XP network, PC not showing...

Thank you for wanting to read into these groups and providing any useful
answers!

My problem is the following: I run Windows XP Media Center edition SP2 on my
PC and Windows XP Home edition SP3 on my netbook.

When I connect both with a (Crossover) lan cable, I set up a network between
them. My (ADSL, USB-modem) internet connection gets shared right away, so on
my netbook I can go online too. (don't have wireless router yet). Now, I have
two minor problems happening...

First: When my netbook automatically goes in standby and I put it back on,
there seems to be a problem with the LAN (and thus, the
internet-)connection... connection beint limited or non-existent. Rebooting
sometimes does help, but mostly it doesn't...

Secondly: I don't seem to get a real connection between the both computers.
There must be a network between them, since I can use the internet connection
from the PC on my netbook (or am I wron on that one?) but in the "workgroup"
my netbook only 'sees' itself (and not the PC) and the PC doesn't even see
itself. there are several folders shared on the pc, and in the firewall
settings I set sharing as an exeption...
So far I transferred files between both computers with flash-drives and hard
drives (and small files even through my email-account, since the internet
connection is the one that does work...). It would be nice tough to be able
to work on files located on the other machine (since I do a fair amount of
photo-editing on my PC, but the files should stay on my netbook. So far I
just transferred them from netbook to pc; then edited and then transferred
them back. (photo-editing on a small screen is just impossible ;-) )

thanks again for any usefol commentaries or advice. I hope I provided enough
necessary information. (oh, and yes, I did try to find an answer to my
problem in these groups and elsewhere online before making this post...)