Problem With Inspiron 1501 Laptop

[.-richie-.]

Hi

I am having a problem with my DELL Inspiron 1501. Its running Windows Media Center, everything is up to date and the system is virus free. I have four computers, one laptop and three desktops. They are all on the same network.

The Problem

I am having a problem with network drives and one printer. Occasionally when I double click a network drive it will give me an error telling me that windows could not reconnect to the network drive as the network path was not found. I then double click the mapped network drive again and I get in... The next problem is with one of my printers, a Canon Pixma iP2000. The printer is connected to an external hard drive which is a WD-Netcenter. The problem with the printer is that when I go to Printers And Faxes the printer status is either "Opening", "Initializing" or "Failed to connect, retrying". Printers and Faxes also freezes if I attempt to double click the printer Canon Pixma iP2000. I have two other printers that are connected to another computer. The laptop manages to connect to them. All the other computers manage to connect to the Canon printer. The strange thing is I can still print to the Canon printer from my laptop even when Printers And Faxes tells me the printer is "Opening" or "Initializing". This problem has just started and its really bugging me because when I go to print something, Windows freezes because it attempts to connect to the Canon Printer. Does anyone know what I can do to fix this problem?

Things I have done so far, but have failed to fix the problem

1) Re-installed printer driver.
2) Deleted printer, re connected printer.
3) Re-installed the network on laptop.
4) Tried using wireless and Ethernet connection.
5) Changed firewall settings.
6) Turned firewall off.
7) Used several Virus scanners.
8) Used Files & Settings Transfer wizard on one of the three working computers.
9) Used several registry cleaners.
10) Made a new Windows User.
11) Reinstalled drivers for network cards.
12) Repaired windows installation.

Does anyone know what I can do to fix this problem? The only thing I can thing of doing next is to do a clean install of Windows because its not a problem with the printer or network because I don't have this problem with any other computer connected to the network. :eusa_wall

[iFuseDan]

What firewall is on the machine? Sounds like possibly a DNS/NETBIOS "lag".

[.-richie-.]

Hey thanks for your reply. I have two firewalls, Windows Firewall and Mcafee Security Center Firewall. How would I fix this DNS/NETBIOS lag?

[iFuseDan]

I sent you some steps by PM - check your inbox.

[.-richie-.]

Hi,

I'm also getting a error message saying,

\\server is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource, Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.

The Server service is not started.


I done some Google searching and a post told me to start the server service, but this is already started. If I keep double clicking \\Server It will eventually let me in. I assume this is why the printer does not show Ready in the status.

[.-richie-.]

Hi, I have fixed the problem by reinstalling Windows XP.