Intermittent connectivity on home network

Have a Win 8.1 PC and Win 10 laptop which can see each other at all times on the home network but only once in a while actually display each other's files and/or transfer files from one to the other. Just now the PC can display the laptop's Homegroup items (but not full C:\ listing), but not vice versa. Either computer can access the internet just fine at all times whether or not there's a working connection between them. Running default troubleshooter on either computer gives no useful information other than "seems to be configured correctly." Files transferred via sneakernet will work but it's obviously a hassle.

After reviewing Sportflyer's thread (seemed a similar problem) I disabled SMB1 on both the PC and the laptop. After rebooting, each could display the other's shared content via File Explorer. This morning, after booting up, SMB1 was still disabled in the PC but apparently had re-enabled itself on the laptop. I again disabled SMB1 on the laptop, rebooted & all was fine; I could transfer and open files in either direction. Went to snowblow the driveway ~¾ hour. Upon return, (both machines merely sitting idle) the PC could see the laptop but the laptop could not see the PC. The laptop's SMB1 was still unchecked. I rebooted it and it could then see the PC shared contents; SMB1 seems to have stayed unchecked. Lot of hoop-jumping just to have a simple home network. Suggestions?