DigitalDancer

I've got a 1.67 GHz PowerBook G4 w/ 1.5 GB memory running OS 10.5.5 on a home network with another PowerBook (identical configuration & setup), a G5 desktop, and a PC running XP. My DSL connects to my wireless router which is hard wired to my two desktops. Back in April I set up my home network and got all of the computers talking to each other automatically. When I opened my PowerBook's Finder window I would see all of the computers under the "Shared" heading without having to search for them.

Back in October my PowerBook lost its ability to locate the PC unless I go to Go>Connect to server and found it via "smb://". That works okay, but it puts the PC as a shared drive on my desktop, which is kind of annoying. It took AppleCare techs an hour to figure out this workaround, and they couldn't figure out why my computer would suddenly stop locating only the PC while still connecting to the other Macs and the internet. The twin to this PowerBook still finds the PC automatically, and every setting I can think to check is identical to mine.

Three weeks ago my PowerBook stopped locating ANY computer on my network. I can get on the internet wirelessly and if I take my laptop to other locations I can even locate other networks. However, no matter what network I use, the twin can find my computer automatically, but my computer can't find any others. I went to Go>Connect to Server>Browse but it couldn't find any computers except the PC. It could only find the PC after I used the "connect to" command.

Today I added an old 400 MHz Pismo G3 to the network (OS 9.2.2 with an original AirPort card). All my computers see it except for -- you guessed it -- the problem PowerBook.

To top all of this off, my AppleCare plan expired on Christmas and I can't afford to pay for the extra time. Can anyone figure out why my computer is doing this? How can I get it to locate the other Macs again? Is there a way to get it to automatically locate the PC again?

Thank you!