Networking Home and Pro

I have two machines -

XP Pro, Celeron, 256 mb ram, bought it as a lease return so don't know much more than that.

XP Home, Sempron processor, 256 mb ram bought new.

We have tried to set up Networking between the two computers so that we don't have to constantly unplug one machine and plug the other one in just to use the internet.

My Pro recognizes the Home machine but apparently Home won't recognize Pro. All of my sons programs and data are on my machine but we no longer have the discs to reinstall them on his so burning to a CD would be a waste of time and CD's. Thus, networking.

With only two machines and crappy dial-up (would still only be able to use one computer online at a time), I am trying to avoid a router right now.

Does anyone have any suggestions on getting the newer computer to cooperate?

 

Without a hub, switch, router or crossover cable you do not have a network. Without a router or Internet sharing both machines can not be on the Internet at the same time.

How are you trying to connect both machines together?
How are you connecting to your Internet Service Provider? Cable? DSL? Dial up?

 

We have a crossover cable and I know that it is good because when the boys first set up the network, both computers saw the other. Then they rebooted both computers and now only Pro sees Home but not vice versa. So of course, whenever I reboot, I get that message about a network cable being unplugged.

we're on crappy dial-up so I know that even if they are networked properly and working together, only one can actually be on the net at a time. I am looking at another memory card for my computer to increase it to 512mb.

 

Check this link.

http://www.ezlan.net/direct.html

 

Thanks for the link. I've printed off lots of interesting stuff that looks like it will apply in my case. For one thing, it says that networking between 2 computers with a Cat5 cable also needs NetBUEI installed. Well, I checked and it isn't. So will have to get that set up. I assume it needs to be on both computers so will try that when I get a chance. Also, have bookmarked that site for future reference.

 

YES.....

 

Well, I thought we were getting somewhere last night. Both computers were recognizing the other one, some files were copied from mine to his. But this morning the network connection icon has a yellow triangle with an ! in it and says there is 'limited or no connectivity'. Clicking on Repair and rebooting did nothing to improve the connection.

When I open My Computer on his there is only his drive C and repair console drive D showing up. No sign on there of mine. This is frustrating to say the least.

 

And where would I find out about that?




aha! found it under System>Device Manager>properties and it was ticked to turn it off. Now to check the other computer.

 

I did find it there. On both computers that line about allowing the computer to turn it off was checked so I unchecked them. Then I disabled and reenabled the network on my computer. It worked long enough for me to find his computer in my control panel. Then the same old message again about limited connectivity. Very frustrating.

So then I opened Zone Alarm to the firewall place and discovered Realtek, WAN, and loopback adapters all in the internet zone so I changed all 3 of them to trusted zone. As soon as I applied that I disabled and reenabled my network connection. Again, it worked for a minute or two then went wonky again.

I will try rebooting both computers and see if that helps.