Have a wireless network which consists of

Wireless Router (Linksys) WRT54G
Dell Desktop - (Linksys wirelss card)
Dell Laptop - (internal wireless card)
Toshiba Laptop - (internal wireless card)

Until a few days ago was able to use network without any problems.

Now machines cannot see the workgroup, network, or both.

Able to ping all machines and router.

Dell Desktop can see the workgroup, but only the desktop (no other machines)

Dell Laptop does not see the workgroup, displays following error.
"Workgroup not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of the server to find out if you have access permissions. The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available."

Toshiba Laptop sees workgroup, but only shows the Dell and Toshiba laptops. But unable to access Dell Laptop. Receive following error message when I try to access the Dell Laptop:
"DellLaptop is not accessible. You might not have permission to access this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The network path was not found."

All machines still see internet (satellite ISP connected to router).

Tried to reset workgroup several times without any changes.

Anyone have any thoughts.
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wow, an actually interesting question!

The first thing I'd try is to directly connect all the machines to the router with cables.

Not to run it normally, just to see if the problem is related to the wifi component or not.

Once you have determined this, you can go on to check other factors, but you want to localize the problem as much as possible before you proceed.

If the workgroup reappears when you directly connect the machines, you will at least have some idea of how to proceed, and if it doesn't, you dont have have to try to debug non-existent wifi issues, which can be a real pain.

It's also possible that a windows update killed something on some of the machines.

Along with connecting all machines to router, I'd do the Standard Windows basics, update all machines windows, reboot.... reboot.... update... see if workgroup reappears.

Some people leave windows on and don't reboot, especially laptops that suspend. Bad idea, windows is not anywhere close to the level that it would need to be at to never reboot. For that type of robustness you need to use Linux or Unix type systems. But that's another question.

I am assuming you are using windows since you didn't mention the operating system or version.
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Thank you for the reply.

No change when connecting computers to router through cables.

OS is Win XP Pro with all updates applied.

Machines are turned off each day.

Is it possible to delete the network and workgroup, then reboot, then rebuild the workgroup and network? If so how?
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Well, this is promising. Wifi is really no fun at all to deal with.

Rebuilding the workgroup is simple, just remove it, then recreate it. XP made this process a bit more obscure than it needs to be, I don't use it myself, but it's just a matter of locating the networking component, I think it's in the 'system' dialogue box : control panel -> system, then it's network setttings.

Windows uses windows networking components to talk to other windows machines, make sure those are all installed, those are in the networking properties, you'll see a list of networking protocols installed, tcp/ip, windows file and printer sharing, and some others, make sure they are all checked off.

Just change the name of the workgroup to something else, on all the machines, reboot each.

Other possibilities are: a windows update broke your networking in windows. Unlikely I'd say.

Your router, the cheapest component of the system, is defective. Usual solution here: flash the firmware for the router. This should be done no matter what as a matter of course. If you have never updated the firmware, do so now, before anything else.

Modern routers have easy to use configuration windows internally, after you log on to the router via a browser, read the instructions for updating the firmware. You may need to download the firmware first from linksys. Update it, reboot the router. Remember, a router is just a small computer that is really cheap. Firmware is the operating system. So update it.

Reboot router, reboot all windows computers, see if the workgroup has returned.

Since workgroup did not reappear with fully wired network, you don't have to worry about wifi debugging issues like flooded wifi channel etc.

I don't run windows personally but I do work with it, workgroups can be tricky, they are not nearly as problem free as Microsoft likes to pretend.
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Changed the workgroup name and rebooted. Now under Microsoft Windows Network I have two (2) networks listed, the old and new new. (Note this is showing up on all machines)

Networking properties installed
Client for Microsoft Networks
File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks
QoS packet Scheduler
TCP/IP
- set to obtain automatically

Router has most current firmware. Reset (rebooted) router as suggested, no changes.

Also on Desktop I now show the following under Entire Network:
Microsoft Terminal Services
Microsoft Windows Network
- Old Network
- New Network
Web Client Network

The two laptops show only the Microsoft Windows Network
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it's unclear, sounds like it's working.

so simply remove the old workgroup, which I guess is stuck somewhere in the machine.

Sounds like it was the laptops that lost the networking component, so a reset redid it.

And of course, also run a real antivirus product on your system, forget about Norton or McAfee, those suck, worst ones out there. We only use nod32 now for clients, because it works.

You might want to check the machines with a high quality antivirus product, and if you're using Norton or McAffee, uninstall it and get a real one.
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Still no luck.

Based on what I think I am seeing, this problem happened on all machines at the same time not just the laptops.

I run several anti-virus programs; norton is one, but I also use Trendmicro and AVG so I do not believe it is virus related.

I am not finding the "ghost" workgroup except by using windows explorer. Can not find anywhere that will let me delete all workgroups and networks and start over. The only thing that seems to be available is to rename the workgroup.

Along same lines any idea on how to delete the Microsoft Terminal Services and the Web Client Network from the desktop. As I understand it I should only need Microsoft Windows Network to make things work.

Was looking at the MS XP page and it indicates that this problem is due to networks creating a bridge. The MS page directs to delete the bridge and everything should work, but none of my systems seem to a have created a bridge.

I am almost at the point of reinstalling windows.

Thanks again for your help, any other thoughts before I throw in the towel.
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Sadly, as is frequently the case with the allegedly simple windows workgroups, they aren't simple at all.

Looking at what you have tried, and the facts of the matter, it would appear that a windows update altered a key setting somewhere in your machines. Or that your network was compromised, and at least partially broken.

How that happened, that's hard to say. Why it happened, also hard to say.

Reinstalling is to me never an acceptable option to fix things, first of all, it's a massive pain in the butt to reinstall xp, takes hours per machine, and days before you really have them set correctly again.

You did find some clues, that might be xp specific. I've never seen this particular issue with windows 2000 xp networks, but I have seen A LOT of other issues over the years.

Usually you have to start turning off all components one by one, then start to restore the basic networking features, in this case, microsoft networking and file and printer sharing.

those are actually just dumbed down ways to describe a set of proprietary, and buggy, protocols that Microsoft invented many years ago, and which have never worked very reliably, though they were very easy to setup initially.

So the trick is: turn off everything, all networking. Reboot. Turn on basic tcp/ip, reboot. Test that internet works on all machines.

Then turn on the bare bones windows networking components. Reboot. Make sure that bridged garbage is certainly turned off also, that's something I forgot about because I really have tried to avoid XP for as long as possible.

Also terminal server is unneeded.

Also unneeded is junk like remote access, that's just one massive security hole waiting to be exploited.

After it's all off, turn back on the core networking, tcp/ip, and the two main xp windows networking components. The way windows remembers stuff can be very annoying, to remove left over shared networks can be a pain, but they also have to be totally removed from each machine or the machines will again see the network names each time they start.

I don't know if you've tried this, but you can try to create a real shared network folder:

On machine 1, let's say it has the machine network name, we'll be creative: machine1
Share folder, let's say folder1, and with the share name: folder1
To mount this from other machines, use the direct true network path, using the create / map network drive option in windows explorer, tools.

The path to machine 1 folder 1 is this: \\machine1\folder1

Always avoid using spaces in these names, real networks and computers do not like spaces.

Call that your x drive, or q, or s, whatever.

See if that mounts. If it mounts correctly, and you can access that folder across the network, then the basic stuff is working. I have nothing but trouble with that 'network neighborhood' junk, and I rarely use it, and always avoid it if I can, using the real network paths entered in directly.

If each machine can now see folder 1 on machine 1 when you do this, there is nothing really wrong, it's just some stupid xp bug with windows networking that got triggered probably by an update.

To be on the super safe side, try downloading nod32, free version, and run it, then uninstall it. If nothing shows, you can fairly safely rule out viruses etc. But not rootkits, unfortunately. The latest windows rootkits are not visible to antivirus products, they are a new breed, and cannot be detected or removed.

That's an old article, they've gotten much better since then by the way.

Oh, I almost completely forgot, if you were using wifi, and weren't using the highest level of protection, WPA. If you were using either no encryption or WEP, it's entirely possible that your network was compromised by someone outside your house. Wifi is radically insecure when not setup and configured correctly.

The same goes for not having set a heavily secure password on the router itself.

Like 23rT59cwQ9 or whatever. mydog is not a secure password
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