Please help me, I know very little about networking.
My desktop machine is a Dell Dimension 4600 and the laptop is a Sony VGN-N130G.
I have my network setup to run through a Netgear WPN 824 Rangemax Wireless Router. The desktop is connected to the router with a cat 5e cable and the laptop usually operates on the network wirelessly. I also connect the laptop to the network with a cat 5e cable when I want to transfer files from one machine to the other faster. This has been setup and operating for almost a year.
I could access the internet from both machines and see various folders on each others hard drive.
And then came the day that I couldn't see the network with the laptop on wireless. The weird part is that I can still connect to the internet wirelessly. If I connect the laptop to the router with a cable every thing works fine. I can connect to the internet and I can access files back and forth.
I have run out of things to try.

Check to ensure you have enabled file and printer sharing feature on wireless adapter's properties. Also ensure the Windows firewall is not enabled on wireless adapter. You need to allow file and printer sharing access on firewall if you need to enable it.

You can also type the following command on labtop's Windows file browser to access shared folder on desktop.

\\type-desktop-IP

Good luck...

Thanks for the tips.
I did all of the above and no change to my network behavior.

This issue has been solved. All I had to do was to reboot the router. I feel kinda silly that I didn't do that first.

TJ