Networks

[Andreas]

How can i create a network with two windows xp machines?
I connected both of my pcs with a ethernet cable which is
specially made to support two computers networking
together without the use of a hub. After I connected
them, i switched both of the machines on and i typed in a
manual address for both of the computer and created a
workgroup. The strange thing is that when i turn my
computers on, when one of them is in windows, it says
that it has connected to the network when the other
computer hasnt even got into windows, is that okay? It
seems that they are connected but i cannot find any of
the computers in My Network Places and when i ping any of
the addresses it just returns request time out

 

[Dusty Harper {MS}]

1) Verify that you are using a cross over cable.
2) Verify that the IPs exist on the same subnet by looking at the subnet
mask

When troubleshooting, try to ping each of the machines by IP. If this
doesn't work, then you either have a Physical problem ( i.e cable or nics ).
a Data Link problem ( i.e NICs have same MACs ) or a Network problem ( i.e.
the IP addresses are not on the same subnet ).

After you are able to Ping by IP, you can try to Ping by Name. this will
fail if you have no means of resolving the names to IPs. NetBIOS name
resolution is normally doing this for you on simple networks. If not, you
can edit your Hosts file to resolve the names (
%WinDIr%\System32\Drivers\Etc ).

As for one link showing that it is up before the other finishes booting,
this is OK. The link will come up as soon as it receives the proper signals
from the other end. ( The TCP/IP stack starts early on in boot up ).