i am trying to set up a network between my PC and my dads laptop, i have a crossover cable but for some reason his laptop won't detect the cable. he is running Win XP Home and i am running Win XP Pro, but im sure that isnt the problem, ive reinstalled his network thingie and tryed different drivers but that still wont work, i know that there is no problem with my network card on my side and i was wondering if anyone could help me out with my problem. His network thingie is "National Seniconductor Corp DP8315/816 10/100 Mac Phyter PCI ADapter" to be honest im not totally sure if this is evenm a network card, i dont know im noob and have never had a laptop before someone please save me O_o

i had a very similar problem when i set uptwo pc that both ran win xp...took me a few days of hair pulling and in the end i found out it wasnt a crossover cable that i had ..it was a straight threw cable...they look identical...and dont let any one tell you that yop can identify them coz one has cat 5 or something writen on it coz when i went and bought a proper crossover it had cat 5 on it as well...the difference is on a crossover, the wires in one end run from 1 and 2 to 5 and 6 on the other end and vice versa, and on a straight threw they go from 1 to 1 2 to 2 and 3 to 3 ect,...not exactly sure whitch to witch ,but you get the idea...so...make sure you have a proper crossover cable b4 you start ... ohh and when i did get the correct cable as sonn as i pluged it in and booted up it was detected straight away even b4 the boot sequence had finished... hope this helps... Oz....(now i just need someone to help me ...lol)..bye

Just for Ha Ha try this--It worked for me, especially if you are working your network like that-- On both XP machines (I dont know if Home is the same in which you may not have to configure it for XP Home comp) go to Local Security Policy--Security Options and right click "Accounts-Limit Local Account use of Blank Passwords to console login only" and choose properties. Now disable this policy and retry your network. It should work. Also, make sure you have the same user account name on both machines

thanks for you advice, i know for sure it is a crossover cable and Misslemike are you sure that will work, it kinda doesnt sound related but i'll try it anyways

Well, Joe, It worked for a 98 to XP pro. But you may be right--XP home should not have to rely on this setting for the XP Pro. Yeah, definatley check the cable. I had a similar problem using a crossover cable to a PC couple years ago. Darn if I remember how I fixed it. I know that will not help. You did check out Device manager on his card right? Now I would look to see if there was a service off if the cable is ok. Or just try running the Network wizard and see what happens.

Well, Joe, It worked for a 98 to XP pro. But you may be right--XP home should not have to rely on this setting for the XP Pro. Yeah, definatley check the cable. I had a similar problem using a crossover cable to a PC couple years ago. Darn if I remember how I fixed it. I know that will not help. You did check out Device manager on his card right? Now I would look to see if there was a service off if the cable is ok. Or just try running the Network wizard and see what happens.

Yeah i have the same problem on my computers; i am trying to connect a windows 98se laptop to a windows98se Desktop and well it isn't working. i have thouroly checked my network cards and am sure that the cable is a crossover(i bought it and it has "Crossover" labled on it) so what do i do? i tried to play a networked game of age of empires under the IPX protocal and it worked but when i hook them up nothing appears in network neigborhood and therefore i can't share files or printers, which was my initial idea, can someone please help me? -]|Andromedia Designs|[- Knowing lots about web design but little of networking