10.6 computer not showing up on network

I have a very similar problem. I am sharing my internet connection from a mini (running 10.5) via airport to my iMac (running 10.6). I also have 2 printers, one wireless HP 6500, and 1 USB connected Epson, which is connected to the mini and shared. After a couple of days, the mini will not appear in the finder on the iMac, and the iMac does not show up on the mini. The internet still works via the internet sharing on the iMac. Also neither printer will print from the iMac, both print servers stall looking for the printer. This is usually how I discover the problem. So far the only fix I have found is to reboot the iMac at which point the mini will show up again in finder, and both printers work great again. I have been racking my brain trying to figure this out. Reading through all the console logs isn't very helpful to me with my limited knowledge of Apple's workings. I'm an Apple guy so I dont have to be a techie to make things work, but the weekly reboot is annoying especially when it comes up right when I'm trying to print something. Any help would be appreciated.

Message was edited by: belanfam

Not Seeing Other Computers in Finder Window > Shared on Sno Machine

This problem is very common under Snow. At first my shares did not show up under shared in finder windows. I, then, of course, used connect to server to connect to the shares--both Mac and PC. I found that the more I kept the shares active the more likely they were show up under shared. Then, I discovered that if I kept the computers from sleeping during the period of needed access they would tend to stay in shared without nearly so much keeping the connections active.

If you do not like the above work around, then there are two other possibilities. You can elect to show mounted items on your desktop. Do that and connect to each share. Then, go > users > unlock > + login options > try dragging the mounted shares to the login item window. If successful, then the shares should be available at login. Try at your risk; I have not tried this solution.

Another approach is to mount and connect as indicated above. Then, making an alias to the share should at least make things faster.

Other Computers Can't See or Connect to Sno Machine

I am not sure how common this problem is. I have not had it. All my Win machines see my Sno machine in "Network" and connect to it easily. Here are the settings I use.

On the Sno machine,

1. Go System Preferences > Sharing > Check File sharing > Go Options > Enable SMB sharing.
2. Go System Preferences > Network > Select Airport or Ethernet depending on what you are going to be using. I am assuming you will be using wireless below. Let me know if not true.
3. Having selected Airport, select ask to join new networks and show Airport status in menu bar.
4. Click advanced > Click remember networks this computer has joined > Click Wins > Enter the ip address of your Win machine in the WINS server box > Enter the Win's workgroup name in the workbook box unless it already is there (look in the drop down menu too). Check on the Win machine for the workgroup name if you need to.
5. Restart (probably not necessary, but I’d do it).

Just chiming in with a "me too" thing. Any additional information?

My particular situation is existing network XP Pro box, iMac and PowerMac G4. All visible to each other, as well as iPod Touch that uses Readdle to allow file transfer.

Just added a MacBook with Snow Leopard 10.6.2, and none of these other existing machines is visible in the Finder.

The internet connection works fine, iTunes can see the shared library off other machines, but the actual drive is not visible to connect to.

Any helpful info?

I have found that rebooting the offending machine works, or you can create an apple script that follows the instructions below to connect to a server. I just manually do that. I find the ip address from the menumeters display at the top of my screen, but it is available in the network preferences area as well.