moron can't set up home network

k guys i need ya' again.

we have a home network comprised of my computer upstairs and my dad's computer downstairs both connected through my linux server my friend set up for me.

ever since we got wideopenwest and the server and everything, it's just been my computer upstairs networked with the server so i can access my website files and back up things on the server from my computer. but now i want my dad's computer to be able to connect to the server, too.

so i went to 'my network places' and did the 'set up a home network' thing just like i did with my computer upstairs and did all the steps and everything and it doesn't work. i click 'my network places' and nothing is listed. i went upstairs to see what exactly the network name is and everything, but it won't tell me and i'm at my wit's end and i can't figure out why i can't do this simplest of tasks! i did it with my new computer upstairs a couple months ago and it only took like 2 minutes! so how the %^&* do i get my dad's computer downstairs to be able to connect to the server?!?!

aaauugghh!!!!!

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Cynthia :)

"Whenever I date a guy, I think, is this the man I want my children to spend their weekends with?" - Gilda Radner

Is your network set up as a domain or a workgroup?

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A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer. ~Bruce Lee

ahh, geez, crypto - heck if i know.

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Cynthia :)

"Whenever I date a guy, I think, is this the man I want my children to spend their weekends with?" - Gilda Radner

Heh. Ok then lets go ahead and start troubleshooting and we'll figure it out along the way.

Ok, so what version of Linux is the server and what version of Windows is on yours and your dad's computers?

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A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer. ~Bruce Lee

well i've got xp home on mine upstairs, dad's got xp pro downstairs on his and the server i think is mandrake linux, but i don't know anything else.

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Cynthia :)

"Whenever I date a guy, I think, is this the man I want my children to spend their weekends with?" - Gilda Radner

You done everything the same on both computers. Start out by going to the working computer and doing an ipconfig /all. Write everything down and then do another ipconfig /all on the non working computer.

Pretty much everything but the Host Name, Physical Address and IP Address should match up.

Let me know the results. (I know that my troubleshooting methods may not make sense, but I swear there is a method to my madness.)

Or if you want to go ahead and get into more detail with that check go ahead and go to Control Panel > Network Connection > Right-click Local Area Connection > Properties > Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) > Properties and make sure all of those settings are the same on both computers including the Advanced tab (except the local IP address, they will need to be different ).

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A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer. ~Bruce Lee

ok well when i run ipconfig /all on my comp upstairs (the one that works) the dos window only stays open for like half a second and disappears. i can't get it to stay open to read all the info. in the control panel network properties all the settings are set to automatically detect ip.

i went downstairs and did the same things. again, the ipconfig /all function only brings up the dos screen for like half a second. the conrtol panel network properties actually had a bunch of different ip's listed so i changed them all to be automatically detected like the working upstairs pc.

then i restarted the downstairs pc and went to 'my network places'. the server is listed and i clicked on it and it asks for the user name and password. what do i use? i tried everything i could think of, including root. nothing. what name and pass is it looking for?

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Cynthia :)

"Whenever I date a guy, I think, is this the man I want my children to spend their weekends with?" - Gilda Radner

So then you know the root password and it didn't take it?

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A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer. ~Bruce Lee

yeah. i tried downstairs/root and the password and i tried just root and the password and neither worked. hang on lemme try again . . .

nope it won't take it.

i even went to my online webmin thing to double-check that the password i was using was correct and it is.

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Cynthia :)

"Whenever I date a guy, I think, is this the man I want my children to spend their weekends with?" - Gilda Radner

The Samba username and password is completely different than the root username and password. I would suggest calling the guy that setup the Linux box and asking him for the username/password for a samba user.

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