My first guess is that you have a mismatch
between credentials (logon information) between
the two machines.  This is an ongoing annoyance
with w95, and I believe with w98, as well.

Have the two computers ever been able to see
one another?  For example, does the computer
with the wireless card also have a regualr (wired)
ethernet nic?  If so, can you connect the two
computers together with an ethernet cross-over
cable, and share files, etc?  (You would either
do this with NetBeui, or with tcp/ip using statically
assigned addresses.)  I believe that the linksys
router also acts as an ethernet hub, so your
wired and wireless nic's should be able to see one
another over the generic (but wireless) ethernet lan,
and be able to use NetBeui.

I'm guessing that your problem is neither with the
router's ip configuration nor the fact you're using
wireless.  I suspect that you're not configured
correctly to share files over a direct peer-to-peer,
wired ethernet connection.

You have to have matching login credentials on the
two machines for them to have permission to see
one another.  On nt you can try
        net use \\server\share /user:username password
(I like net use \\server\ipc$ ...to set up the intial connection)
but if I recall, w98 doesn't support connecting with a different
set of credentials.  If this is your problem, you have to make
sure your w98 and xp credentials are the same (or possibly
try only having xp access the w98 shares).

Back to your config with the linksys router.  Can your
two machines ping one another?  (Can they ping the
linksys router?)  If you run ipconfig /all from the command
prompt on the two machines (I'm not familiar with win98,
but I assume it has the same or similar command), you
can see what ip addresses the router's built-in dhcp has
assigned your two nics.  You could also try ipconfig /release
followed by ipconfig /renew to get a new ip address assigned.
Can your machines ping one another by their assigned
ip addresses?

If so, then you have basic ip connectivity between the
machines, but you might not have your file sharing
configured to work with tcp/ip.  You have to make sure
that your server (shares files out) and workstation
(accesses files shared by a server) services are bound
to the WINS client, and not just to NetBeui, in order to
share files over tcp/ip.  (However, as mentioned above,
you ought to be able to share files over NetBeui, because
I believe the linksys router will also act as an ethernet lan
hub.)

Good luck.


Byron Wolter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I recently purchased a wireless access point/router (Linksys) and a wireless
> PCI card.  The host computer is connected direct to the router which goes to
> the cable modem.  Works fine.  The other computer (with wireless NIC) works
> also  and connects to the Internet.  However, I can't get the computers to
> see each other.  They see themselves only.
>
> The main computer that is connected (wired) to the router runs Win98SE.  The
> remote computer that has the wireless NIC run XP.
>
> Both have the same group name (using MSHOME for now).  Printers and files
> are shared on both.  The TCP/IP for the router setup is "obtain IP address
> automatically."  Which I believe it has to be due to cable modem.
>
> Can anyone give a list of things to check or do?
>
> Byron Wolter
     Frank R.Brown
     Frank.R.Brown@MailAndNews

         PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download
                     visit our download web page at:
                  http://freepctech.com/downloads.shtml