I bought a new Gateway Notebook, Mod. 4025GZ with Win XP Home Ver. 5.1.2600 SP 2 Build 2600; BIOS Phoenix 53.01.04 3/24/2005 and SMBIOS Ver. 2.31 and with a 33 GB HD System Partition having 88% Free space and a 4.19 GB Restore Partition having 39% Free space. I purchased the Notebook with the intention of being able to share the files on my Desktop computer via a wireless home network connection within my home. I had no problem getting on the Internet with the wireless connection but have been unable to get the network operating successfully. I had my son and also a son-in-law, both of whom I consider pretty much computer guru’s, each spend 2 or 3 hours trying to get it to work but without success. I then contracted with a local Computer expert who made HouseCalls and said he had extensive experience in setting up networks and who said he could fix it in less than an hour and that that was all he would charge me to come out and do the job. After more than 2 hours and still not having it going said he would have to study the problem and possibly contact Microsoft to find a solution. He called a couple of days later saying that my Desktop used FAT32 file system which was not compatible with the NTFS file system on the Notebook and that he would convert the file system and get the network going for another 1 hour charge. Again, after another more than 2 hours it was not working and he said he had done about all that could be done, including giving Full Control Permission on every possible item on the desktop, and disabling all Firewalls & etc., but could not get it to give permission to the Notebook to share it’s files. Said he would have to study the problem further and give me a ring when he came up with something he thought would work. To date I have not paid him anything as he has not completed his portion of the contract. The desktop is a Dell Dimension 4100 Mod. XPS-Z running Win XP Home, Ver. 5.1.2600 SP1, Build 2600; BIOS: Intel Corp. A11 date 6/11/2002; SMBIOS Ver. 2.3 and with 2 HD’s --- the C: (System) is on one nominal 30 GB drive and has now been converted to NTFS file system with 75% Free Space; the D: (Data) Partition of the nominal 80GB HD occupies 27.9 GB and has now been converted to NTFS file system and has 91% FS; the F: (Spare) Partition occupies 18.6 GB using the FAT32 file system and has 68% FS; the remaining G: (Back-Up) Partition occupies 18.6 GB and uses the NTFS file system and has 36% FS. The wireless router is a “2Wire” Home Portal 1800HG provided by SBC-Yahoo DSL, who is my Internet Service Provider. My question is: Why can’t I get the desktop to share files with the Notebook?

Ok For one: Are both of the computers on the same workgroup? Right click 'My Computer' and go to 'Properties' and go to 'Computer Name' BOTH of the machines should be on the same exact workgroup Number 2. Have you added the same username and password on both machines? IE. Create a user called "user" and a password of "password" on the both machines, log into one of the machines (disable your firewall, make sure you setup your share and add "user" to have full permission) and attempt to access it via 'My Network Places' and then going to 'Workgroup' (When you go to Microsoft Windows Network does it should your workgroup there?) For Three. Are you able to ping each computer back and forth by NAME (To find the name of your computers - Right click 'My Computer' and to go 'Properties' and then click the 'Computer Name' tab) To ping the computers go to Start>Run>cmd press enter A black command prompt will come up, type in ping computername IE. Computer A name = Host Computer B name = Client First go to computer A and go to the command propmpt (Start>run>cmd) and type in 'ping Client' (without the "'"s) and see if you get a reply, and then do the same thing from computer B. but change the name to 'Host' If you do not get a reply then it could be a couple of things A. Your firewall is not configured properly (even if it is shut off check your windows firewall) B. both of your computers are not pointing to the correct DNS servers (should be the router)

oh yea on number 2. when you log into the machines after creating the user "user" and pass "password", log in as the user "user" on both machines and try it you may also attempt to access your machines by not only going to 'My network places' but by going to Start>Run>\\computername also what error do you get when you try to access the computers over the network??

To Josh, It appears that you have considerable knowledge about this situation but I am sorry to say that I am just an 82 year-old neophyte at computer jargon so I need some more explicit instructions in some areas. However, I did determine in step 1 that both computers had the same Workgroup name. On step 2 I zeroed out. Where do I set up a "user" and a "password"? Where do I set up the "share and add user to have full permission? And what am I trying to access from "My Network Places"? And finally where do I find "Microsoft Windows Network"? On #3, I was able to "ping" each computer! As to your afterthought on #2 --- How do I log-on to either machine with a user name and password? I usually just turn them on without either. How do I access the machines in "My Network Places"? When I go to Start>Run>\\computername(MAIN)I get the following error message: "\\MAIN is not accessible. You may not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server (Me) to find out if you have access permissions. Access is denied." I presume this would be the same error message I would receive if I knew how to access the computers over the network. I would certainly appreciate any further assistance you could provide on this matter. Thanks so much for your sudden reply. Muton