Recently I replaced an older Pentium PC running Windows 98 with a new HP 534a running Windows XP Home Edition. I also have a 3 year old HP4509 running Windows 98. Prior to this replacement I had a successful 2 computer local network with a computer to computer direct link. I have not been able to set up a similar network with the two HP computers - although I follow the network set-up wizard (Windows XP) and thence a set-up disc on the other. Running the ‘Repair’ program under the ‘Control Panel’ > ‘Networks’ > ‘Network Connection’ > Repair facility brings up the following message ‘The following steps of the operation failed: Renewing the IP address. Contact your network administrator or ISP’. Hope you can help.

I apologise for the delay in responding to your question while I researched your question. It is quite difficult to diagnose and correct network problems without sitting in front of the computer and being familiar with the network setup first-hand. Now, I have some suggestions to help fix your problem. Firstly, try to renew the IP address using the ipconfig utility from a command prompt. Go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Run’ type ‘cmd’ and click OK. At the prompt, type ‘ipconfig /release’ (without the quotes) and press ENTER. This will surrender the current IP address used by Windows. Then, type ‘ipconfig /renew’ (without the quotes) and press ENTER to renew a new IP address.

If this fails, you may be better off by assigning the IP addresses manually. Many other people seem to be experiencing the same problem as yours but have not found a solution. Most networks use dynamically assigned IP addresses (which are assigned by a DHCP, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server) as it allows computers to be plugged in and out of the network without worrying about assigning IP addresses. As your network only has two computers, you can probably safely assign IP addresses and know that you are not going to have two conflicting addresses (i.e., the same address for the two machines). From the network information you provided with your question (this has not been published due to space constraints), your Windows 98 machine, which is acting as the internet gateway, is assigned 169.254.193.162 with subnet mask 255.255.0.0. Your Windows XP machine, which accesses the internet through the Windows 98 machine, is automatically assigned 169.254.193.161 with subnet mask 255.255.0.0. Instead of having the IP address on your Windows XP machine automatically assigned, try to manually specify the IP address as 169.254.193.161. Do this on the Windows XP machine by going to the ‘Network Connections’ control panel and opening the properties for your LAN adapter. In the properties for the LAN adapter, open the ‘Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)’ properties and manually specify the IP address, subnet mask and gateway (the gateway address is the IP address of the Windows 98 computer - 169.254.193.162). I am unsure if this will work, however, it shouldn’t place you in a worse position that you are at the moment! I would also be interested to hear from other readers who have experienced this problem as, from the research I have conducted on the internet, it seems many people experience the problem and (those who find a solution) have differing solutions to others.