Dimension 5100 - Cannot see other PC's on LAN - MAC Loopback Test Failed

And the Operating Systems are what????

WIndows XP Professional -- with all the latest updates.

I should also add that while every other PC "sees" this PC in My Network Places, when you click on the PC's icon in MNP i get a box "\\[PCName] is not accessible. .... The network path was not found."

Found the problem; need to configure the Network settings on the Norton Internet Security to recognize the PC's on the network (including this PC).

That piece of software causes more problems to people on these boards in the beginning.  Glad you go it fixed.

Summary:

1. Why are Dell Computers supplied with two firewall programs that don't seem to be coordinated? I had turned off the Windows firewall, not realizing there was a second one, Norton Security's, to configure and/or turn off/on. (I only determined this after doing a Google Search and found a related situation on an obscure PC support forum.)

2. Why did they drop supplying a backup Operating System disk (replacing it with a OS image on the hard drive) without at least making sure you could use their PC Restore (published by Symantec) with a partitioned disk drive (which can be partitioned by Partition Magic -- published by Symantec)?  For years I have put software and data (documents/pictures, etc.) on separate partitions; on more than one occassion this has saved the data when the partition with programs crashes.

(I should note that, when I initially set up this PC and started adding software, I found eventually enough problems with standard operations, such as failure to shut down completely, that I decided the only route was to reinstall the OS completely to ensure there had not been a bad installation supplied by Dell.  It turned out restoring the OS was the route to overcome the various problems I was experiencing; so far it is working smoothly after the reinstallation. One point in favour of the PC Restore route is that it is much less time consuming that doing a complete Windows XP install.)

3. The provision of the 9-in-1 Media Bay, seven USB ports, an outboard USB Floppy Drive and no serial/parallel/PS-2 ports to me is a key feature/benefit; USB-only gets rid of lots of confusion re installing peripherals not to mention no need to screw in connectors! (What do I do with my jewellers screwdrivers now?)  (I have been using serial and parallel ports in mini-computers that preceded the launch of PC's but am quite happy to see the end of them.).

Message Edited by JimCanuck on 09-03-2005 06:52 AM

Message Edited by JimCanuck on 09-03-2005 07:00 AM

Message Edited by JimCanuck on 09-03-2005 11:30 AM

Serial ports??  What on earth do you use those for now?  YOu can find parallel to use adapters, but didn't you know what would be available on the machine when you ordered it?

I have slightly edited my comments above; hopefully to articulate more clearly my delight at seeing the end of serial and parallel ports!  On the other hand I have a Belkin USB hub with a 3 USB ports as well as a serial and parallel port; the final user of this PC still has a 3-year old parallel port printer that he would like to continue to use.