Mac Mini and MacBook can't 'see' each other on the network

I have an 'old' Mac Mini set up to the Airport Extreme base station via ethernet cable and can happily connect to the internet. I also have a MacBook that connects wirelessly to the AEBS. A couple of things frustrate me..
Although I can connect to the internet from the Mini the Airport Utility can rarely find the base station so any diagnostics are impossible.
Also, the two macs are unable to find each other over the network. Both have personal file sharing turned on in the prefs. Occasionally the MacBook identifies my Mini on the network but when I try and connect (clicking on the alias) i get the "the alias XXX's computer could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found".
This is frustrating as I would like to share/copy files over the network.
Is there something simple I am missing?

A couple of things to check.
The Mini will need to have file sharing turned on.
And the appropriate holes in its firewall set.
It should be assigned its IP number by DHCP.
It should not be plugged into the WAN port on the
AEBSn.
Using Terminal (on the mini)
You should be able to PING the other computer,
And you should be able PING a computer on the
internet.
ie. apple.com
Hi
File sharing is on and firewall is off. As I mentioned I have connection to the internet and can ping apple.com. It is not plugged into the WAN port on the AEBSn - the modem is plugged in there. The IP is assigned by DHCP
I can ping the macbook (when the alias is in Finder) but I get a "connection failed...server may not exist or it is not operational at this time. Check the server name or IP address and try again" when I try to connect.

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Unfortunately, they don't show up in each other's local network in Finder. They have recognized each other twice in the few days I've had this set up but those times were directly after a reboot of both machines and even then, only one machine could see the other. One time it was iMac -> MacBook, the other it was MacBook -> iMac.

More information: After restarting my router and upgrading the firmware, the my MacBook was able to see my iMac (ping it directly immediately) and it showed up in the list of Shared devices.
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ping 192.168.2.3
PING 192.168.2.3 (192.168.2.3): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
Request timeout for icmp_seq 22
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=12338.226 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=11341.133 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=10341.974 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=11452.557 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=10718.590 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=9799.987 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=8798.967 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=7803.687 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=6802.503 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=20 ttl=64 time=5818.710 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=21 ttl=64 time=4818.158 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=22 ttl=64 time=3816.990 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=23 ttl=64 time=2815.664 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=24 ttl=64 time=1828.492 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=25 ttl=64 time=828.307 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.3: icmp_seq=26 ttl=64 time=9.865 ms

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Except sometimes.
Using Leopard on both new machines, I can share Internet connections and printers fine. The problem is in trying to mount volumes or share files.
I create a network on the iMac, connect to it on the Macbook, and use the appropriate password on both machines. I've set file sharing preferences perfectly and confirmed that at the store.
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First: Ahh!
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