Okay so, here's the situation. I'm currently trying to connect my XP machine to Vista laptop (the XP machine is connected to the internet through a cable modem). I'm using an ethernet cable ofcourse. The two computers can ping eachother, but they both have ip addresses that start with 169.254.x.x, this is usually down to the DHCP server not working correctly or the computers not being able to find it. The setup is, XP is connected to one port modem and the Vista is plugged into the XP machine. I've enabled internet connection sharing on both but no joy. I'm getting Local Only on the Vista machine. Any help would be great!

Thanks in advance!

few quick things.
1) you need a cross-over cable to go between the two computers.
2) your ISP may only allow 1 IP address (maybe eve locked by MAC address).You should check with them.
3) the IP address you list is in internal windows randomly assigned address. They are routable on an internal network (with a crossover cable) but not routable up and out to the internet.
4) turn on Internet Connection Sharing on the computer connected to the cable modem.

All of this is easier if you get a gateway (router) that has a switch on it. Including being limited to a single IP address from the cable modem. Again, Port level security (that is locking it down to a single MAC address on that port) could be limiting you. This is important if you change computers connected to the cable modem.

but you should have a regular ip address assigned by your isp on the xp machine, providing it was the single computer connected before (assuming Port level security).

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New PC :
New: Phenom 9500 Quad 2.2, 4gb ram XP Pro 64-bit (Sata 0), XP Pro 32 bit (sata 1), 40 eide HDD (music), Pioneer Blu-Ray Burner, HP Multidisk CD-RW/DVD-Rom, 2x250 Seagate HDD's, ATI Radeon 3870, Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe WiFi-AP

Old PC:
P4 1.5GHz, 768 Ram, hda-80Gb (80Ubuntu), DVD R/RW

I've enabled it on the XP computer, I also had it working with the same cables a couple of weeks ago, so it must be a crossover. I know it would be easier with a switch lol but I couldn't afford one with the time of the year and all. The fact that I had it working makes it more strange that I cant get it working now.

Thanks for replying!

if you go just to one computer, does it work?
sounds like your dhcp server (usually the modem itself) may be having issues. Power cycle it. Also, make sure it does not have a standby button that has been pushed. The surfboards have one that remembers being in standby even with a power cycle.

__________________
I'm here, you may now make your next two wishes.

Beat Me, Whip Me, Make Me Use Windows!!

Every Piece of Electronic Equipment runs on a finite amount of smoke. The systems are normally very efficient at reclaiming the smoke and recycling it, however, should you do something to let the smoke out, your system will become useless.

SAVE THE SMOKE !!

New PC :
New: Phenom 9500 Quad 2.2, 4gb ram XP Pro 64-bit (Sata 0), XP Pro 32 bit (sata 1), 40 eide HDD (music), Pioneer Blu-Ray Burner, HP Multidisk CD-RW/DVD-Rom, 2x250 Seagate HDD's, ATI Radeon 3870, Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe WiFi-AP

Old PC:
P4 1.5GHz, 768 Ram, hda-80Gb (80Ubuntu), DVD R/RW

Thanks for replying once again. The XP machine is constantly connected to the internet, and yes I've power cycled with no joy.