crossover cable, networking problem...

Hi there!

In my humble opinion you need an access point router or a HUB. Straight cable connection I do not think is the way to go.

Wait a minute, how do you expect to connect with a wireless connection?  Connect to what?

Get a router and save yourself a ton of headaches.

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/howto/
http://www.theeldergeek.com/quick_guide_to_simple_file_sharing.htm

The static addressing is working the way it should when sharing and using a crossover cable.

Since you already have a router, presumably wireless, this must be connected directly to a modem (cable?) then your computers can connect wirelessly direct to the router.   There is no need for a crossover cable, neither is there a need for ICS since the router sorts out the connections.  The router and the computers form a Local Area Network (LAN)  and will have IP addresses of the form 192.168.0.1., for the router and 192.168.0.x for the computers.    Obviously x is a different number for each computer.   The computers do not connect directly to each other but indirectly through the router.   The router will also have another IP address for communicating to the outside world.    

To enable folder and file sharing you need to go through two stages:

(a) on each computer,  using Windows Explorer, identify the folders that you wish to share and, on each in turn, right click on the folder,  then click on "Sharing and Security"  and then tick the box "Share this Folder on the Network".

(b) on each computer, double click on "My Computer" on the Desktop, then click on "My Network Places" and then on "Add a Network Place".    You then need to follow the prompts of the Wizard to enable each folder to be shared.

Yes, I know all this takes some time to do if you wish to share a lot of folders but it only needs to be done once, however, you must remember that both computers need to be switched on in order to share files.     You can also share a printer attached to your desktop with the laptop - but let's leave that exciting experience for another time.

T.Hyde

Dimension 4500, 2.53GHz processor, 512Mb DIMM, Windows XP, 20Gb hard disk, 80Gb hard disk, Roxio CD R/RW, Blueyonder Broadband & LAN, Dell Photo All-in-One printer.

Dimension 4100, 1GHz processor, 256Mb SDRAM, Windows ME, 20Gb hard disk, Adaptec CD R/DW, HP Deskjet 840C, Scanjet 3300c, Blueyonder Broadband & LAN

Inspiron 8600, 1.4 Ghz processor, 512Mb SDRAM, Windows XP Home, 40Gb hard disk, Philips CDRW/DVD disk drive, Blueyonder Broadband & LAN

Netgear RP614 v2 router.