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Did you ever get that network going? I had the same situation as you. A new Windows XP machine and a Win98 machine. My XP came with a NIC already installed and I bought one for the Win98 machine and installed it manually. I then ran cables from each computer to a five-port hub.

I was up and running in five minutes using the XP networking wizard. XP's wizard made a floppy for me to install on the Win98 machine. I ensured that both computers had the same workgroup name and activated FILE AND PRINT SHARING on both.

I was able to share out the hard drive and ZIP drive on the old computer and map them to the XP computer. I also shared my printer to the Win98 computer as well as the Internet connection. It was so easy that I am kicking myself for not doing it earlier because I used to have to wait hours for my kids to get offline and vice versa. Now we can both be on at once!

One thing I didn't see mentioned that you might have forgotten. When you installed the NIC card on the Win98 computer, it comes with a cable that you are supposed to attach to the motherboard from the NIC. Did you do that?

I'm thinking now it must be something in the house wiring, but I'm not sure where. When I brought the 98 computer downstairs & cabled both computers directly to the hub, it worked beautifully. I can read all the files on the 98 computer from the XP, and the 98 accesses the internet.

The other thing I did was plug the 98 into a different connector in the hub - my cousin says he uses the same hub but it has at least one bad connector, so that could have been it as well -- but the hub was showing connections to both computers all along?

Now I guess just a matter of narrowing down where the house wiring needs help?

That's a WON cable. You only need that installed if you need to access and turn the computer on from the network. Some motherboards aren't designed for that so the cable cn't be used.