NETBEUI is not an option since Win Me doesn't have it.  I tried a static IP address and could not even get on the Internet, much less have the two computers see each other.  The computers are individually named, the workgroup is the same in each one, and the router/switchbox shows both being logged on to the router with the usual IP's.  Tonight I had to do several restarts of both computers to make these changes, and not once have they been able to see each other.  Yesterday I booted them up and had full access to each from either one, and that may be the case tomorrow. SMC does not support networking for its routers, so I cannot imagine being able to determine if the box is faulty after 3 months.  How could you test for that?

>  When a DHCP[*] server issues an address to a client, it assigns it
>for a certain amount of time.  The client *may* tell the server that
>it no longer needs it before that time has run out; it should start
>asking to "renew the lease" when half that period has run out.  DHCP
>is designed so that *in most cases* it will try to reassign the same
>address to a client every time it asks, if possible.  [Some cable
>modem providers may deliberately try to force it to assign new
>addresses periodically, to discourage home users from running
>Internet servers....]
>
>  So odds are good that your machines will go right on being assigned
>these addresses indefinitely.
>  They *may* be getting other information from DHCP, however, such as
>the addresses of ATT's DNS servers.  That won't happen if you assign
>them static addresses, unless you also configure their DNS settings
>statically.
>
>[*] - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.  When you select 'Obtain
>an address automatically', you are telling the machine to use this
>protocol to request network configuration settings from a server --
>many home routers provide this service.
>
>David Gillett
>
>
>


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