I have 3 computers on my local network, A B and C, all running Windows 7. They all have the same network configuration which uses my Netgear router for DNS. I am trying to access them via my Android tablet using ES File Explorer. I can access them all using their IP addresses. But I can only access B by name. This indicates a DNS problem. I don't have any problem mounting drives or using Remote Desktop or anything else from any one computer to any other using names, but I'm sure the problem has to do with my computers or router because I have two different brands of Android tablet and both behave in the same way. They did not have any prior settings which used the computer names A B or C so there is no way they could know the difference. I have tried adding the local IP's and computer names to the computers hosts files but nothing changed.
While trying to diagnose this I discover the following, which is probably worthy of a question all its own. If I run "nslookup A" it uses "Server: www.routerlogin.com" and returns an external IP address that I have never seen before. It seems to be owned by my ISP but is not the same as my static IP. If I run "nslookup B" I only get "Name: B." with a period on the end and no address line at all. If I run "nslookup C" I get the same unknown external address as before. If I run "nslookup A 8.8.8.8" to use Google's DNS I get "Non-existent domain". If I run "nslookup B 8.8.8.8" I get "Name: B." and no address just like when I use the local DNS. And finally when I run "nslookup C 8.8.8.8" I get "Non-existent domain" again.
So the computers which I cannot access by name, A and C, are behaving the same using nslookup, which is different from the computer which I can access, B. Not sure where to go from here.
Any help would be appreciated.