Hello all,
First of all, I’m going nuts. I have tried 1001 things and nothing seems to work. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s my problem:
I have 3 computers: 2 deskops and a laptop, all connected through one switch. One of the desktops has an ADSL modem inside, which allows the other 2 computers to have an internet connection as well. Basically, it’s like this:
- Desktop 1 (host)
- Desktop 2 (client)
- Laptop (client)
All of them are running Windows XP Professional and everything worked fine.
Until now.
About a week ago the internet connection on the 2 client computers started to slow down or not work. When pinging the host computer I had a 25%, 50%, 75% or total loss. Weird. So I decided to format all the computers, since the last time I did this was 2 years ago. I did this today.
Internet sharing doesn’t work. Pinging the host computer works now and then, sometimes with 25% or 75% loss, sometimes not at all. Same thing when I try to ping the client PCs via the host computer. I check the cables, the switch, the problem persists. I check the workgroup, nothing. I manually configure the IP addresses, nothing. The Microsoft File & Printer sharing thingy is enabled on every computer, but still… nothing. I run the wizard for Home Networks on the host computer and MSN Messenger on the laptop starts to log in. I smile. MSN keeps doing this for 5 minutes and nothing. I cry. I don’t see the other computers on the network when I click “view workgroup computers”. I enabled the NetBIOS over TCP/IP etc… etc… etc…
What the hell am I doing wrong?! I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m accessing the internet via the host computer now. So that works fine. It’s something with the network, obviously.
Please, I beg you, HELP ME! 
