Networking with a Crossover Cable

[Blue2]

Hello everybody. I got a new laptop recently and I've been trying to network it and another of mine together. According to pretty much every tutorial online, it should've been as easy as plugging them up and using the Windows networking wizard (xp on both), but I'm missing something, and I feel pretty dumb. All I want is to share information between the two laptops - I don't need anything to do with internet connections (which is what the networking wizard is all about, it seems).

But, first of all, there's an issue when I connect the two together. The first one sees the connection and sends and receives 'packets' just fine - the other gets a limited or no connectivity thing (network address could not be acquired). So, I spend a large amount of time looking up how to fix that, and I ended up changing the IP and subnet masks of the connections instead of having an automatic detection thing. That made the "limited or no connectivity" warning go away, but it still acts the exact same. It's sending very slowly and not receiving at all.

I'm upset about this because I had another laptop that I sold that connected with the other just fine when I hooked up the cable and set up a network. It seems like I'm missing some small step. It's very frustrating. And I've probably forgot some specification on here that I should have mentioned too, it's late. Can anyone help me out, or point me where to start? Thanks a lot, and sorry if I've done anything wrong.

Ah, I figure I should say that one's xp home (the one that sees the connection) and the other is professional. Thanks.

 

[pctechmike1]

1. Both computer names are different?
2. Both are apart of the same workgroup?
3. Both have a directory that is shared, with permissions set for network users to change files?
4. You have a cross-over cable?
5. Can one ping the other, and vica versa?
6. The Network Wizard is rarely any help- that only makes your problem more frustrating.

Maybe some of these questions will help the problem. Maybe you just missed a step somewhere. I've been known to do that on somethin very simple before- don't feel bad about it. Walk away for a while, do something else, then come back. That usually works for me.