Need Crossover Setup Help

I wanted to connect my college laptop to my home computer so i can drag and drop my files into my home pc and burn them to a CD. Every laptop within the college is set up the same network wise and linking them via a crossover cable works instantly.

When I tried to connect my home pc to it, my laptop network card seems dead. I can ping 127.0.0.1 but there is no ip address at all without being connected to a connection at the college.

Laptop has Windows 98 and uses Novell Netware:
Combination of IPX/SPX and TCP/IP.

Home PC has Windows 98 SE and ethernet:
All TCP/IP.

Any help is appreciated.