LAN between 2 XP Home Computers

Your question does not clearly state what you are trying
to achieve.

If you are trying to achieve file sharing and shared
internet access, the following applies;

I think that you would have more success if you tried to
trouble shoot this in steps.

My personal approach would be to first simplify it, then
build upon each success.

1. Turn off ICS, disable NIC to internet and reset TCP/IP
on both machines to obtain IP address and DNS server
address automatically. In the Acvanced properties of
TCP/IP, on the WINS tab, select Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.
- At this point can you ping B to A and A to B while
resolving the NetBIOS name?
ie: ping -a 169.254.75.6
The output should read;
Pinging kevinscpu [169.254.75.6]
Reply from 169.254.75.6

Keep working on step one until all three criteria are met
(A to B and B to A, name resolved and ping successful)

2. Enable and configure the NIC to the internet.
- Can you ping www.yahoo.com

Keep working on step 2 until it works.

3. Configure ICS

When you browse for the other computer, it will not show
up unless it is configured to share some resource, thus,
if nothing is shared, you will not see that computer.

-----Original Message-----
Computer #1 has XP Home and 2 on-board ethernet adapters,
each of which has been connected to the internet via
cable modem while the other was connected to #2 via
crossover cable.
Computer #2 also has XP Home, and has been connected to
#1 by two different brand new crossover cables.
Both computers have had this trouble-shooting:
- Manually configured network adapters to 100/full duplex.
- Re-installed network adapters.
- Removed all firewalls.
- TCP/IP is the only protocol.
- NetBIOS over TCP/IP enabled on both.
- There are shared files and drives.
- TCP/IP has been reset.
The network has been set up with/without ICS, and
with/without a bridge, both many times. Neither computer
can ping the other and they are not in the same subnet,
unless I manually configure #2's IP address to be in #1's
subnet. In that case, #1 can ping #2's IP address, but
not its name, and #2 still can not ping #1.
#1 always shows nothing in My Network Places, and is
always unable to View Workgroup Computers. #2 always
shows its own shared files and drives in My Network
Places, and in View Workgroup Computers it always shows
itself and sometimes shows computer #1's name and
description, but can not access its files.
When ICS is enabled on #1, its IPCONFIG shows "DHCP not
enabled," and #2 gets "Destination host unreachable."
They remain in different subnets.
Here are the results of IPCONFIG /ALL for both before
manually changing the address of #2.

#1
- IP Configuration:
Host name: Daddy
Primary DNS suffix: [blank]
Node type: unknown
IP routing enabled: Yes
WINS PRoxy enabled: No
- Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 5:
Connection-DNS suffix: socal.rr.com
Description: NVIDIA nForce MCP Networking adapter
Physical address: 00-E0-18-DF-B2-A4
Dhcp enabled: Yes
Autoconfiguration enabled: Yes
IP address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, DHCP server,
DNS servers [2] are all given for my internet connection.
Lease obtained: shows the next 24 hours.
- Ethernet adapter Local ARea Connection 2:
Connection-DNS suffix: [blank]
Description: 3Com Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller
Physical address: 00-26-54-08-19-E9
Dhcp enabled: No
IP address: 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: [blank]

#2
- IP configuration:
Host name: Jonathan
Primary DNS suffix: [blank]
Node type: Unknown
IP routing enabled: No
WINS proxy enabled: No
- Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:
Connection-DNS suffix: [blank]
Description: Realtek Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical address: 00-20-18-8E-C2-73
Dhcp enabled: Yes
Autoconfiguration enabled: Yes
Autoconfiguraion IP address: 169.254.75.6
Subnet MAsk: 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway: [blank]

I would appreciate any advice.
Thank you!
Dave
(Same problem as posted on 3/15, 3/17, 3/21, and 3/24/03.)
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