Ping problem on home networking P. help

Hello,
I have a laptop and a desktop runing both 98 first edition. I got two network cards (linksys lne100tx and pcmpc100) and using crossed over wire. the file and printer sharing is working but when i give a 10.10.10.1 to one and 10.10.10.2 to second one with the same submask it gives me time out. 127.0.0.1 works on both and each computer recognized her own address using ping but it doesnot recognize the other.
Is this a NIC problem even though file sharing works fine? do i need to assign other factors. thanks for ur help