I have 2 PCs both running xp home, connected together with a network cable. Trouble is... thats its too slow.

I have disabled all the firewalls, to see if that helped. but nope. If i have an automatic IP it says the network might not work as good as it should. So i assigned IP addresses and DNS server address.

Its still all slow. It timesout or loses a connection upon data transfer.

Please help!!!

have you tried 'pinging' the two machines?

This will give you a time that the machines take to talk to each other. If the connection is fast, the problem is elsewhere.

If you know the IP address of the machines, go to 'Start', 'Run', type CMD, when the black window opens type, 'ping' followed by the IP address of the other computer. It should have four goes and four results.

Post your results here!!

I take it your using a hub or cross over cable in between? Connecting two machines with a straight network cable will not work properly!

Yep, direct computer to computer needs a crossover cable.

Best get a cheap 4-port switch anyways even for 2 computers :)

Lickable is talking about it being slow, so I would assume it is actually working, and so is already using a crossover cable. A lot of network cards are auto detecting now anyway, so not as crutial as it used to be, I believe. Could be wrong though!

But, yes, even between two computers, a switch or router.

I've gone wireless router and things work wonderfully!

I have a router on loan from work. Will check it tonight. Thanks!

Well then!?:D

It works better, but still not as fast as it should. I think one of the network cards may be a bit crap as its on a a computer my missus bored tea in :)

yeah, if you think one of the network cards might be dodgy, get a new one, they are cheap.

have you tried different network cables too? the cable could be dodgy.

or it could be a problem with windows on either computer, have you done a clean format recently?

If you know the IP address of the machines, go to 'Start', 'Run', type CMD, when the black window opens type, 'ping' followed by the IP address of the other computer. It should have four goes and four results.If you don't know the ip addy, type ping "name of other computer"[enter], eg ping lickable1, it still works and will, coincidentally, tell you the current ip value.
If you don't even know the names assigned to your computers, type net view [enter].

Lickable

What are your ping speeds?

Cables not worth the hassle, wifi set ups are a heck of a lot faster and tons cheaper than they use to be. Usually works first time straight from the box.


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