Home network - How can I get Tiger & Windows 2000 to connect?

Question

This has been an ongoing annoyance for some time now.
I cannot get my G4 iMac running the latest updated Tiger to connect to a PC running Win2K (home network) through a basic router and junction box.
Both are connected to the internet (DSL) via a router, then one of those "splitter" or junction boxes (what's the right term for this thing?) -- the connection goes from the DSL outlet on the wall, to the router, then into this junction box, which then connects the iMac and the PC to the net.
No problems with the net connection for both machines.
Way back when I first had a different PC connected to this configuration, I COULD see the PC from the iMac, and vice versa. File sharing worked seamlessly.
Then one day, for no good reason, the Mac could no longer "see" the PC ... but the PC could see the iMac. So I resigned myself to swapping files to and from the PC.
Just recently, I changed internet providers for my DSL, resulting in an entirely new IP address setup for each machine. Both machines now get the net. But now NEITHER machine can see the other.
From the Mac, I have tried:
Clicking on the Network icon in the Finder
Typing various different things into the window that results when I click "GO" then "Connect To Server" -- the IP address of PC, the name of the PC, etc.
Ensuring "Windows file sharing" is engaged in the "Sharing" window of the System Preferences
Ensuring "Appleshare" is on
Ensuring the firewall allows traffic with windows file sharing
From the PC I have tried:
Ensuring the main drive is shared
Installed every network sharing device I could (TCP/IP, etc)
From the "My Network Places" window, tried "adding a new network place" (iMac doesn't show up)
Clicking on the "Computers Near Me" icon (nothing but the PC itself shows up)
Clicking on the "Add Network Place" icon (cannot find the iMac no matter what I type into the window, or when I click "Browse")
Why is this so difficult? Why won't it work now when it did before? Why has the machine-to-machine capability of seeing each other steadily degenerated over time?
I know I can go out and buy "Dave" to possibly get this working ... but I shouldn't have to, Tiger has been touted as the most amazing networking thing yet. And, it worked before.
Is there a way to run a diagnostic on the networking function of Tiger? Could it have possibly been damaged?
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

This has been an ongoing annoyance for some time
now.
I cannot get my G4 iMac running the latest updated
Tiger to connect to a PC running Win2K (home network)
through a basic router and junction box.
Both are connected to the internet (DSL) via a
router, then one of those "splitter" or junction
boxes (what's the right term for this thing?)
you could mean a hub or a switch, but how many ports does your router have?
the connection goes from the DSL outlet on the wall, to
the router, then into this junction box, which then
connects the iMac and the PC to the net.
No problems with the net connection for both
machines.
Way back when I first had a different PC connected to
this configuration, I COULD see the PC from the iMac,
and vice versa. File sharing worked seamlessly.
Then one day, for no good reason, the Mac could no
longer "see" the PC ... but the PC could see the
iMac. So I resigned myself to swapping files to and
from the PC.
Just recently, I changed internet providers for my
DSL, resulting in an entirely new IP address setup
for each machine. Both machines now get the net. But
now NEITHER machine can see the other.
This is not normal your internal ip addresses would remain the same even if when you change your ISP.
From the Mac, I have tried:
Clicking on the Network icon in the Finder
Typing various different things into the window that
results when I click "GO" then "Connect To Server" --
the IP address of PC, the name of the PC, etc.
Ensuring "Windows file sharing" is engaged in the
"Sharing" window of the System Preferences
Ensuring "Appleshare" is on
Ensuring the firewall allows traffic with windows
file sharing
From the PC I have tried:
Ensuring the main drive is shared
Installed every network sharing device I could
(TCP/IP, etc)
From the "My Network Places" window, tried "adding a
new network place" (iMac doesn't show up)
Clicking on the "Computers Near Me" icon (nothing but
the PC itself shows up)
Clicking on the "Add Network Place" icon (cannot find
the iMac no matter what I type into the window, or
when I click "Browse")
Why is this so difficult? Why won't it work now when
it did before? Why has the machine-to-machine
capability of seeing each other steadily degenerated
over time?
It sounds to me your network needs to be troubleshooted before we can answer that.
I know I can go out and buy "Dave" to possibly get
this working ... but I shouldn't have to, Tiger has
been touted as the most amazing networking thing yet.
And, it worked before.
You don't need Dave at all. Samba is the pc filesharing protocol and that is built into Tiger.
Is there a way to run a diagnostic on the networking
function of Tiger? Could it have possibly been
damaged?
Yes there is away to diagnose your problem we can work on that.
Any suggestions?
What is the make and model of your dsl modem?
What is the make and model of your router? What is the make and model of the box your refer to as splitter.
Also goto the network preferces of your mac and post back what your ip address is and what router ip address you have.
On your pc goto the start menu, click run, enter the work 'command' press enter.
In the dos window type
ipconfig
press enter
and post back the results.