I have two computers - A and B A - WinXP, integrated Ethernet in motherboard B - WinXP, Ethernet card Both A and B show that the Ethernet devices are functioning properly in "Device Manager". I have one crossover cable connected to both computers. However, BOTH computers show: "Local Area Connection - A network cable is unplugged" No activity on the "ink-lights". I have tried new wires. I doubt that is the problem. What can I do? Is it a matter of configuring various settings? IP or something? What's happening? thanks

if uve tried a different crossover cable and that wasnt the problem then move the network card to a diff PCI slot in computer B and see if the slot is conflicting with the original PCI slot or another IRQ. if windows says the are both working...... i might not trust windows... i dont think windows can tell if the little ethernet port is broken or not so u might need a new NIC card on computer B r maby a new NIC on computer A instead of the onboard stuff. keep working at it and if u still have trouble ill reply again with more ideas....... ideas usually fix computer problems :) hope this helps! also i just got doen connecting 2 computers VIA crossover cable computer A has NIC card so does computer B and it set itself up with i turned them on witht he crossover cable connected to both ports so if u have any questions ask away.

I have a similar problem. First computer with US robotics NIC and running XP. Second computer with 3COM ISA NIC and running 98. The cable is definitely cross-over. But always "network cable unplugged" on the first computer, and the second computer shows only itself. Tried disabling Media sense in registry, but then I am not confident how to proceed. Cannot reverse NICs because first computer has no ISA slot. Had the same problem with Win2000 before upgrading to XP. Any suggestions are welcome.

i had similar prob. the cause is out of this two. 1. your cable is not crossover. or bad cable. 2. One of nic is dead. switching off your firewalls on both comp will not help but is recomended.