Networking two Win 98 Machines

I have two Win 98 Notebooks, that have NICs, and TCP/IP and Netbuei protocols loaded. They work fine on our NT network. I want to be able to connect the two using a cross-over cable so they can share data out in the field. However, i can not seemto get it to work. When i connect the cross-over cable to the two, both systems seem to bog down. The IP Address and other network options appear to be set correctly. Any help would be appreciated.