Shared files and network gone.

I had this problem before but it seemed to corrent itself. Not his time.

I have a small wired home network (2 laptops and 1 desktop) using an Inexq router and Windows XP Home SP2, Norton AV with XP firewall. Network ran perfect for months with ability to see and change shared files at will. The other day, one laptop decided to crap out. No network. Server service is working, files set to share but nothing shows up when wizard applied. Laptop doesn't appear on other machines either.

Use System Restore to restore the system back to a date before the problem occurred?

How to restore the operating system to a previous state in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084

Set System Restore to 1 week ago, then 2 weeks ago. Nothing. Then checked shared files and ran the network wizard. Nothing. Network still not there.

OK, the router may have gotten scrambled. unplug the power from the router for 15 seconds, then plug the power back in. Wait until everything is back up and try again. Doing that is called power cycling. Not unusual to have to do that with modems, routers and switches.

Thanx Train but tried that too bud. I've ran Norton, Spybot, disconnected and reconnected all hard connections, ran SFC, and ran wizards several times. No go.

Try a different port on the router. If that doesn't work, you could try a crossover cable and connect directly to another PC. Your network adapter could also have failed.

If the issue is with this laptop alone this would suggest an issue with either a windows update or a configuration change.Does the laptop still have access to other pcs on the network or is it isolated so that it can only get internet access?
Have you installed a new firewall and not configured it?
Recheck its allocated ip is in ths same range as the others [start/run cmd ipconfig /all] and that the network workgroup is the same as the rest i.e. MSHOME.

The two other pc's on the network do not see the affected one but it has internet access.
I'm using the Windows Firewall (didn't see a need for another) which at the moment is turned off as well as the others. I ran the ipconfig and it came back same as the others. I even switched the cables around. Workgroup on all pc's is "mshome". This is the only one that doesn't connect to the network.

I initially discovered the problem when I clicked on Network Places. When the window opened the 3 icons appeared (one for each shared folder on 3 machines) but immediately diappeared.

Each pc/laptop should have a different ip number in ipconfig if all of them are up at the same time.

Sounds like DHCP is disabled in the router.

Try opening a command window [start/run CMD] and input the following commands followed by enter and see if it helps
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Ok, just to update.... I tried the "ipconfig" thing. Didn't work. So, after decoming totally disheartened, I put in my XP disk and replaced the Windows folder (bottom option on disk). I updated everything and my network works perfect.

Does this raise any red flags to you folks? What did that do exactly?

Try a different connection on the router. Maybe on a messed up port right now.