I have an XP and a 98SE network working like a charm, talking back and forth... just great! They are running through a Linksys Cable/DSL router. The XP machine is cabled to the router and the 98SE machine uses a wireless PCI card to link to the router. Signal strength is at 100% because the two machines are in the same room for right now. BUT, when I reboot the 98SE machine, it loses everything, no network, no internet. I cannot ping in either direction. If I rerun the Network Setup Disk (which was made from the XP machine) on the 98SE machine, great! Everything returns, network and Internet... UNTIL I reboot, then I have to run the Network Setup Disk again. Whatever the Network Setup disk is doing to the 98SE machine, it doesn't hold through a reboot. Any ideas on this one?

When you first turn on your 98 machine go to a DOS prompt and run ipconfig/all. Then run your network set-up disk. Go to the command prompt again and run ipconfig/all. Compare the settings to see if there are any differences.

Running "ipconfig" /all" before and after the network setup disk responds with identical settings. I have also checked all of the network property settings I can find (before and after) and I do not find any change in those settings. Somehow, after a reboot, the machine loses sight of the router. It can ping itself, but it cannot ping the router or the XP machine until I run the Network Setup disk again.