I tried this once before but the post got all messed up. So, here I go again. I have 2 computers connected with a Cat5e Crossover cable. One is a Dell XP and the other is a Compaq Presario ME. I have file sharing working so that I can get onto one computer from the other and vica versa. At one time the ICS was working fine. But then my Dell had problems and I formatted and re-installed XP. Now, file sharing is still working, but I cannot get ICS to work. I have not changed any settings that I am aware of. The internet connection is through my XP machine, it is a dial-up. here are IP settings from both machines: XP: Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp. C:\Documents and Settings\Shanna>ipconfig Windows IP Configuration Ethernet adapter Computer Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : PPP adapter FrontierNet.Net: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 208.186.138.240 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 208.186.138.240 C:\Documents and Settings\Shanna> ME C:\WINDOWS>ipconfig Windows IP Configuration 0 Ethernet adapter : IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . : 1 Ethernet adapter : IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . : C:\WINDOWS> I can successfully ping one another. Do I need to specify a default gateway? if so, what should it be?

the problem is ME doesn't have DG, 192.168.0.1 so that you can't access the internet. For more tips or information, go to http://www.ms-mvps.com Robert, MS-MVP, MCSE and CNE Networking, Internet, routing & VPN Support, Tips and FAQs on http://www.ms-mvps.com

i put the default gateway as 192.168.0.1 as you said and restarted. it still is not working.

You would do well to run the network setup wizard on XP and enable ICS that way, and make sure it has your ISP's setting in the Internet connection adapter's TCP/IP properties. Then set your local area connection TCP/IP properties on the XP machine. The addy should be 192.168.0.1 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Then set the TCP/IP properties in the ME machine to auto detect. And the primary DNS server addy on the ME machine should be 192.168.0.1. Hope this helps.

nope. still didn't work.

i dont know what happened, but i restarted my computers, it started working. i have not made any changes, and i have restarted several times since making any changes. but the internet on it is really slow...slower than it was before...any suggestions?