i have posted a couple questions detailing my network scenario and the problems i was having. however i have solved it. and it turned out to be nothing with the network. originally i had only one mouse, keyboard, and monitor to switch between the three different pcs on the network. the problem was that only the one computer with the mouse, and keyboard plugged in would fully boot. the 2000 box would hang at the bios startup giving me a keyboard error (hence why you couldn't ping it) and the 98 hangs just before it is fully booted saying, "it is alright to plug a mouse in now", and it waits there (hence why you could ping it, but not see its web page). my question is, how do i get these machines to simply fully boot without checking for hardware? the linux box works fine. well thanks for everything. hippiejoe

You can't change the bios [keyboard error] or the OS [mouse] from checking hardware. You can get a modern kvm switch that xmits the signal that keyboard and mouse are present when booting up. I have had good luck with the Belkin 4 port/no power supply kvm switch.

1 - You may be able to set the BIOS to ignore the missing keyboard. 2 - On the W98 machine there yould be a box on the missing mouse message for the system to ignore the mouse status. To correct the mouse problem you will have to boot the machine with a keyboard without the mouse. Use the keyboard to get to the box to check it.