I would be grateful for help in sorting out an odd
networking problem between 2 PCs, both running Windows XP
Home SP1.

PC1 is a desktop with 1800MHz Athlon, 1GB RAM, D-Link DFE-
530TX PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter (rev.C) with driver
version 3.9.0.342 dated 25/06/2002.

PC2 is a laptop with 366MHz Pentium 2, 160MB RAM, Xircom
CreditCard Ethernet 10/100 + Modem with driver version
2.70.2.0 dated 01/07/2001.

I ran the XP home network wizard with PC1 as master
allowing internet access via modem, then ran this on PC2.
Everything appeared OK. PC1 gained the IP address
192.168.0.1 and PC2 192.168.0.15

The PCs are connected with a crossover cable. The network
cards are both reporting working OK. In PC1 Network
Connections, the LAN is enabled. In PC2 Network
Connections, the LAN is enabled, and the Internet Gateway
is showing correctly (on PC1). There is traffic between
the PCs shown on both Local Area Connection Status
windows. PC2 tries successfully to use PC1 dial out
modem, but no internet traffic gets through.

When I ping PC1 from either PC, I get a time out, but
when I ping PC2 from either PC I get a <1ms reply. Both
PCs are not able to see shared directories on the other.

So there appears to be a problem with the PC1 network
card, yet it reports itself as working fine with up to
date drivers, and is able to ping PC2. Or could it be the
crossover cable?

Any suggestions on how to find out how to fix the problem
would be most appreciated.

Thank you
Chris

Hiya Chris,

Several things here,

1) Firstly, we encourage generally that home networks be set up using some
form of hub/switch or router, simply because it's easier to do, and
relatively cost effective and usually provides more reliable results.

2) What protocols do you have configured? We understand that TCP/IP is
there, but is NETBIOS over TCP/IP enabled on both machines?

3) Does either machine have a firewall enabled (eg. Internet Connection
Firewall) as this may be blocking traffic from ping/file sharing etc.

4) Check to make sure that when you ping your machines that you are using
the hostname, rather than the IP. If only using the IP, it could appear to
be working, but there may be name resolution issues that are not apparent
from this method that are stopping other applications from functioning
correctly

Hope these help,

--
Dean Cornish
This post is to be considered "AS IS" and confers no rights or
responsibilities.


"Chris R" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1276b01c3f62d$afcced70$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I would be grateful for help in sorting out an odd
> networking problem between 2 PCs, both running Windows XP
> Home SP1.
>
> PC1 is a desktop with 1800MHz Athlon, 1GB RAM, D-Link DFE-
> 530TX PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter (rev.C) with driver
> version 3.9.0.342 dated 25/06/2002.
>
> PC2 is a laptop with 366MHz Pentium 2, 160MB RAM, Xircom
> CreditCard Ethernet 10/100 + Modem with driver version
> 2.70.2.0 dated 01/07/2001.
>
> I ran the XP home network wizard with PC1 as master
> allowing internet access via modem, then ran this on PC2.
> Everything appeared OK. PC1 gained the IP address
> 192.168.0.1 and PC2 192.168.0.15
>
> The PCs are connected with a crossover cable. The network
> cards are both reporting working OK. In PC1 Network
> Connections, the LAN is enabled. In PC2 Network
> Connections, the LAN is enabled, and the Internet Gateway
> is showing correctly (on PC1). There is traffic between
> the PCs shown on both Local Area Connection Status
> windows. PC2 tries successfully to use PC1 dial out
> modem, but no internet traffic gets through.
>
> When I ping PC1 from either PC, I get a time out, but
> when I ping PC2 from either PC I get a <1ms reply. Both
> PCs are not able to see shared directories on the other.
>
> So there appears to be a problem with the PC1 network
> card, yet it reports itself as working fine with up to
> date drivers, and is able to ping PC2. Or could it be the
> crossover cable?
>
> Any suggestions on how to find out how to fix the problem
> would be most appreciated.
>
> Thank you
> Chris