TrendNet & Vista

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I wonder if anyone out there is using TrendNet wireless router and Vista Home Premium, or has a suggestion to my problem. I have a TrendNet TEW-432BRP wireless router attached to my tower and I have a TrendNet TEW-424UB wireless USB adaptor attached to my wife’s old laptop. My previous tower was runing Win98 and the Laptop runs Win ME and everything had been working perfectly. I replaced the tower with a new one that has Vista Home Premium. Both computers connect to the Internet fine through the wireless network however since I changed to the Vista tower, neither computer can see each other on the network. That means that we cannot share documents or send anything from the laptop to the printers (unless we email back and forth!)

The tower will ping both the router and the laptop satisfactorily whereas the laptop will ping the router fine but times out when trying to ping the tower.

In the Vista Network and Sharing Center, Network Discovery, File Sharing, Public Folder Sharing, Printer Sharing, and Media Sharing are all on. Windows Firewall is turned off for now so that can’t contribute to the problem.

I checked the Windows Help and confirmed settings it indicated. Network Location Type is Private. LLTD boxes are both checked in the Network Connection Properties. TrendNet’s web site says the TEW-432BRP is Vista compatible.

It’s not a critical problem for us as my wife just uses her computer for email and surfing but I would like to try to fix the problem. I updated the firmware on the router just in case but it didn’t make any difference. I had emailed TrendNet tech support but all I got there was “If the issue that you are having is setting up your home network for file and print sharing, please go to http://www.wown.com” which was no help because there is nothing there on TrendNet. When I went back to tech support again, the reply was “If all the computers have internet access then the issue is not with the router. Go to a DOS command prompt and see if you can ping the other computers on your network. Make sure though, that you turn off any firewall programs including any built-in firewalls.”

Appreciate if anyone has any thoughts on this.

Rod Corkum
Halifax Canada

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“If all the computers have internet access then the issue is not with the router.” This is true, it is a Vista and older Windows OS issue.

On the Vista machine, Right click the Network Icon in the System tray area and select Network and sharing center.

Make sure that the ‘File Sharing” is ON
Make sure that the “Printer Sharing” is ON
Make sure that the “Password protected sharing” is OFF

With the “Password Protected sharing” turned on, EVERY machine MUST have a password to EVERY user account and the same user name and password must be on the Vista machine.

I do NOT use the “Public Folder Sharing” as it require the files to be in that folder and I do not want to have to copy things there, so it is OFF also.
I do NOT use an “Media Sharing” devices so this is also turned off.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Dave

I omitted to mention it in my post but the “Passwword protected sharing” was already off in the Network and Sharing Center so that didn’t cause my problem.

Rod

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After going in a see the settings, I no longer can access my Vista machines from XP machines.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Got it all back, I found that in OneCare, the network file sharing had been blocked. And I needed to “Reshare” the hard drive. I now have full access to the C drive of my Vista laptop from my XP desktop. It does take time for Windows Explorer from the XP machine to get through all of the protection on the Vista machines.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Just to update on this issue, I did a bit more web surfing and eventually landed on a site that tipped me off to a possible conflict with the Norton that came preloaded with the Vista computer. While I had the Windows firewall turned off trying to solve this problem, there was a Norton firewall that was messing it up too. I managed to tweak the Norton and then both computers could see each other on the network. The Norton “trial” has expired and I’ve removed it and continue to see both computers now. I’ve replaced the antivirus with AVG Free which I’ve used with good results in the past.

However I still have the problem of not being able to see the printers on my new Vista from the older laptop. Presuming this was some Vista issue I went to Microsoft support site and since the Vista is an OEM version preinstalled in my new computer, it referred me back to the computer manufacturer for Windows support. The new Vista computer is a Compac, the older laptop is also an HP Pavilion, and the new printer is an HP PhotoSmart C3180 so it’s conveniently all in the same manufacturer so after a few emails back and forth to HP support, the end result I get from them is “I regret to note that HP C3180 is not a network compatible printer. However, to enable it in network you need to use Jetdirect server print sharing will be enabled.” I assumed that they misunderstood that the printer was directly connected to my Vista and not to a network hub so I went back and confirmed that fact but it didn’t seem to make any difference as the reply then was “the Photosmart C3180 cannot use print sharing without using HP Jetdirect Print Server.”

It’s nuts that a printer connected directly to one computer cannot be shared to be seen by another computer on the network. I know it’s not a network printer and I’m not in an office where one might want to connect direcly to a network hub or switch. The thing is that even if this may or may not explain why I cannot see the new HP printer, it doesn’t explain why I also cannot see the older Brother laser also connected to the new Vista. I’m still not convinced this isn’t a Vista issue somewhere! Fortunately I don’t need to print much from the laptop but it’s still inconvenient to have to email print jobs from one computer to the other (can’t even pop it on a floppy and “sneakernet” as no floppy drive in new computer!)

Rod

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see Troubleshooting file shares on a home network for file & printer sharing debugging information.

Joe

--Joe

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