Troubleshooting a direct cable connection (XP)

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Wolfdale75

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
133
Hi Guys,

I'm trying to set up a direct cable link between two XP PCs. According to the books and online directions, this should be a cakewalk, but I can only partly get it to work. Can anyone help?

Is this kind of connection supposed to be bi-directional? I.e. you can read and share both ways? Or is it only for migrating data from one direction to another?

Will it only work if both PCs are running the Pro version of XP?

I tried it between my new PC and two other PCs. One, my old PC, would only let me access a shared folder on one occasion. Other than that I can only see the old PC on the network but not access it. The other PC I tried with, a netbook, I can see but not access. I cannot see the new PC on either the old PC or the netbook. When I click on the “view workgroup computers” option under My Network Places on my old PC, simply nothing happens. Instead, I should be able to see the new PC there via the direct connection.

Below are the theoretical steps I have taken which should be getting it to work:

1) Get a Cat5 crossover cable
2) Perform a loopback test on both PCs
3) Make sure both PCs have TCP/IP, and File and Printer Sharing installed
4) Give both PCs unique names and put them into the same Workgroup
5) Set up simple sharing under the Folders applet in CP
6) Ensure both PCs are set to receive Remote Connections under the System settings
7) Ensure Windows Firewall is allowing Remote Connections and File Sharing
8) Set 1st PC IP address to 192.168.1.1 and 2nd PC to IP address 192.168.1.2. Both have subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.
9) Select a folder on one of the PCs, right-click and select Sharing. A small hand icon appears under the shared folder.
10) Now you can view the shared folder on the other PC via My Network Places and then Entire Network
 
Thanks.

Update: got it to work with the netbook. Next challenge is to get it working with the old PC.

One thing that made a difference was to let Windows configure the connection automatically instead of me typing the IP config in. Another was to keep saying no when the wizard asked about having an Internet connection.

But I think the decisive factor was the third-party firewall. I turned off ZoneAlarm on both machines and suddenly it worked.

I'm glad I tried that just by chance or I could have been scratching my head for days. Nowhere I've read so far does anyone mention firewalls could be the problem making a connection.

I'll report back if I don't get it to work with the old PC.

Thanks again :)
 
So I;m still having the problem connecting to the old PC.

The new PC can see the old one but the old one cannot see the new one. When I click on the “view workgroup computers” option under My Network Places on the old PC, simply nothing happens. Nothing at all.

I set it up exactly as I did with the netbook and that worked.

I don't get it.
 
ya zone alarm is like that as are other firewalls at times,you know when testing something like that imho disabled all firewalls and at the same time be shore to not be plunged in to the net if your trying to do two things with one network cable i mean {network shares +internet port 80}
 
So I've determined that the old PC has a hardware fault and cannot make a connection to another PC. No biggie.

Next I'm trying to connect a Win XP Pro PC to a Win 7 PC using this crossover cable but getting nowhere. Win 7 doesn't seem very well set up for this kind of connection, whereas XP seemed to be partly set up for it.

Has anyone else managed this? How did you do it? Thanks.
 
Please, just join us in the 21st century and get a switch. $35 at BestBuy or next to nothing online.
 
Winxp can all so do point to point network connections over fire-wire by default ,vista\win7 can't.
Really should be able to do it with USB as well but whatever.

Btw what is it your trying to setup network wise ? just point to point network sharing or internet connection sharing or both?

Btw don't do both at the same time if you do and click on the wizard, it will disable one or the other the min you go near that,then you get to have fun repairing the damage the wizard did to your network settings for a hour forcing a full manual setup.

Btw here's some command line options you might find useful for trouble shooting.

nbtstat

ipconfig

netstat

ping

As well newer network hardware will auto negotiate a connection .Older hardware wont,meaning as long as one of the nic cards is part of the newer hardware bandwagon you don't need a crossover cable.
When in doubt though use the right cable for the job none the less.

Network switch wont change anything btw criccio.
 
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