Windows Forum

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Win 98 and Win 95 not Talking

0 helpful
14 replies

by jlstrader

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
I have a client that has 2 machines that are connected by a direct cable (CAT5). The 2 machines are no longer talking. They told me that the 2 machines used to talk and share printers. I tried static and dynamic IP and that did not work. Is there some thing that I am missing. I worked for several hours. I replaced one of the network cards in the 98 machine. The connection is there. The lights light up on the cards, but they do not see each other in Network Neighborhood.

14 replies

by huckleberryhound

Have they change the cable recently? Remember if you are using a direct cable connection it needs to be a cross-over cable.

Also, it may be easier to use NetBEUI for this purpose instead of TCP/IP.

by silverfireiii

If you use TCP/IP you will not be able to see the computers in Network Neighborhood. So, you need to use NetBEUI if you want them to be able to see the computers in Netwrok Neighborhood. If neither computer is sharing anything you will not see thecomputer in Network Neighborhood.

What you need to make sure of for everything to work is:
1. Make sure the CAT5 cable is a crossover cable and there is nothing wrong with it
2. Make sure Client for Microsoft Networks is installed on both computers
3. Make sure when they log on to the computers they are entering the password ( if they have one) and clicking ok. If they click cancel the computers won't connect.
4. Make sure NetBEUI is turned on and active on both computers in the network properties (This is the only way the computers will be seen in Network Neighborhood)
5. Make sure file and print sharing is active on both computers in the network properties
6. go into my computer and make sure the hard drive is shared on both computers
7. go into the printers and make sure the printers are shared on both computers
8. make sure they have install the printers to the other computer through add new printer

I hope that this helps you. If not let me know what you find and there may be a few other things to check.

by rdunn

Also be sure that the PCs are using the same workgroup in addition to using a crossover cable.

Be sure as well to verify that file and printer sharing is enabled (LMAnnounce is turned on)

Good luck!

by ins413

Are the machines able to ping each other by IP? How about by name? Are the workgroup names the same? Try installing netbeui as well. Lastly I would check the cable and make sure that it is a crossover cable and not standard patch cable. There really isn't alot of info to work with, so any additional info would be very helpful.

by wayne r.

If I understand you correctly, you are only using one cable to go from 95box to 98box, not going via a hub or switch.
To my knowledge this can only be done when you use a cross-over cable which reverses the wiring from one NIC to the next NIC.
Have you tried connecting them via a hub? At least if you do this you can confirm that all of your settings are okay.

Hope this helps.

Wayne.

by wayne r.

To give more detail, the cross-over cable looks like a standard CAT5 cable but is cross-wired to enable direct communication between two computers.
I would imagine that this is the most likely cause of the problem.

by galland101

If you need to get the machines running using TCP/IP, I would suggest that you manually assign their IP Addresses instead of having them set for DHCP Resolution. Take note that they should also both be on the same IP segment and subnet mask. A good example would be and IP Address Range of 192.168.0.x and a subnet of 255.255.255.0

This discussion is closed to new replies.