MS windows network mischief

[passive energy 0]

I recently set up a small home network consisting of 4 pc's all running Win xp pro - basic specs below, in case it helps:

 

Internet & file server (always on 24/7):

AMDP2000+

MSI KM4ML mobo with 100 Mbit onboard NIC

768Mb ram

1 Mbit ADSL usb connection

Geforce 4, SBlive

1x 30 gig & 1x 80 gig hd

 

My Rig:

AMD XP3000+

Gigabyte 7400N PRO 2 with 1gig onboard NIC (set at 100Mbit)

1024Mb Ram

Radeon 9700pro & Audigy

240 Gig SATA Raid 0 + 1x 80 gig hd

 

Housemates rig:

P3 1gig

Abit BE6 Mobo

3COM PCI 100mbit NIC

768 Mb Ram

Geforce 4 & Sblive

60gig HD

 

Spare room Laptop!:

Toshiba Tecra 8100 on dockingstation with 100mb NIC

 

All 4 PC's are connected via a 5-way network switch with high quality cables...

 

Now onto my problem! The problem i have is accessesing other networked PCs over MS windows network... Upon first entering "my network places" all the pcs instantly appear as expected, then when you slect a pc all shared drives/folders appear instantly too, but when you actually enter a shared drive or folder on the chosen PC the explorer window will hang for about 10 minutes or more, then work as it should! But if you minimise the stuck window and open a fresh ie process and enter a network pc again all works fine!? Closing the previosuly opened network place just crashes ie and forces a lengthy desktop refresh.

As you can imagine going through this process is extremely annoying as we constantly access the other pcs hd's daily... This always happens on first access of another network pc on a fresh boot, regardless of how long your pc has been on for.

 

Also transferring multiple large files over the network sometimes results in bad ie crashes and a lengthy desktop refresh!

 

Though internet sharing has never been a problem, and operates fine regardless any MS windows network mischief!

 

All of the 4 PCs have been re-installed recently, and all software, drivers & OS is fully updated - the network was setup using the basic wizard, all ips are auto assigned and the network we all connect to is called network2000. I've tried forcing ip address but this doesnt help?

 

If anyone has any idea how to solve this annoyance i'd be most gratefull! I've been a competant PC user for years and all the above PC's have been built and setup by me, though i do admit im a newcomer to networking - this is the first network i've ever had a chance to play with so probably have a lot to learn in this area!

 

Cheers!

[Satman 0]

i found that each pc has to have user names of all the other pc's

so go to each pc and add users. (logins of other pc's on your network)

worked for me,hope this helps.