new computer file transfer probs

[SuperGenius]

Dad got a new laptop, and I need to transfer his documents from the old one onto the new one.

But, I think my difficulties result from a larger problem....

All of my pcs here have xppro and are connected to a lan. They can all access the internet, and print on the network-attatched printer.
File sharing works well between any combination of computers that does not include the laptop in question.

However, the old laptop won't show itself on the network.
I've searched all over, and tried the following:

*turn off simple file sharing
*set permissions to full control
*disable AV (norton, yuck)
*change workgroup names (they're all the same)
*pagan ritual

This laptop was dad's for work, so he took it places and had it tinkered with by geeks at work to connect to their network, so idk what they might
have done.

If I map a network drive on the old laptop, I can transfer files to a hard drive on another computer, but it craps out when it hits a corrupt file, none of which can even be opened on the old laptop.

Summary:

1. computer is not visible on the network
2. corrupt files that can't be opened or deleted- I can zap them with a little vb program I made that uses a "killfile" command or something like that
3. do you know of any more effective backup/ transfer solutions? (I have ghost 9.0, but I'm not a fan, and I don't know if it would allow me to make backup files on one computer and restore them on another.

I'm trying to tidy this computer up so I can format it and start over, but it's putting up a good fight.....


thanks.

any ideas?

[rdrake]

Set up an FTP server on one of the networked machines, and install an FTP client on the evil laptop. Transfer all files to the server and that should just about do it. Easiest way to do it when you're stuck with windows.

One little warning though, ensure that all files were copied, particularly important ones. Sometimes FTP misses some files.

[codemage]

You didn't explicitly mention what OS / File system is on the laptop. Is it XP too?