Networking laptop and desktop

Basic troubleshooting time...

a. Are both machines getting IP addresses in the 192.168.x.x range, as opposed to 169.x.x.x?

yes, both are 192.168.x.x

b. Can you ping between machines?

i pinged, but the request timed out (100% loss)

c. Do both machines have the same Workgroup name?  What are the Computer Names?

the machines have the same workgroup name and the computer names are "laptop" and "desktop 1" respectively. the workgroup name is 'village'

d. Have you properly shared directories on both machines? If nothing is shared you can't connect.

To test, i have only the shared documents folder set as shared on both computers.

e. Please advise on exactly what problem you see -- can you see the computers in Network Places?

I can only see the laptop, i only see the laptop listed.  On the desktop,  i get an error message saying "village" not accessable. you might not have permission to use this network resource. It's also very slow opening from network places-->microsoft windows network-->village-->

Basic troubleshooting time...

a. Are both machines getting IP addresses in the 192.168.x.x range, as opposed to 169.x.x.x?

b. Can you ping between machines? If you need help with this just ask.

c. Do both machines have the same Workgroup name?  What are the Computer Names?

d. Have you properly shared directories on both machines? If nothing is shared you can't connect.

e. Please advise on exactly what problem you see -- can you see the computers in Network Places?

check the following:

do you have same user name and password for both computers? if not, you should

do you have firewall on both computers? if so, you should make sure that internal IP range (192.168....) is in trusted range.

Try these steps and keep us posted.

     What operating systems are you using?  If you have XP Home on one system and XP Pro on the other than your problems are most likely related to how the two operating systems handle NetBIOS and file sharing (simple vs advanced).