I'll wade in. Can't get too technical, but I assume the mask works by ANDing the bits, so when an ip address is checked, 255.255.255.0 is FF.FF.FF.00 in hex or 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000 in binary, which when you AND with anything, returns the original first 3 segments unchanged but can return a different 4th segment. This has the effect that all nodes on the network must have the same values for the first 3 of the 4 ip address segments. You could read more about tcp/ip to see why there are 4 segments and what each segment represents. If your not familiar with binary, 255 is the highest value you can store in a byte. ANDing is the logical operation that tests for true or false: 1 AND 1 = 1 (true) 1 AND 0 = 0 (false) so any value ANDed to 1 will return unchanged, but a value ANDed to 0 may change. (0 AND 0 = 0 (false) 0 AND 1 = 0 (false)). For instance an ip address of 192.168.1.252 is 11000000.10101000.00000001.11111100 which after an AND operation with 255.255.255.0 would be 11000000.10101000.00000001.00000000 -----Original Message----- From: NICHOLAS BACETTI [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Monday, December 03, 2001 8:32 AM Just wanted to thank everyone for the great suggestions and comments. As Tom T. suggested, I went back and changed the subnet mask from 10.20.30.40 to 255.255.255.0, and everything is working just fine. Network neighborhood is displaying the other computer on the network. Also, I can now ping by name, as well as, by IP address (the latter wasn't a problem, the former was). This was a good point brought up by Dave G. Finally, as suggested by most, I did find the IP and subnet mask numbers, listed with the second adapter under the "PPP adapter". If anyone would care to comment, what was wrong with the 10.20.30.40 subnet mask number. Is this part of a standard governing networks? Again thanks to all...Nick >>> [log in to unmask] 11/29/01 10:14 AM >>> You sound like you know how to set up tcp/ip, but your symptoms also sound like an incorrect ip or mask entries. The first 3 groups of the ip address should be the same, and the mask should be 255.255.255.0 The workgroup under the identification tab needs to be the same on all computers, I assume you are not using a domain or a server. The reason winipcnf may not display your settings is the first adapter it displays is 'PPP adapter'. Use the drop down arrow to select your hardware adapter. Now your ip and mask settings should appear. It will only release and reset if you are obtaining an ip address automatically. Tom Turak PCBUILD's List Owners: Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]> Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>