Home Network - No Idea!!

Hiya,

Hopefully someone.........somewhere can help me with this one. I've set up a home network between my 2 pcs. One is on xp the other win me. I've got an ethernet cable and bought 2 nic's. I did the network wizard on both pcs and then........nothing!! I can't search for anything on my second pc as it doesn't appear to be connected to the net?? I'm on AOL and someone has told me that they aren't configured for home networking? They gave me a proxy server which I downloaded onto my main pc. Only thing is...I have no idea what one is or how to configure it with my other computer...
I have been sat here for 6 hours now and I am at a loss as to what to do
Can someone please give me some (simple) advice as to what could be the problem.
Thanks for ANY advice
Debz

Firstly, you seem to be connecting the two computers directly together (without using a hub or switch). If this is the case, then make sure that the cable you are using is a crossover cable NOT a straight through or patch cable.

Secondly, check that no firewalls are enabled. This includes things like ZoneAlarm. Also, Windows XP comes with a built-in firewall. Open up Network Connections and right-click the Local Area Connection. Select Properties and click the Advanced tab. Check that Internet Connection Firewall is not enabled.

Next, check that the computers are on the same workgroup. On XP, you can open the System applet from the Control Panel and click the Computer Name tab to check this. On the Me computer, open the Network applet from the Control Panel and click the Identification tab.

After you've tried all that, check if you can ping from one computer to the other. From the Command Prompt (or MS-DOS Prompt in Windows Me I think) type "ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" replacing the x with the IP address of the other computer. Check that you can ping both computers from either computer.

If you can't ping, check the IP addresses. Both computers should have an IP address on the same subnet. For example, for the computer with the Internet connection, set the IP address to 192.168.0.1, the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 and the default gateway blank. On the second computer, set the IP address to 192.168.0.2, the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 and the default gateway to 192.168.0.1.

Finally, if you can ping between the computers, but can't access the Internet, check to see if you can browse to http://66.102.9.104 in Internet Explorer. If you can, but can't access the site using its domain name, then there is a DNS problem which we can solve.

HTH

Hi Edwin

Thanks for your reply. Yes it's a crossover cable. I've disabled my Nortons firewall and also checked the xp one which is disabled too. I've pinged both computers ok. Also when the client computer is off, there are 2 little computer signs on my host pc's toolbar. They disappear when I turn it on.

I have downloaded a proxy server for AOL but don't know how to configure it. It seems like this MAY be the problem??

I bought a pc mag yesterday which detailed how to configure a proxy but I don't know the following :-

IP address of the network adapter (where would I find this?)
Is the gateway pc my host pc?

I know these are probably really silly questions to people in the know but I really have no idea!

Thanks again for any help with this.
Debz

I tried the address you quoted and I couldn't access it at all.

Not sure if I mentioned it yesterday, the two systems are Win XP (host) and Win 98ME (client)

Hope this helps.
Debz

To find the IP address of the network adapters, open a Command Prompt (or an MS-DOS prompt on Windows Me) and type "ipconfig" (without the quotes). You'll get some details on your screen and one of them should say IP Address.



You have two computers both networked together. The computer with the Internet connection should be sharing the Internet. This is acting as a gateway for the other client computer (windows me).



I'm afraid I don't know about AOL. I think sharing the Internet with AOL may be more difficult than with a standard ISP. I'd contact them and see what they say about sharing. If you've got proxy software, you would need to install it on the Windows XP PC, and then in Internet Explorer on the Me computer, configure it to use the XP computer as its proxy server.



Since you're connecting both computers directly, when the other computer is turned off, it will seem as though the network cable is unplugged, so you'll get that little icon. When you turn the other computer on, the network cable is detected as being plugged in, so will disappear.

Thanks Edwin

You've given me some things to go on so I'll see what I can do . Thanks for your help..... I'll let you know how I get on

Thanks again
Debz

No problem... I'd be interested to know how you get on with the AOL sharing though