Lan conectivity

Hi folks.. I have a network of 4 pc's connected via a switch. I also have a dsl westell 2200 modem connected to the switch so the systems can share the internet. I use the DHCP on the DSL Modem to assign IP addresses to the systems.
The systems browse fine but i am not able to connect to the shares on this system. I can ping from one sytem to the other and the operating systems are Win 2000Server, Win Xp, Win2000 pro and Win98 on the computers.
I CANNOT HOWEVER ACCESS THE SHARES ON THE SYSTEMS OR SEE A LIST FROM NETWORK PLACES ON THE WINXP COMPUTER.
WHY????????????????????????
Thanxs for your help

The answer lies in where your resolution point is :)

For a small or home network without its own DNS services (one that uses the ISPs server for this job) you want to set up static IP's (so no dhcp on your modem) & add the local addresses to your host file.

Then windoze will behave the way you expect :)

What's happening at the moment is that windows goes & asks your ISP where the local machines are (you have no DNS server so it asks your provider), but your ISP's server has no idea as it can't 'see' inside your local network.

Ping is no doubt working as you are providing the IP!

Yeah but the DNS add-on on the Westell router is enabled,works good and i can see the names off all four computers and the resolved IP in its DNS tab table

Is the windows 2000 a Server Domain controller if so then DNS must be enbled
and all pcs should point to that computer for dns resolution...put your ISP dns addresses in the forwarders tab under the dns server properties

If not

Work Group Name...

Make sure that the work group name is the same on all the PC's

...

you say can ping the ip address of each machine

can you ping the netbios name of each machine?

This is a peer to peer setup. there is no domain controller. yes the netbios names can ping good. i still get the error - "workgroup is not accessible, the network path was not found".
The Pcs have the same workgroup name.

Which machine is kicking the message "workgroup is not accessible, the network path was not found" ? .. (different o/s's give slightly different messages which can mean substantially different things ;) )

So the next bit is probably me telling you what you know already, but I'll put it anyway :) ..

"Network path not found" in a workgroup network - error 53

RESOLUTIONS:
1) Make sure that File and Printer Sharing is enabled on on the shared computer.
2) Make sure that shared machine has something shared.
3) Make sure that you have created the same workgroup and logon the same username if you try to access w2k/xp network.
4) Make sure that you have enabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP if this is a mixed OS network.

& nothing 'obvious' like firewalls confusing matters ? & if you type "ipconfig /all" from a prompt, where does windoze think its dns is ? In your router or your ISP ?

The machine with the message is the win2k Server.
The 4 machines are win 98, Pro, server and Xp
File and Printer Sharing is enabled on all the shared computer.
shared machine has something shared
netbios over TCP/IP is enabled
All firewalls are disabled
Windows is set to use the DNS address from the westell modem (192.168.1.1)
Please HELP!!!!!. This is becoming a headache
Thank you

What if you just install the IPX/SPX protocol on all the machines...this will work -because you can ping the netbios names

Check security policy and ensure that access this computer from network is set to alow users access.

maximum thanks laserchips this works bt i still have problem connecting from the win98 computer. it always requests a password. i supply the admin password on the computer containing the requested share and it says invalid password.
Why??????