Volume cannot be mounted

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Hi All,
I know that there have been similar posts, so let me apologize in advance, but I have read through the previously mentioned advise in trying to solve my problem with no luck. So here goes hoping that someone has fresh insight...
I recently purchased a MBP and have been trying to transfer about 20 gigs of music and pictures and other various documents from my PC. The PC is connected to a router with an ethernet cable and the MBP is connected wirelessly.
I have tried to connect the two computers by enabling sharing on the PC and then using the "connect to server" function in Finder. I type in the smb:// followed by the name of my computer and then I am asked for a user name and password. I provide the name and PW for my PC and then I am provided with a list of shared folders. However, when I select the folder that I want to access, I always receive the error message "volume failed to mount". I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
A few more points: I have heard that the workgroup name between the two computers needs to be the same and that I should be able to specify the workgroup on my mac when entering the server information, however on my computer, there is no field to specify this. Further, I am unable to find a way to specify the workgroup anywhere else that has been suggested, such as under the "directory utilities app" in Finder. I don't know if this has anything to do with my problem or not.
I tried turning off the Windows Firewall on my PC, but I was still unable to connect the two computers.
I decided to "ping" the PC from the MBP, just to see if they could communicate at all. The results were normal.
Finally, when I first started using the MBP, in the Finder program my PC was listed on the left side column under "shared volumes" or something like that. However, it is longer there. Regardless, I was unable to connect the two computers even when the PC was listed, so I don't know if that is important or not.
Well, I've tried to provide all the relevant information in terms of what the problem is and what I've tried to do so far to correct it. If anyone has some insight for me, I'd really appreciate it.
 
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Just to update, after rereading a similar post on this forum, I went ahead and disabled my MBP firewall to see if that would allow me access to my PC. On disabling the firewall, my PC is once again found in the left side column of Finder under the heading "shared". When I click on the PC, it gives me a list of shared folders, but when I click on the folder that I want to open, I get the error message "The operation cannot be completed because the original item for "(shared folder name)" cannot be found."
Also interesting, the top of the finder window says that I am connected as "guest". If I click "connect as" and then enter my username and password for the PC, it keeps me connected as a guest, like the information I'm providing is somehow incorrect.
Once again, my thanks for considering my problem.
 
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Hi All,
Just another update, if you'll continue to humor me here...
I tried to direct connect the two machines with an ethernet cable, thinking that maybe somehow the router was the problem and was preventing the machines from accessing each other properly, but no luck there either.
Another observation is that whenever I am directed to enter my username and password, the default user name provided is always the MB username and not the PC username. This doesn't make sense to me, because I'm trying to log onto the PC and not the other way around, but it occurred to me that maybe I need to configure the PC to see the MB as a registered user?
Finally, through the "advanced" button in "network" in "system preferences", I was able, I think, to specify the workgroup name to match that of the PC, but that didn't seem to have any affect either, which is too bad since I had kind of pinned my hopes there.
In any event, if anyone has any bright ideas, even if they are a reach, I'd appreciate them. For now, I'm stuck transferring files over 2 gigs at a time.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Air 13" Ultimate (2010)
Forget about workgroups. If you open System Preferences / Sharing, you can enable File Sharing on your mac. Then you will also see the IP address of your mac in the subnet, provided it's connected to your router. When your PC is connected to the same router, you can use FileZilla on your PC to copy the files over to your mac. Under host, username and password, you fill in the aforementioned IP adress and the login credentials for your mac.
 
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I'm not sure what filezilla is, but is it absolutely necessary to have a program that "interprets" between the two platforms so that files can be shared between them? I tend to think that it isn't, because the PC is always being "discovered" by the Mac as a shared device or network. I don't understand why they communicate up until I want to open specific folders. Anyway, I appreciate the advice, but it bugs me that I can't just connect directly.
 

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