Thanks for the welcome, and the responses.
Is your router not in the same IP range as your 2 PC's? 192.168.1.?
Yes it is. In fact both Computer A and B are set up to get their IP addresses automatically. They both get their addresses from the NAT router.
I can recall some possible issues...
Win XP might be using simple sharing mode, which might not be compatible with Win2K
both machines may be trying to be the master network browser and conflicting
you may be using blank passwords
… in any event, it doesn’t immediately sound like a CPF issue, but I can’t discount it.
As far as the network shares on both machines are concerned I have the same setup as I had before I installed Comodo, when I was using Kerio. If I exit the Comodo program on both machines, everything is fine and dandy, the problem does not exist.
If I disconnect the mapped network shares and try to connect to the network, I have to supply a password on both machines.
.. one far-out thought... are you sure you ran the Define a new trusted network wizard on the WinXP PC?
This may be where my understanding of this firewall’s set up may be lacking.
I used automatic install on the Win2K machine, but not on the XP machine. Each installation found
the respective machine’s ethernet cards and defined them accordingly. If I look at the bottom right side of the display on the summary screen, I can see the ip address, subnet mask and mac address of each card. I will recheck all settings on both machines later (at work right now). I am certain that I followed the instructions on both machines to the letter, I did the XP machine first. In fact I had the problem in both machines until I followed your instructions.
Perhaps I should uninstall on the XP machine and re-install using automatic install?
1. If you have set up a trusted zone, that should be enough. Is your router's IP in that zone? I don't have any special rules for my router.
Yes, the router is within the IP range of the Zone, both computers’ networking parameters are set up for dynamic IP addressing.
The router is a Westell 6100 DSL modem, and performs the functions of DNS server, Internet Gateway, NAT router, and firewall. The “home network” side IP address of the router is fixed at 192.168.1.254. The router generally assigns each network card it sees an IP address starting at 192.168.1.97, in decending order depending upon how many machines are connected to the switch. The modem/router only has two connections for the computer, ethernet or USB. I have had as many as four machines connected to it… 192.168.1.96, 95, 94 etc. through the switch.
@AOwL
I have not as yet set any special rules for the router. I was waiting for some advice first. So thanks for that. As far as the ICMP rejections are concerned, are these genuinely originating from within the router just to see if the two networked computers are still awake, or is the originating source IP masquerading as the IP address of the router/modem? If it is the former, then I see no reason not to allow the ICMP packet through. If it is the latter then, yes, reject it.
I am still very much on the learning curve, so this setting the rules stuff is all new to me, but at least I’m learning something.
Thanks for your help.
Hillbillycj