To add to this confusion, I added my laptop and wife's computer's MAC address to the my router. He may have to add his mac addresses to his router.

Also can each computer ping each computer? For instance; I have a laptop and a computer. My laptop can ping my wifes computer and my wifes computer can ping my laptop. Also both of these can ping the computer with the printer and that computer can ping the other two. :trustme:

Gee, this thread is getting almost as long as the the "Welcome Michelle" thread.

lol hurry up and fix the network and we'll even make it a DIY!

lol... that's a testament to the wonderful folks here, though. This is obviously not my question/thread, but thanks, gresch, for taking the time to help X5Jay. :thumbup: :)

Juan

X5Jay - On the main computer, go into Control Panel > Network Connections, right click on the LAN connection, and select Properties. When the Properties window comes up, click on the last tab and see if Internet Connection Sharing is disabled. If it IS, then it's the culprit.

Actually, don't do that. That has nothing to do with being able to share a printer among computers in the same workgroup. Rarely if ever should that option be enabled, but that's another thread ;)

We tried the ping tests, the main computer and the laptop can both ping the router and he can ping the laptop from the main computer, but the laptop can't ping the main. I have a feeling after thinking about it while out to dinner that he might have a 3rd party fwall that I neglected to ask him about... maybe. Both machines can access the internet so it's not a routing problem. The basics aren't working here, so we have to get a ping working first and move on from there.

we disabled that :thumbup:

What's worked well for me is just to have all of the shared printers as Network printers. Both of my laser printers (HP LaserJet 4 and an Apple Laserwriter 16/600 PS) have LAN connections, and my HP multifunction color injet printer has both wired and wireless LAN capabilities. So each device has its own IP address on my home network and I don't have to worry about printing "through" another computer (and whether that computer is off or on).

Eventually I will be going that way also. I find a bit annoying when my other computer is off and I have get and turn it on. I'm going wireless print server as soon as they start dropping the prices. I don't :loco: see me paying $149.00 (Linksys print server) just to print, when I don't print that much anyway.

Now getting to the issue at hand. He might be surfing the Internet through neighbors SSID in his neighborhood. Therefore, he thinks everything is fine. But he may not realize that he is not going through his own router. If he lived in Denton Texas, I could HOOK :thumbup: him up, but I suggest that he goes down to Best Buy and ask for book that has basic wireless set up. Or he could read up a little to understand how it works, OR surf the net for more info. It can be done, hang in there.... :scared:

BTW, I think this would be a great DIY. As a matter of fact I've been in the computer business for a looooooooooooooooong time. Programming, database, network etc :yawn:

Hope this helps dude