Well, I always do seem to have the weird problems. I'd grown frustrated with my computer's clog recently, and took a drastic step: I restored it to factory settings. I backed everything up properly, and it's completely back to normal again, except for one thing: I can't get it to stay connected to my home network so that I can share and sync files between it and my laptop (which is also running Windows XP). Should probably add: They are connected through a D-link DI-524 router - my desktop (computer having the network issue) is connected with a wire, and the laptop is connected wirelessly. These computers have never had problems connecting before, assuming that the network was up. The strange thing is, both computers connect to the internet perfectly fine. They are both listed as being in the same workgroup, and there are some times when connecting to each other actually works! However, this only seems to be for short periods of time. Overall, they're like two siblings who acknowledge each others' presence but refuse to actually talk to each other most of the time. I've checked all the connections I can think of, and can't find anything wrong. Help? Thanks in advance for any replies!

Some things to check: - Ensure your network cable is good - Check for newer drivers for your PC's NIC and update it if there is. - Ensure the NIC's speed is set to "Auto" - Open a command prompt window on both the PC and laptop and do the following command: ipconfig /all Ensure that everything but the IP addresses are identical - Lastly, if nothing else has fixed the issue, try plugging the PC into another LAN port on the router (assuming you have a router with 4 LAN ports)