Help setting up Win98se-Xp network.

[trueman]

I am having all sorts of trouble trying to setup the above home network.

I have the Xp machine setup as the server and use the home networking wizard to do so. The workgroup is called Home and the computer name is Troy.

The 98SE machine is the client and I used the floppy from the XP wizard to setup the 98 machine. I have it setup on the home workgroup and the name of this machine is family.
They are connected directly via a cat5 crossover cable.

I have had all sorts of strange and often intermittent problems with this network. Sometimes the connection will work and I can see both machines on the network and other times it wont work.
Usually though the XP machine can see the family machine but the family machine can only see itself on the network. However the family machine can ping the xp computer. But then sometimes the xp machine will only see itself on the network and not the family computer. I suspected my firewall (Zonealarms) even though it automatically setup and allowed the network on setup, so I disabled it. This allowed the connections to work again but then the next time on start up I disbaled the firewall but still the network wouldnt connect up. Its the same with the internet connection. Sometimes whenthe network finally works the internet sharing will work too and other times it will not.

I have done that many things now I am not sure what I have and havent tried. I want to remove all current network settings and start again.

What do I need to remove to reset the network? On the XP machine the option to delete the LAN connection is greyed out. Should I just remove the network card, tcp/ip and Microsoft network protocols in the network properties and then re-install everything???

Also should I use the network wizard in XP or do it manually and if so can someone suggest a good site that shows how to do this?

[Bill in SD, CA]

You could try logging in on the 98 machine with the same user name you log on to the XP machine.

May have to set up a new user.

That's what I ended up doing on mine.

Bill