Laptop on wireless not visible on network?

Question

I have a Dell Vostro laptop running XP-SP3. It is set up with the same Workgroup ID as my 2 desktops (running Vista and Win2k respectively), and if it is plugged in via an ethernet cable, it can be part of the network just fine.

So why is it invisible (and can't see anything but itself in the network) when it is connecting via Wireless.

At first I thought it must be my network config: I had my wireless router (Asus WL-520GC) plugged in to another router (an old Planet model) which everything else was connected to. Since I have fewer wired connections than I used to, I removed the Planet and plugged everything into the Asus - then rebooted. Still no visibility. Internet is working over the wireless though.

Answer 1

Did this problem occur in the older configuration?

Two possibilities to check:

1. You are connecting to a different wireless. You should confirm your are connecting to the correct hub. Some systems display connected MAC addresses. Or you could change the DHCP settings to something very unique, and see if your system picks up an address from the special range.

2. Your wireless does not route to the ethernet. Even if you are on the same IP address range for both interfaces, it might not do that. You should check with the vendor's manual.

I worked on a connectivity product once (not TCP/IP-based), but it was a protocol gateway application, and it simply did not let users see their peer gateway users.