[mallred]

My problem started about 10 days ago. PC1 has 2 network cards. Card1 connects to the internet (cable modem) and card2 connects to the home office network. Card1 is shared. PC2 and PC3 get their IP addresses from DHCP on PC1. All PCs have their hard drives and printers shared.

This has worked for more than a year, until 10 days ago. I don't know exactly when the problem started (PC2 and PC3 are not used every day). PC2 and PC3 can still connect to the internet. They can ping PC1 by name and IP Address (192.168.0.1). BUT - they cannot access the shared hard drive or printer on PC1. They do not show PC1 in the Workgroup, nor can they access the mapped drive ("An error occured while reconnecting K: to \\PC1\C. Microsoft Windows Network: The network path was not found. The connection has not been restored."). PC2 and PC3 CAN still see each other with no problems. Even though they cannot see PC1 (shared drive or printer) they can still access the network.

PC1 does not show anything in Entire Network -> Microsoft Windows Network -> Workgroup. Not even itself. PC1 can pint PC2 and PC3 by IP address, but not name. PC1 can still access the internet.

I have installed all MS XP updates in an attempt to solve the problem. I have checked the services suggested by many people to see if they are automatically starting (like Remote Access Auto Connection Manager).

I am running Norton Internet Security 2005 and Windows Firewall is turned off. I have turned off NIS, but this makes no difference. I bought and ran SpywareDoctor, but it found nothing.

About the same time (or perhaps exactly the same time) my Explorer version 6.0.2900.2180 . . . started running incredibly slow. So slow that I'm now having to use Firefox. Is there a corralation?

All PCs are running XP sp2.

I have tired to do a System Restore to a previous point, but I'm told that none of them are valid.

I'm about ready to reinstall XP - but this would be a HUGE headache!

Any help is VERY appreciated.

Mike