Hi Alan,
if you only want connectivity between the two stations give them IP addresses and it will work.
to give an IP address on "My Network Places" right click and get the properties then on the Local Area Network Tab right click and take properties again.. it will show you a few options ... scroll down if you have to and double click on TCP/IP settings.
there it says to either obtain IP address automatically or assign an IP address.
click on assign and give this address. 192.168.0.1 on one of the stations and 192.168.0.2 on the other station.
the subnet mask should be 255.255.255.0 for both settings.
another thing is to make sure that both the computers are in the same workgroup. to do this in XP right click properties on the My Computer icon on the desktop. there you will see a tab which says computer name click on that.
there you should put the workgroup name ... it can be any name but both computers must have the same workgroup in order to see each other on the network.
restart both computers and make sure the winxp is on before win98 otherwise win98 will not detect winxp. winxp on the other hand is a bit smarter and it will detect the 98 system.
if you want to share the internet connection from winxp then let me know. i'll show you how to do that aswell.
i know it looks like a long process but it will work perfectly.
hope this helps.
Irfan.
