Computers Near Me - how does it work?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter
  • Start date Start date
P

Peter

I find that locating other computers takes several minutes (workgroup
setup); sometimes it never finds them.

OTOH internet access (also via ethernet, via a router) is instant.

It used to work; I don't know what's changed.

I can run Ethereal on the ethernet port and I go into Windows Explorer
and look for nearby computers, and it shows very little relevant
traffic, until the last few seconds just before it finds them.

So it looks like the O/S is looking for the other PCs somewhere else,
not via ethernet. Does this make sense? How can one have other
"networks" which take search priority?


Peter.
 
I should add that I can immediately ping and tracert everything on the
LAN, so the physical layer obviously works. I use an LMHOSTS file to
map the compiter names to their (fixed) IPs - no dynamic IP stuff.

Peter.
 
I've solved it; it was a wrong subnet mask, 255.0.0.0 but should have
been 255.255.255.0.

Worked with a hub but not with a switch!



Peter.
 
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