You don't have a DNS problem, because you don't have DNS on your home network. The only way you'll resolve anything by name is by broadcast. Period. You could, if you wanted to, edit the text files in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and lmhosts. You would type in IP addresses and names for all the computers on your home network.
thanks so much everyone. I fixed it. Here's what I had to do:
- add to the hosts file a line for each "local" ip address and associated host name
- add [workgroup name].NET as a domain name suffix
All these problems arose because of a switch in routers, from DLink 614+ to a Belkin Wireless G (because the latter supports 802.11g and WPA, and the former supports only WEP). Remote printing was working fine under the DLink, then stopped once I replaced it with the Belkin.
I thought the problems would disappear if I re-installed the DLink, but the problems remained. What's puzzling is that I didn't have to do all this stuff when I first put in the DLink. Is it possible that switching the router (which uses a different local address scheme, 192.168.2.1 instead of 192.168.0.1) could have clobbered the DNS suffix and hosts file (which maybe Windows DID put in automatically the first time I set up the network?)?
One final question: does an Apple MacBook have an counterpart for the hosts file. Also, will I have to tell it the domain name suffix? If so, where and how?
Thanks.