A networking nightmare

[Guest]

Last Sunday I tried to network my desktop computer with my husband's laptop
computer so that I could move some important files from the laptop to the
desktop to troubleshoot the modem on the laptop. The networking attempt was
NOT successful. The problem is that now the desktop is having trouble
connecting to the internet. The computer always connects; sometimes I get no
homepage; sometimes I get a white screen as if the page is trying to open,
but does not. The screen then opens when I disconnect from the internet. If
no page opens, I can do nothing else on the computer except restart. And
restarting does not always solve the problem. I have run Adaware and found
nothing interesting. I have run scandisk and defragmented the disk. I have
run various tools from Norton Systemworks. I have run various virus scans
that have shown nothing I tried to do a system restore to a point before I
tried to network the computers but that was not successful (in fact I tried
more than one and none were successful). I even uninstalled and reinstalled
my ISP software and am still getting the same thing. This was not an issue
until I tried to network. Although I am running a firewall, I am concerned
about security (as well as being able to connect to the internet). Any ideas
about what to try next?

In addition, after the networking attempt, I discovered that icons that
normally appeared in the taskbar had disappeared. Setting them up to appear
always has not changed anything. They now appear after restarting less than
25% of the time.

These issues may not be related although they both began at the same time

 

[Paul]

How are you connected to the net?? Dialup or hispeed?

And what are you using to try and network the desktop and laptop?
ethernet? wireless? And what firewall do you have/are you using?

XP's/Zonealarm/other?

And what operating systems are on both the laptop and desktop?
98? xp?

If it's ethernet, are you using a ethernet hub, or crossover cable?

And which pc is the main one (which one was, or is connected to the
Internet)? 98se or higher can only use ICS so another PC can get onto
the net. Is ICS enabled on the main PC??

With the file sharing, is file / printer sharing enabled on both PC's??

And the workgroups for both the same? And both PC's have ip addresses
like 192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.2 or similar.

 

[Guest]

How are you connected to the net?? Dialup or hispeed?

We have dialup

And what are you using to try and network the desktop and laptop?
ethernet? wireless? And what firewall do you have/are you using?
Ethernet

XP's/Zonealarm/other?

Norton Personal Firewall

And what operating systems are on both the laptop and desktop?
98? xp?

Both are XP

If it's ethernet, are you using a ethernet hub, or crossover cable?
Cable

And which pc is the main one (which one was, or is connected to the
Internet)? 98se or higher can only use ICS so another PC can get onto
the net. Is ICS enabled on the main PC??

Both computers can connect to internet. Main computer, I suppose, is the
desktop. Don't want to share internet connection though. Never did. Just
want to transfer files from the laptop to the desktop so that I can
troubleshoot the modem on the laptop

With the file sharing, is file / printer sharing enabled on both PC's?? Yes

And the workgroups for both the same? And both PC's have ip addresses
like 192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.2 or similar.

Workgroups are the same. IP addresses are similar. I have done this before
with a hub (when both computers were running 98SE). Don't know what I did
wrong this time. Just know that now the internet connection for the desktop
is sketchy at best.

And it gets better (or worse) . The laptop cannot boot into windows.
Whether I try a repair through the recovery consol or through install, I get
a message saying that the computer cannot find the hard drive.

Now when trying to boot from XP CD the message is "INF file txtsetup.sif is
corrupt or missing, status 32976.

The issues are not networking the computers....just what has happened from
trying to do that. Yikes!

 

[Paul]

Ok If Norton Personal firewall is like Norton Internet Security
is there an option, like Home Networking ?? Where you can
add the ip address (like 192.168.0.0 / mask 255.255.255.0)
of the PC that has it on?? Is Personal Firewall on both or just
the main / one PC?

The only thing you can try, is double click on my computer/tools/folder
options/view and tick Use Simple file sharing (bottom of the options).

This will save you adding each other as guests on the desktop and
laptop. Do this on both the desktop and laptop.

Double click on the LAN icons/properties/TCP/IP/properties.
What are BOTH on?? Obtain an IP, or Use the following ip address?

If on obtain an ip automatically, CHANGE BOTH to Use the following ip
address. Enter 192.168.0.1 on the main one subnet 255.255.255.0
and on the connected one 192.168.0.2 or whatever. Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Default gateway 192.168.0.1 amd preferred DNS server 192.168.0.1.

 

[Guest]

Both computers are running Norton Personal Firewall. I'll try what you
suggest as soon as I get the laptop working again. I can't get past the
message from before "INF file txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing, status
32976." And I still have the concern with my internet connection on the
desktop. Since I don't know what I did to get it this way, I don't know what
to do to get it back to the way it was.

 

[Paul]

Hmm looks like this is a common prob with laptops
with XP.

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20826126.html

Has something about this error, BUT a different status #

You could try whats down the bottom of this page.

 

[Guest]

That will cost $10.00. Don't know if I want to pay that yet. Think I might
have the internet connection woes fixed. Have to connect a few times to see.