledge and abilities, so I'm Googling as fast as I can.

Any ideas?
 
It sounds like the Xp machine has decided the wireless printer is all it needs to talk to. Turn off the printer and reboot the Xp machine.
 
Has the firmware on the router been updated lately?

Rich
 
Also, you might TEMPORARILY disable your antivirus software.
 
I'm not sure if the router had updated itself lately. Interesting thought, though, last week we had an ice storm and power dropped out for a couple seconds and I do remember the router taking a few minutes to reset (it's not on our battery backup power supply.) Maybe that's when the problem began. I'll do a controlled reset and see what happens.

I have rebooted the XP machine but not with the printer turned off.
 
Success.

I did a factory reset on the Wifi Gateway, then cycled power on the XP PC. I did a "Show Network Places", found the NAS, and was able to assign a network drive letter.

Before the gateway reset, the NAS was at 192.1.67. XP wouldn't ping it, but the Mac would. After the reset, the NAS was assigned 192.168.1.73. The Mac was not rebooted, but didn't seem to have a problem connecting.

Also, the shared folders on XP HDD are now visible to the Mac again.

I know I rebooted XP last night, but today I did a full factory reset on the gateway. Now it's all good.

Basically, "Did you turn it off and back on?"

My guess is that the power-fail we had last week lasted about 2-3 solid seconds and scrambled something, somewhere, inside the router. I don't think the PC lost power, it might have done a commanded shut-down, the battery backup is fully charged but I don't remember if the PC turned off or not.

Thanks for the suggestions. Rich's idea of the router doing an update jogged my memory about our power fail last weekend.
 
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