Ask Me Help Desk - Network Access Issue

Looking for suggestions here. I have a home network that includes two desktops and two laptops all running XP of various flavors. I also have to NAS storage devices, one that uses special software and one that does not. The desktops and NAS devices connect to an 8-port switch which then connects to the LAN side of a wireless router whose WAN connection is to my DSL modem. I share several drives on one desktop "A" and one drive on the other "B".

Everything has been working fine up to today. Neither of the desktops can access the NAS drive that does not use any special software. Desktop "B" cannot access any of the shared drives on Desktop "A". Desktop "A" cannot access the one shared drive on Desktop "B"

My laptop is able to access the NAS drive but not able to access any of the shares on Desktop "A".

From the laptop I cannot ping Desktop "A", but from the Desktop "A" I can ping the laptop. Desktop "A" cannot ping Desktop "B". I have not tried in the opposite direction as of writing this. For most of this only the switch is involved. The wireless router is only involved when one of the laptops comes into play.

Also I can use VNC with no issue to access Desktop "A" from the laptop.

Desktop "A" and "B" are running Norton Internet Security. No changes have been made to Norton recently. I did replace the wireless router with another yesterday to get "G" capability. Both are Linksys and I wrote down the configuration of the original and setup the replacement from that information.

All of these devices are using static IP addresses. Everything on the LAN side of the wireless router sits in a 192.168.1.xxx network while the WAN side is 10.0.0.10 and the DSL modem lan side is 10.0.0.1

I am a bit perplexed by this and need some other heads to tell me what I might have missed.

Thanks

Have you tried putting back in your old router and see if everything works as before? If it does, then it may be just a matter of router configuration.

Assuming the router has a 4 port switch, why not connect the desktops and NAS into the router instead? Bypassing the switch?

Quote:

Originally Posted by HVAC888

Have you tried putting back in your old router and see if everything works as before? If it does, then it may be just a matter of router configuration.

Assuming the router has a 4 port switch, why not connect the desktops and NAS into the router instead? bypassing the switch?

I have put the old wireless router in place and everything began t work again. The reason for not using all of the ports on the wireless router is I have more devices than can fit on that router. I have a couple other computers that I have on at times running Linux. I will be looking at the new wireless router for any configuration issues. I did write down the configuration from the original router and set the new one up the same.

The piece that doesn't make sense is that the router should not be involved in anything that I am having an issue with. Since the computer and NAS device, for instance are on the same network the switch should handle this at the MAC layer with no involvemen by the wireless router.

Randy

With the findings you have provided, I see all kinds of possible "checks" and configurations. Here are a few suggestions. Hopefully they can pinpoint where the issue is.

Check if the router is truly NOT the problem by removing it and just using the switch. Does that work?

Are the desktops using "Simple file sharing"? Basically your removing per-user share settings, and making the shares available to everyone in the same workgroup. Try that.

Another check is to plug the desktops into the router's switch and disconnect the 8-port switch and check if Desktop A and B can see each other's shares.

Also try, disconnect the two NAS, connect Desktop A to the 8-port switch and Desktop B to the router, and check that.

How about disabling Norton?

How about manually enter the network address? (i.e. \\NAS\shared\)

The many other possible configurations and combinations of the above suggestions could keep you up all night, since I believe it is mainly a hardware issue, cause the old router works as usual.

Good luck, and keep us posted.