Hello all,

I am having massive difficulties in getting my lan network at home to work correctly. I have two XP computers connected to a network with a 2wire gateway router and want to play some games over lan.

The problem is that neither computers cant see, and thus join, the hosted game of the other. The game does not show up in the lan lobby at all. This happens regardless of the game being played, so i'm quessing it must be a setup or hardware issue.

All other lan functionality otherwise works perfectly. Both computers can see/share files, printer sharing works, both belong to AND show up in the same workgroup, and i can ping the other computer without problems. In fact, if i didn't play games, i would not know i have a lan issue.

I have tried many different solutions posted on the net without much success. Internet protocol is enabled, tried hamachi, ports have been properly forwarded, turned off all firewall programs, only LAN and 1394 adapters enabled, drivers are up to date, and have tried using different routers/hubs.

The only time i'm able to play with the other computer on LAN is if the game has a direct ip connection option. If it does not have this option then i am out of luck for lan play. I'm not sure however if my computers are basicly playing over the internet or on lan this way.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Have you tried enabling netbios over tcp/ip?

Instructions on how to do this are here

Hope this helps.

Dean Spencer
[Commercial link removed by Ironbender]

Can you share with us which game(s) are having trouble? Different games talk on different ports and in different ways.

That said, it does sound like a firewall issue - somehow, somewhere ports are getting blocked.

Confirm that the computer's firewalls are turned off - you should have the firewall enabled on your router.

There should be no port forwarding on the computer, if anywhere it should only be on the firewall but even then I don't think you need it.

Again - it would help to give us specific. If it is Quake III Arena I certainly can help you out, and I'm sure others can help you with other games.

ronald.

netbios is not routable

Make sure you have ALL firewalls turned off...the ones in windows also.
RC mycomputer
click properties
the computer name
make sure the workgroup name is the same on both/all computers. also check in your network card properties to make sure there is not a static ip, the radio button "obtain ip address auto" for your ip and dns should be selected.
I am ASSUMING you are using xp prof. turn off simple networking... in windows explorer click tools\folder ops\view scroll all the way down , turn off simple file sharing
share a folder