The setup: Two boxes (Comp 1: XP pro, Comp 2: XP home) sharing inet through a cable modem. Cable Modem set up through XP Pro box's USB. Computers networked through a crossover cable. The problem: Comp 2 stopped being able to do anything inet after working fine. When attempts are made to ping internet sites it can pull up the ip of the site but gets no ping response. Also, gets no ping response from the Comp 1. However, Comp 1 (which still recieves inet, is directly connected to cable modem via usb) can recieve a ping response from the other computer. Also, local filesharing works fine. About at my wits end with this, done about everything I know how to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you are using a cross over cable, you must have two nics or a nic and a null modem cable (‘Local Area Connection’ and ‘Local Area Connection 2’). To avoid any confusion, rename your connections (WAN Connection or Internet Connection and LAN Connection). On the Host Box (XP Pro): Right click on your newly created 'Internet Connection' and select properties. Click the ‘Sharing’ tab at the top of the window. Next click on the ‘Enable Internet Connection Sharing…’. Click OK, and then ‘YES’ on the dialog box that appears explaining your new IP schema. Securing your Windows XP ICS computer's Microsoft File Sharing should never be ‘bound’ to any network adapter that talks directly to the internet. In the current state of your system, ‘File and Print Sharing’ could be exposing your computer to hackers on the intrnet. It is very important that you follow the next steps. Go back to your Network Connections and Right click on the ‘Internet Connection' and click properties. Uncheck the checkboxes next to ‘File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks’ and the one next to ‘Client for Microsoft Networks’. Next, click the ‘Personal Firewall’ tab and make sure it is enabled. Your computer is now a bit more secure. Note: You should leave 'Client for Microsoft Networks' and 'file and print sharing' checked (turned on) on your home network connection. You should also ensure the FIREWALL IS TURNED OFF for the home network connection. On the Client Box (XP Home): Click the start menu and right click on the ‘My Network Places’ icon to bring up your Network connections folder. Right click on your ‘Local Area Network’ connection and select ‘Properties’. Using the install button, install any compoenents from the list that are missing from your computer: Client for Microsoft Networks, File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks, Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and the QoS Packet Scheduler If you have other protocols installed like IPX or NetBEUI, they are not needed. Select TCP/IP and click the properties. On this screen, you should select ‘Obtain an IP Address Automatically’ and ‘Obtain DNS server address automatically’. Click OK and the computer ‘may’ ask you to reboot. Configuring Internet Explorer: Open Internet Explorer and select ‘Internet Options…’ from the ‘Tools’ menu bar. Next, select the connections tab. Click the LAN Settings tab and clear all check boxes here. Your new configuration does not require a proxy server. Finished! I hope this helps. Cheers, Mike

First things first, thanks mike for the quick reply! Wasnt expecting one so soon. Sadly, though, its still not working. Followed your instructions step by step, but while it can pull up the dns for a known ping responder (i.e. taco.com, it pulls up 66.93.168.233) the pings just timeout on the client where the host gets a good response (ave. 113ms). And local network runs fine. Any more ideas?

1. Didn't read thru ALL of the above - but with some cable modems there is a prevalent problem with 'dropped connections' (computer says you have an assigned IP, and you can stop and restart services all day long, but it won't work AGAIN until you reboot the machine). So, (if you haven't already), try a a reboot. 2. Try resetting the modem (pull the power on it while on, and 30 sec later pop it back in then wait a minute, then reboot) 3. Check your XP App/System/Security logs. May be that a service YOU NEED STARTED is not, and it will tell you in the logfile (but nowhere else - no window coming up etc). ICS ___NEEDS___ NUMEROUS SERVICES STARTED IN ORDER TO WORK. Hope it helps - Joe

I also had the same issue. I work on computers for a living. What I didn't realize is when I was evaluating a gaming-performance-improving program, it shutdown and disable what it thought was unnecessary services. It did improve the performance of my computer a little, but it disable the ICS services I needed to share internet access to another computer on my home network. Since I wasn't using internet on other machines, I totally forgot that I ran that program. So I didn't think I made any serious system changes to cause the ICS to stop working. After plenty of troubleshooting, I realized that is what happened indeed. I would make sure there are no errors related to it in the event logs. What you could do if the services are ok, is to remove/delete all connections and reinstall/setup them up. If that doesn't work, just reinstall windows xp. Not realizing it was services probably, I reinstalled windows xp on a customer's computer, indeed it started working correctly again. When I came across it on my own computer, I then realized that probably what happened on my customer's computer. But overall it started working again in any case. Hope this helps. And please post what fixed your problem here for future users of the same problem can find. If you need any more help, please contact me by email. God Bless, Kevin