# Can surf the Internet, but can't ping / see other computers on the same subnet



## joeyuen (Aug 4, 2008)

I have a home network connected via a wireless/wired Router/switch, I have got 5 computers connected to the switch, 4 on XP SP2 and 1 on Vista. They can surf the Internet, but can't see / ping each other, all computers use the DHCP IP addfesses served by the Router. As a result I can't use the printer attached to 1 of the computers, or share files. Can anybody throw some light on this ? I have checked the firewall setting on the router and nothing seems obvious to have caused this problem. I use a Belkin router/switch.


----------



## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Failure to ping is almost always a firewall issue. I'd be looking at the firewalls on the individual machines, there is no firewall in the router that would affect local LAN traffic, it's only the LAN to WAN traffic that's affected by the router firewall.


----------



## NCkrow21 (Aug 5, 2008)

Check to see if they are on the same workgroup. If they are on different workgroups they wouldn't be able to see each other.


----------



## joeyuen (Aug 4, 2008)

Hi
Thanks for the input. I have checked and disabled on all computers the Windows Firewall and it didn't make any difference. Would anti-virus software have any effect ? I use AVG anti-spamming, and F-Secure for anti-virus.


----------



## joeyuen (Aug 4, 2008)

Also checked the workgroup to be the same, and in Network properties the "File and Printer Sharing in Microsoft network" tag is checked. Still no luck. Only the router can be ping and nothing else. Internet access is OK.


----------



## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Workgroups don't mean anything in regard to pinging, that's not this issue. You still have a firewall component that is blocking the pings.

Let's see this for two of the computers.

Hold the *Windows* key and press *R*, then type *CMD* to open a command prompt:

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following commands, one at a time, followed by the _*Enter*_ key:

_Note that there is a space before the -n or the /ALL, but there is *NOT* a space after the - or / in the following commands._

NBTSTAT -n

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose *Select All*, then hit *Enter*.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.


----------



## joeyuen (Aug 4, 2008)

Hi Johnwill,
Many thanks for your help and tips. I found the root of the problem last night. Indeed it is a firewall problem, I use F-Secure anti-virus suite and didn't realise that it also has an inbuilt firewall. This is preventing any incoming ping, file/printer sharing etc. Once I disable the firewall, the ping comes through OK. I still have to work out what traffic to be allowed to come through as I don't want just to disable the firewall completely. Any suggestions ?
Joe


----------



## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Most firewalls have settings for common services. I don't know the specifics of the F-Secure configuration, but I'm sure that their tech support can easily point you to the correct setting.


----------



## PIxeldroid (May 31, 2009)

I'm having the exact same problem.
Small network. Belkin wireless router. Brother 7840 connected to router via Ethernet. Presario laptop w/Vista can see other computers on the network and get on the web, but can't ping the printers on the network.
The Brother software installed the drivers, so the printer appears in the printer panel, but Vista shows it as offline (I can print to it from other computers on the network).

I've been able to to connect the Presario to one printer by sharing the printer on a different computer, but even that doesn't work with the Brother (Presario sees it, but won't connect).

I have the windows firewall on the Presario turned off. I don't know of any other firewalls on the computer.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## PIxeldroid (May 31, 2009)

I've had this problem for a year and I just figured it out:
I use MAC Address Filtering in the router to prevent uninvited guests on my network. When I added the printers' MAC Addresses to the filter list, the laptop is able to access them. Whether its Vista or the fact that its a wireless laptop, I don't know. But after a year of this hassle, its fixed!


----------



## xiro911 (Jul 14, 2010)

hey have same problem and this problem is really something wierd for me but thanks to all I read the whole thread nice to know that!


----------



## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

Thanks for the feedback. Time to close this Thread.


----------

