iMac can't browse MacBook Pro on the network

LarryMcJ

Registered
I know there are still problems in networking with Leopard, but this is basic networking and still doesn't work. I'm an experienced computer user, own a computing business, and "thought" I was well-versed in networking (obviously not <g>).

I have an iMac and a MBP on my home office network, both wirelessl connected to an Airport Extreme, and with Tiger both worked perfectly. I upgraded both machines to Leopard at the same time and ever since I've not been able to browse the MBP from the iMac. BOTH machines are shared absolutely identically in Preferences, including all settings under "Options".

On the MBP the iMac shows up as it should automatically in the Finder and when opened, display the shared contents of the iMac perfectly. On the iMac the MBP does show up in the Finder, but when opened just sits there "connecting" and never displays the shared contents of the MBP.

Even more oddly, I "can" connect from the iMac to the MBP using afp://192.168.1.XX and then it display the login credentials dialog box...I add them, tick the "Save to Keychain" and it then properly displays the shared contents of the MBP. This is the only way I can browse the MBP...it never just opens up automatically like the MBP opens up the iMac shared files.

But like a bad infocommercial...it gets better! When I do browse the MBP using afp://192.168.1.XX it displays the following (as it should per the sharing preferences):

larrymcjunkin - Home
MacIntosh HD - Obvious
Untitled - Boot Camp partition for Windows Vista
USB Drive - Directly connected USB drive

Now...when I open "larrymcjunkin" it displays the contents proplerly. But if I close the Finder and open the shared MBP again, I am forced to use the "Go To afp://192.168.1.XX" procedure again, but it then displays the same four items above, but "larrymcjunkin" is now grayed out and I can't open it. If I then open "MacIntosh HD" it opens just fine (but again I'm forced to use the "Go To afp://192.168.1.XX" procedure)...I can browse it...but if I close the Finder and reopen it, the "MacIntosh HD" is also grayed out and I can't browse it. Same scenario for the last two shared entries until I have all four shared items on the MBP now grayed out and not accessible from the iMac.

On the MBP...everything just works. The iMac shared items are in the Finder anytime I want them, but from the iMac it just doesn't work. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

LarryMcJ
 
Just in case someone else is having this same problem, I finally gave up and called Apple Care, and they figured it out.

Somehow, something got munged in the Finder preferences. The fix was simply going to Home|Library|Preferences and deleting "com.apple.finder.plist" then logging off and back on again. Instantly everything was fixed.

LarryMcJ
 
Just in case someone else is having this same problem, I finally gave up and called Apple Care, and they figured it out.

Somehow, something got munged in the Finder preferences. The fix was simply going to Home|Library|Preferences and deleting "com.apple.finder.plist" then logging off and back on again. Instantly everything was fixed.

LarryMcJ

Thanks. I know someone who is having the same issue. I let him know.
 
I've had goofy problems like this, even b4 Leopard. I'll try trashing the Finder prefs. Shoulda thought of that.

Doug
 
I tried doing that, I deleted all the caches and all the preferences, deleted all the connections in Network preferences and it still did not fix it.
 
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