freddie & Kelly,

I had the same problem! I also looked through posts and tried various
suggestions. I have XP SP2 on one end of my home network and Win98 on the
other.

Here's how I solved the problem. It's a workaround. Microsoft seems
committed to TCP/IP, but IPX can be used for local networks just fine. I
added the IPX/SPX protocol to both machines. I also made sure that NetBIOS
was added for the IPX on both machines. Then I went into the IPX/SPX
properties, advanced tab, and I set the frame type to 802.2 on both
machines. You could also use 802.3 on both, but they must be the same. I
rebooted and my local shares came up just fine!

Give this a try.

Ken