Never finishes connecting

I have 2 W7 computers which I am trying to get to work together on a homegroup. They are connected to a router and both are capable of internet access with no trouble. They both show up in the network map of the network and sharing centre. One of the computers reports that it is connected to a homegroup. When I try to "Join Homegroup" from the other computer it asks me for the password (obtained from the Homegroup joined computer) and when I enter it the progress bar starts to move to show that it is doing something....and that is it. The requester just keeps on showing progress bar movement for ever. No error, no connection, nothing. The OTHER computer just says that there are no other people in the homegroup. Grrrrrr. I thought this was supposed to be easy!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated before I pull my remaining hair out.:eek:
Cheers