This isnt FIRST related but it would be really cool if someone could help me

[Phalanx]

The first thing I would do would be to make sure I can PING each station.
You will need to know the IP address of each machine to ping.

I would also do a TRACERT to each station as well.
This will at least prove that they are in fact connected on the network and that network data can flow between them.

I would also make sure that your firewall/router is allowing Windows file and print sharing on the LAN side and NOT the WAN side of the connections.
TCPBUEI (Netbios over IP) is the protocol used over ports 135, 137, 138, and 139 TCP and UDP for Microsoft NetBIOS.

You certainly don't need IPX/SPX protocol unless you are running a Novell Netware Network which you aren't. So I highly recommend you remove those since they only slow networking down by adding an additional stack to process.

Also note that for some odd reason I have experienced in a peer to peer network that it can take several minutes to even an hour for a single machine to appear in the Network list. That's another one of MS's bad ideas about name broadcasting, name resolution, etc....


Make sure you have Client for MS Networks, File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks, and TCP/IP protocols bound to the NIC you are using. Also make sure the WORKGROUP name is the same for ALL machines and that each machines name is unique.

Outside of that, then it's either bad cables, bad nics, or bad ports on the router or any combination there of.