Windows XP/98SE simple network setup problems

For years I've had a simple little network at my home consisting of
two Windows 98SE PCs, and it worked fine. Both PCs had Netgear FA310TX
NICs (driver version 4.02) hooked up to a Netgear EN104 10Base/T hub.
Well, one of the PCs died recently, and I replaced it with a new
machine running Windows XP Home Edition. It has an on-board Realtek
RTL8139 NIC. After struggling for a full day I've been unsuccessful
even getting the machines to see each other, let alone share anything.
The root of the problem is that they can't even ping each other.

Both machines have addresses in the 169.254.*.* range. Both are in the
same workgroup. Both are sharing various folders. The link lights on
the hub ports are on steady, which would seem to indicate that I have
connectivity between the machines and the hub. And the activity lights
on the hub ports blink periodically, which would seem to indicate that
the hub is seeing traffic from both machines.

I do not have a firewall, and I've made sure that I've disabled the
Internet Connection Firewall (at least I *think* I have).

At one point during all my tinkering, when I did a "find computer"
search from the Start menu, I was able to "see" the other computer,
although it did not show up in My Network Places. However, when I
tried to access it by clicking on the icon, I got a message that said
that I didn't have permission to access the shares (although they are
configured to be wide open). After further tinkering, now it doesn't
even show up in "find computer".

So, I'm really stumped about what to try next. Should I ditch the
Netgear card in my 98SE machine and replace it with something else? If
so, what? Should I ditch the Realtek card? By the way, I already tried
sticking the FA310TX card from the old machine into the XP box, and
that didn't help; the card *was* recognized, but it didn't solve my
problem.

This really should be very simple; it's just two computers plugged
into a simple hub. Primarily I'd like to be able to share files and
printers, and ultimately share a dial-up Internet connection (that's a
lower priority). Right now I can't do anything at all.

Bob Marshall

In article ,
(Bob Marshall) wrote:
For years I've had a simple little network at my home consisting of
two Windows 98SE PCs, and it worked fine. Both PCs had Netgear FA310TX
NICs (driver version 4.02) hooked up to a Netgear EN104 10Base/T hub.
Well, one of the PCs died recently, and I replaced it with a new
machine running Windows XP Home Edition. It has an on-board Realtek
RTL8139 NIC. After struggling for a full day I've been unsuccessful
even getting the machines to see each other, let alone share anything.
The root of the problem is that they can't even ping each other.

Both machines have addresses in the 169.254.*.* range. Both are in the
same workgroup. Both are sharing various folders. The link lights on
the hub ports are on steady, which would seem to indicate that I have
connectivity between the machines and the hub. And the activity lights
on the hub ports blink periodically, which would seem to indicate that
the hub is seeing traffic from both machines.

I do not have a firewall, and I've made sure that I've disabled the
Internet Connection Firewall (at least I *think* I have).

At one point during all my tinkering, when I did a "find computer"
search from the Start menu, I was able to "see" the other computer,
although it did not show up in My Network Places. However, when I
tried to access it by clicking on the icon, I got a message that said
that I didn't have permission to access the shares (although they are
configured to be wide open). After further tinkering, now it doesn't
even show up in "find computer".

So, I'm really stumped about what to try next. Should I ditch the
Netgear card in my 98SE machine and replace it with something else? If
so, what? Should I ditch the Realtek card? By the way, I already tried
sticking the FA310TX card from the old machine into the XP box, and
that didn't help; the card *was* recognized, but it didn't solve my
problem.

This really should be very simple; it's just two computers plugged
into a simple hub. Primarily I'd like to be able to share files and
printers, and ultimately share a dial-up Internet connection (that's a
lower priority). Right now I can't do anything at all.

Bob Marshall


Your message made me nostalgic, Bob, because I set up my very first
Windows network using a Netgear kit that consisted of two FA310TX
cards and an EN104 hub. I still have all that gear, and the FA310TX
cards have worked perfectly in every version of Windows from 95
through XP.

Ethernet is standardized, so every maker's card will work with every
other maker's card. There would be no benefit to replacing either the
Netgear or the Realtek (unless they're defective).

With the EN104 hub, the cards need to use 10 Mb speed and half duplex
mode. You might have to make those settings manually. I've written a
web page with details:

Windows XP Network Troubleshooting - Problems with Network Cards
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...etworkcard.htm

Once the computers are pinging each other, make sure that NetBIOS over
TCP/IP is enabled on both of them to support file and printer sharing:

Enable NetBIOS Over TCP/IP (NetBT)
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...hoot/netbt.htm
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional - Windows Networking
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

Steve Winograd's Networking FAQ
http://www.bcmaven.com/networking/faq.htm

Bob Marshall wrote:

snip
At one point during all my tinkering, when I did a "find computer"
search from the Start menu, I was able to "see" the other computer,
although it did not show up in My Network Places. However, when I
tried to access it by clicking on the icon, I got a message that said
that I didn't have permission to access the shares (although they are
configured to be wide open).
snip

Instead of "wide open" try permitting the share specifically to your
user name. I've found that what looks like "wide open" really isn't
(e.g. permitting a share to "Everyone" might just permit it to the user
named "Everyone")

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .

www.careyholzman.com/netfixes.htm

Tip #1 on all PC's

Carey

"Bob Marshall" wrote in message
om...
For years I've had a simple little network at my home consisting of
two Windows 98SE PCs, and it worked fine. Both PCs had Netgear FA310TX
NICs (driver version 4.02) hooked up to a Netgear EN104 10Base/T hub.
Well, one of the PCs died recently, and I replaced it with a new
machine running Windows XP Home Edition. It has an on-board Realtek
RTL8139 NIC. After struggling for a full day I've been unsuccessful
even getting the machines to see each other, let alone share anything.
The root of the problem is that they can't even ping each other.

Both machines have addresses in the 169.254.*.* range. Both are in the
same workgroup. Both are sharing various folders. The link lights on
the hub ports are on steady, which would seem to indicate that I have
connectivity between the machines and the hub. And the activity lights
on the hub ports blink periodically, which would seem to indicate that
the hub is seeing traffic from both machines.

I do not have a firewall, and I've made sure that I've disabled the
Internet Connection Firewall (at least I *think* I have).

At one point during all my tinkering, when I did a "find computer"
search from the Start menu, I was able to "see" the other computer,
although it did not show up in My Network Places. However, when I
tried to access it by clicking on the icon, I got a message that said
that I didn't have permission to access the shares (although they are
configured to be wide open). After further tinkering, now it doesn't
even show up in "find computer".

So, I'm really stumped about what to try next. Should I ditch the
Netgear card in my 98SE machine and replace it with something else? If
so, what? Should I ditch the Realtek card? By the way, I already tried
sticking the FA310TX card from the old machine into the XP box, and
that didn't help; the card *was* recognized, but it didn't solve my
problem.

This really should be very simple; it's just two computers plugged
into a simple hub. Primarily I'd like to be able to share files and
printers, and ultimately share a dial-up Internet connection (that's a
lower priority). Right now I can't do anything at all.

Bob Marshall

Hi
First of all try to give the computers new IP address
IP- XP-192.168.0.1 Win98-192.168.0.2 Netmask 255.255.255.0
Getway (if you have Router you have to set it also to
something with 192.168.0.x in the internal side)and then
give the PC's the IP of the router.
if you don't have a router give the PC the same IP he have
as a Getway.

chek to see if you have ping from pc1 to pc2.
if you don't have -- (the FW is still on or something with
hardware is bed-cable-hub-router)
if you have a ping -- check what is the username you are
using in the 98 and add to the XP the username and
password. (add the user to a group called administrators)

after this thing have to work
I hope for you
Good luck


-----Original Message-----
For years I've had a simple little network at my home
consisting of
two Windows 98SE PCs, and it worked fine. Both PCs had
Netgear FA310TX
NICs (driver version 4.02) hooked up to a Netgear EN104
10Base/T hub.
Well, one of the PCs died recently, and I replaced it
with a new
machine running Windows XP Home Edition. It has an on-
board Realtek
RTL8139 NIC. After struggling for a full day I've been
unsuccessful
even getting the machines to see each other, let alone
share anything.
The root of the problem is that they can't even ping each
other.

Both machines have addresses in the 169.254.*.* range.
Both are in the
same workgroup. Both are sharing various folders. The
link lights on
the hub ports are on steady, which would seem to indicate
that I have
connectivity between the machines and the hub. And the
activity lights
on the hub ports blink periodically, which would seem to
indicate that
the hub is seeing traffic from both machines.

I do not have a firewall, and I've made sure that I've
disabled the
Internet Connection Firewall (at least I *think* I have).

At one point during all my tinkering, when I did a "find
computer"
search from the Start menu, I was able to "see" the other
computer,
although it did not show up in My Network Places.
However, when I
tried to access it by clicking on the icon, I got a
message that said
that I didn't have permission to access the shares
(although they are
configured to be wide open). After further tinkering, now
it doesn't
even show up in "find computer".

So, I'm really stumped about what to try next. Should I
ditch the
Netgear card in my 98SE machine and replace it with
something else? If
so, what? Should I ditch the Realtek card? By the way, I
already tried
sticking the FA310TX card from the old machine into the
XP box, and
that didn't help; the card *was* recognized, but it
didn't solve my
problem.

This really should be very simple; it's just two
computers plugged
into a simple hub. Primarily I'd like to be able to share
files and
printers, and ultimately share a dial-up Internet
connection (that's a
lower priority). Right now I can't do anything at all.

Bob Marshall

.