"niteowl" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I'm helping a friend via telephone trouble shoot setting up a network
on Win98SE,

he has installed 2 new NIC cards, both D-links (if that matters), the
software installs okay, the system detects the card on bootup and then
has him reboot. lights are working on the card, on the router, etc.

When he went into Network Neighborhood, his computer shows up as
"Main" which is what he named it, but will not find the mapped drives
to his other machine (a laptop running XP Home)

Wnen going to Control Panel/Network the four items he needs are
showing, "Client for Windows, the adapter, TCP/IP and File and Print
Sharing". In the Device Manager, the network card shows up properly
identified, but will not connect either to the internet through the
cable modem or to the laptop.

Everything looks to be installed correctly, we have both done this
many times, so this is baffling. He has switched cables around to
make sure the cables are all functioning, they are. He has tried each
of the ports on the NetGear router, they all work with the laptop
getting internet access, he has switched slots that the NIC card sits
in in his desktop machine, and it doesn't work in any of them. He has
formatted and reinstalled windows twice now, same problem.

the last time he "updated the drivers" he then lost the ability to see
even his local machine.

We dont' know what else to check. I suggested he try yet another card
if he has one, but I don't really think that will make a difference.

What else could be wrong?

thanks for any help, the phone lines are active.. :-) waiting for a
some help..

niteowl

Maybe a typo on your behalf , but you need Client for Microsoft
Networks, not client for windows
Two utilities to use from start run command window are ipconfig & ping

1. ipconfig will show your current setup

2. if all appears OK with IP address's then try ping from each member
of the Work Group to see if they are reachable.

For help with ipconfig & ping enter ipconfig /? ping /? in the command
window
rgds
Li'l Roberto