problem: similar but different

[networked out]

Here's the setup:

Cable Internet
Linksys Wireless G AP/Router

Desktop PC:
WinXP Pro
Motorola Wireless card

Notebook PC:
WinXP Pro
Sony Wireless card

All wireless cards and the router have the latest drivers and firmware. What I'm wanting to do is to have both machines use the internet (currently running fine) and also be able to share files/printers between them. I'd also like some measure of security.

Currently, on both machines, I have run the network setup wizard (residential gateway option) and selected the wireless cards as the only connections (disabled all others, since they are unnecessary). I can ping the router (192.168.1.1) from each computer, and each computer can ping itself. They both have seperate IP's, and both are different from the router's IP.

I have filesharing and printersharing turned on for both computers, and I have the WinXP firewall turned off for both computers. Both have the same workgroup, and have different names. Neither can "see" themselves or the other computer in the Network Places folder (or any other folder).

I'm now at a loss. Please let me know any ideas. Thanks

[networked out]

Noone has any ideas?

[networked out]

Ok, I solved my own problem. Just in case anyone else has this sort of problem, I'll let you know how it panned out. Somehow (because I had tweaked the services to get more power out of my computer, using the configurations on blackviper.com, from a tip offered by TechTV on The ScreenSavers), a very important service was disabled. You need to have "Computer Browser" enabled. That service periodically scans the network and maintains a list of computers that are connected.

To mess with your services (only if you know what the heck you're doing): right click the My Computer icon, and select "Manage." From there, double click "Services & Applications" and then double click "Services." From that menu, you can set a number of services to Automatically start, Manually start, or Disable. Enable the "Computer Browser" service and that will help out a lot.

Thanks for all the help.