Can't connect computers via afp

[freshnet]

I am running two Macs with OS X 10.5.8 on both. Until recently I was able to browse between the two and use remote sharing, however this no longer works. Nothing shows up in 'network' in Finder, and if I try to connect to the computer by name, I get an instant 'connection failed' message with error code 36 and the following text: 'The Finder cannot complete the operation because some data in "afp://......" could not be read or written.'

I've also tried connecting to one of the items in my 'servers' recent items list, and that doesn't work either (no error message is generated).

I am thinking this may be a router-related problem as our router recently had its firmware upgraded, but I have no idea where to start troubleshooting. Both computers are on the same wireless network and the signal is strong. I can ping between both computers without issue. Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I am having the same problem!

2 Macs, one running 10.5.8, the other 10.6.7... and they refuse to connect to each other over AFP. They'll discover each other just fine, though.

 

[JediMeister]

Disable and re-enable File Sharing in Sharing preferences, check under Options to make sure AFP is enabled, and ultimately check that both computers share the same subnet and are in the same IP address range (i.e. on same network)

 

[freshnet]

Thanks JediMeister! I repaired the permissions on both machines, made the changes you suggested and rebooted them both, and it's working again now. Thanks again!

 

[freshnet]

Looks like I spoke too soon... sort of. So now I know how to make the screen sharing option appear again, but I am still having connection issues. This is definitely router related, but every time the connection problem happens, I have to go to both computers and reset the screen sharing option, and even then it won't always work.

When I try to connect in Screen Sharing to computer A, I'll either get a message like 'could not connect, make sure screen sharing is turned on', or it will connect but the screen doesn't update and I can't actually do anything. If I ping the router from computer B, it's fast. If I ping computer A from computer B, it's slightly slower but still OK. However if I ping computer B from computer A, or ping the router from computer A, both are extremely slow. This is strange to me because computer A is actually closer to the router and through less walls than B.

If I look on the router, it doesn't even list computer A as a DHCP client, but it is because there's no other way for it to get an IP from that router, and by itself it has normal web access, so that may be a bug in the router software.... actually I looked in the list of wireless clients and it lists both machines. The only difference I see is that computer A is in n mode, and computer B is in g mode, and computer A is showing a much lower rate of 1M whereas B has 54M.

Any thoughts? Please let me know if I should go elsewhere for more assistance on this!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Looks like I spoke too soon... sort of. So now I know how to make the screen sharing option appear again, but I am still having connection issues. This is definitely router related, but every time the connection problem happens, I have to go to both computers and reset the screen sharing option, and even then it won't always work.

When I try to connect in Screen Sharing to computer A, I'll either get a message like 'could not connect, make sure screen sharing is turned on', or it will connect but the screen doesn't update and I can't actually do anything. If I ping the router from computer B, it's fast. If I ping computer A from computer B, it's slightly slower but still OK. However if I ping computer B from computer A, or ping the router from computer A, both are extremely slow. This is strange to me because computer A is actually closer to the router and through less walls than B.

If I look on the router, it doesn't even list computer A as a DHCP client, but it is because there's no other way for it to get an IP from that router, and by itself it has normal web access, so that may be a bug in the router software.... actually I looked in the list of wireless clients and it lists both machines. The only difference I see is that computer A is in n mode, and computer B is in g mode, and computer A is showing a much lower rate of 1M whereas B has 54M.

Any thoughts? Please let me know if I should go elsewhere for more assistance on this!

One of your computers is being forced all the way down to 802.11b compatibility mode. Investigate the cause of this, first - that speed will severely limit your ability to share files/screens.

One other thing to consider: Check your network setup. I've found that, oddly enough, if both computers trying to share files have wired (Ethernet) connections to the network, all is well. If I try the same thing with one or both computers wireless, it fails, every time. I believe this situation is caused by the way my home network is configured. Here is a summary of how I connect to the Internet:

Cable Modem -> Router -> Switch -> WAP (if wirelessly connected) -> Devices

The router is a plain old wired router, and the switch isn't anything special either. There are 2 WAPs in use: 1 is an AirPort Extreme that creates a password-protected and encrypted wireless network for most devices to use; 2 is a Time Capsule that creates an unencrypted, but MAC address-restricted wireless network for my gaming consoles, which don't like the encryption used by the first network for some odd reason.