Networking PCs - help needed!
 

Can anyone help me? I've had two PCs networked for the last year or so. They both use Windows XP (home version) and, until now, they've happily shared files, a printer and internet connection.

The other day, one of the computers froze and I had to turn it off without shutting it down properly. Ever since, it has said that the network cable is unplugged. (The other one still says it's connected.) The shared files, printer and internet connection don't work.

I thought I might have buggered the cable so I bought a new one, but that made no difference. Today I bought a new network card but that didn't help either. I've re-installed the drivers, disabled/re-enabled it, done a system restore to last week when it was working - but nothing has worked. It still says "Network cable unplugged".

(Yes, I've checked the cable is plugged in! :))

Any other ideas? I'm going round in circles at the moment.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

PS - Format C: - there, I said it first! :)

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1. Are you connecting to a hub/switch or direct machine to machine?
2. Do you have link lights on both ends of the connection?
3. Have you checked the hardware profile to be sure the nic is alive and did not fail?

If you do a 'Search for Computers' (one of the options on the 'Search files and folders page) on the 'good' pc - does it find your problem pc?

I had this last week connecting my laptop to my home system...

Delete the drivers on both machines, reinstall them, then reinstall the network settings (XP has a great installer for this)

You shouldn't have bought new hardware over a hard shutdown :2 cents:

1) Direct between the two machines. (With the right type of cable for that.)

2) There's no lights on either at the moment. (I'm not sure if there used to be lights - I never looked at the back!)

3) Not sure how to do that.

One thing I've noticed is that an error shows up in the "events viewer" whenever I try to connect to the other computer. But the info isn't very helpful - it says: "Initialization failed because the driver device could not be created".

Any ideas?

No, it doesn't find it. How did you fix it last week? :)

Done that. I tried everything I could think of software-wise yesterday so I figured it must be the hardware... but the new hardware is the same! :feels-hot

If either NIC is bad you would see that there is no link on either one. Also if you have a normal Cat5 cable instead of a cross over cable you would see the same thing.

You need to check your hardware profiles under the control panel and see if either NIC is not working.

If both are working the cable is bad, not plugged in solidly or one of the NICs has a bent pin in it's connector

I've replaced the card and the cable (and it's a crossover cable) so I am sure the hardware is ok. I couldn't see hardware profiles in the control panel though - whereabouts is it?

I worked at a helpdesk. You're now at a stage where we would tell the customer to format their pc's and reinstall everything :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

I found the hardware profile and it says the network card is working fine.

On both machines?

Control Panel > Networks make sure that NetBuei is still installed for your adapter (try setting it as the default protocol too) on both pc's.

Run the Home Networking Wizard (again!) on both.

Do the search computer thing again on both.

Isn't that the truth? hahahaha

Yup. It says the device is fine and says if it's not working to go to the troubleshooting section (which has nothing about this problem...)

What's NetBuei? I can't see anything about that.

I'm not trying to be a smartass, but have you shutdown (not reboot) the box that didn't crash ?

NetBuei is the protocol used for networking
Control Panel > Network > Add... > Protocol > Add... > Microsoft > NetBUEI

Yeah - this crash happened last Thursday so they've both been on and off - and rebooted - quite a bit since.

I can get as far as control panel > network but I can't see an option to add... I'm using Windows XP home.

Thanks for your help so far.

There is no netbeui in XP, it is history.

If you have no link lights it is NOT a software issue it is hardware, connections or the x over cable. The cards are not seeing each other.

The hardware has been replaced - both card and cable. I've even tried it in a different slot in case there was some damage to the bay I was using.

I think it must be software.