David, an update.

When I hooked the laptop up this morning to check the lights on the switch,
I did NOT get the DHCP error.

>   So we need to toubleshoot the network card, its driver, and its
> connection
> to the switch.
>
>   Network ports normally have at least two (sometimes three) indicator
> lights or LEDs.  You should be able to find these on the switch port, and
> probably also on the network card.
>   If there are two, one should be labelled "Link" and should be on solid
> when the cable is connected and both switch and PC are turned on.
>   The other should be labelled "Activity", and it should flash
> whenever the
> interface is sending or receiving traffic -- such as when the laptop asks
> if there's a DHCP server aound.
>   Do you see these?
> David Gillett

Yes, the switch has 3 lights for each connection (the pcmcia card has no
lights):
TOP : Link/Act - Three lights were lite, 4th light comes on when laptop
boots
MIDDLE: 100 - (it is a 10/100 auto-detect) - Original 3 lite, no change with
laptop
BOTTOM: Full/Col - Original 3 lite amber -- no change with laptap

From a WinXP system and a WinME system I can now SEE the laptop, but get
various error messages when trying to access (I have set up a hard drive as
shared on the laptop, XP and ME system).

From ME system:
\\laptop is not accessible. Windows cannot find the computer or share name.
Make sure the computer or share name is valid and you are connected to the
network, and then try again.

From XP system:
\\laptop is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this
network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if
you have access permission.  The network path was not found.

Going to network neighborhood on the laptop shows the correct workgroup, but
only Laptop is visible.

The top light all blinks when I try to access the laptop from the WinXP
computer. I have not seen the middle or bottom light come on for the laptop
connection.

The lights also blink when I try to access the entire neighborhood from
network neighborhood (only Laptop is visible).

Do these result suggest any solutions? Thanks.

Jim
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