I am having problems setting up a home network consisting of two Windows Me machines and two Windows XP machines. One of the Windows Me machines is the server and has two network cards, one connected to a switch and the other to broadband. The Windows Me machines will network (share files, printers and the broadband internet connection within the workgroup) but not the XP PCs. I have manually specified the IP address of each PC. There are three possible problems: (1) Windows XP won’t communicate with Windows ME; (2) I’m using Ethernet cables instead of “crossover” cables (what’s the difference?); or (3) a firewall somewhere is preventing communication. I’m hesitant to change from Windows ME to XP because I hear that it can be quite involved. Please help!

I can relate to your question as I had the exact same problem when setting up a network comprising of Windows 98 machines and Windows XP machines. The first two reasons you have given are not causing the problem. Windows XP and Windows Me can network, and you are using the correct type of cable. A crossover cable is used when you wish to network two computers together by putting a cable directly between the two computers’ network cards, without going through a hub or switch. When using a switch you must use Ethernet cables, which you are doing correctly. Your third reason is a possibility, as Windows XP has an in-built firewall. Make sure this is disabled on all Windows XP machines. Go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Control Panel’ and open the ‘Network Connections’ control panel. Right-click on the LAN connection and select ‘Properties’. In the window that appears, click the ‘Advanced’ tab. Ensure that the firewall is disabled. Click OK.

If the problem persists, it is likely related to the network Browse Master. On every peer-to-peer network there is a computer which acts as the Browse Master. This computer has the IP address to computer name mappings of every computer on the network. So, each time a computer on the network wishes to access another computer, it gives the Browse Master the computer name and asks for the IP address. However, when a Windows XP machine is added to the network this seems to throw a spanner in the works. To fix this problem, on the Windows XP machines go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Control Panel’ and open the ‘Network Connections’ control panel. Right-click on the LAN connection and select ‘Properties’. In the window that appears, click the ‘General’ tab. From the list titled ‘This connection uses the following items:’ click ‘Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)’ and click ‘Properties’. At the next window, click the ‘General’ tab and then click ‘Advanced’¦’. Another window will appear. Click ‘WINS’ and under ‘NetBIOS setting’ select ‘Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP’. Click OK. Click OK. Click OK. Check if this solves the problem. If not, we need to install the NetBEUI protocol. While this is not officially supported in Windows XP, we need to use this protocol for backwards compatibility with Windows Me. Follow the instructions at support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=301041 (you will need to have your Windows XP CD handy).

If you can browse the other computers through ‘My Network Places’ (Windows XP) and ‘Network Neighbourhood’ (Windows Me) but the Windows XP machines cannot access the internet, make sure the ‘Default gateway’ setting in the Windows XP TCP/IP settings is the IP address of the Windows Me machine which is acting as the server (and which also has the broadband connection).

All else failing, it is possible that the problem is related to the Browse Master or another issue. On a Windows Me machine, try to access a share on a Windows XP machine using the IP address of that Windows XP machine (e.g., 192.1.1.1myshare$) instead of using the computer name (e.g., windowsxp1myshare$). If you can access the machine, the problem is related to the Browse Master issue. On the other hand, if you cannot access the machine, there is a problem with the network setup itself. In either case, please contact me again for further instruction.