XP Home network problem

After installing XP my home network no longer works (was working with 2 ME machines). After setting up the home network on the XP machine, I made a network setup wizard disk. I ran the wizard on the ME machine but the 2 cannot see each other. Both have a NIC and connect via a hub.

I think I know what the problem is but I don't know why or what to do. The auto-assigned IP addresses on the two machines are on different networks (ME-192.68.0.89, XP-169.254.170.181). I don't know who or how these addresses are assigned but shouldn't the wizard have made sure they were the same network? Since they appear to be on different networks from each other they each say the network is unreachable which makes sense.

The questiion is then, how do I get these IP addresses compatable, if that is the problem? TIA.

 

Are they both set for the same workgroup? I personally have not seen this, but most of the nets I come into contact with all have XP on the pcs. What about statically assigning IPs?

 

Thanks for the reply.

Yes. When I look at the network on each machine they both show the same workgroup but opening that workgroup only shows 1 machine on each side.

I haven't tried assigning an IP since I never had to do it before. I suppose that might solve the problem, if I change one other the other to the same net. I haven't tried that because I don't know what else will stop working. I suppose I should take the chance.

 

You have run head long into a "feature" of XP. If it can't find a network, it will autoassign itself an IP address in this series to allow normal boot up speed. And no message saying you aren't networked. Any 169.x.x.x with XP is a bad thing.

Card is working. NIC ethernet port, network cable or hub port isn't.

And if you are really using 192.68.0.89, don't. The private address range is 192.168.x.x and the one you list can very easily be a live internet address. Not good if you plan to have any connection to the internet at all.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I assigned a more reasonable IP address and now it is working.

One would think Microsoft could get that right when it makes the network setup wizard disk. Seems simple enough to add a function that, optionally, takes the IP of the hist and assigns a new IP to the target that is on the same net (shoot out a ping to make sure the address is unused).

 

Ping isn't real fussy. If it can find a route to the IP, it will give a return. Same network, different network, no matter.

And having the PCs on the same wire (or hub or switch) works for the packet to find a route.