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?
Most bad spot are in the splice. There is a tool to test network connections. It'll tell you if you have good splices. Just recheck it and make sure the pin setup is correct.