Hi! I have two computers one running w2k pro another win98. Both are running okay. But both can't see each other. I have network card on both of them and have connected the network cards to each other via a crossover cable. In w2k m/c it says local area connection cable unplugged. What I have to do to make this home network work and how do I do it?? Thanks in advance!

did you config both computers to the same workgroup?

The workgroup would not matter if it show cable unplugged. If it shows the cable is unplugged then it's either a hardware problem with the NIC (unlikely but possible), a problem with the cable or perhaps you have the two NICs set at different speeds. Make sure both are set to Auto Negotiate for the speed in the configuration of the NIC. Make sure the cable is really a crossover cable and not a straight through cable and test it on another machine if you can. Don't worry about any network settings like workgroup etc until you get the 'unplugged' message taken care of.

Stafi is right- It doesn't matter whether the NIC has been disabled, or the computer is using a dial-up connection instead of cat-5 or the cable really IS unplugged- the systray icon will have a red "bang" and a "Network cable unplugged" pop-up no matter what the reason is. It doesn't give more detail than that. Both PC's will have to be configured to include each other in My Computer>Properties> Network Identification>Network ID before they will network.