My problem seems even weirder than the one described above.... (Are you sure that you don't have XP's automatically installed firewall enabled?). Rightclick my network places/ properties/local area connection /properties/advanced to check this.
I run 3 computers 2 XP professional and 1 Win 98.
I can see all local computers when going through: my network places/entire network/microsoft windows network/workgroup/, finally 3 computers.
I can click each of them and see the shared drives or folders, and everything to and fro the Win98 machine works fine... Cool eh?
But then when I try to access Win XP from Win XP, I get the eternal timeglass, and the whole machine more or less freezes. Sometimes it's possible to kill the process, (taskmanager) sometimes I have to reboot completely.
When I go through the "Add network place drill" (My network places) I easily connect to every shared item in a split second. A shortcut is added to "My network places". But next time I try to connect either by this link or by other means the same old "hanging party" starts all over again.
The problem exists from both ever XP boxes, though the seriousness of the "hanging business" differs slightly...
I've tried turning netbios on and off.
I've tried connecting the two directly (bypassing the switch) with a crossover cable, same problems...
Of course I turned any firewall or even virus scanner off and went through every aspect of the network setup I know.. which obvioulsy is not enough...
Sure hope somebody does....
Baldwin