XP ICS hell! I'm on my last bit of hair!

[Brayne Ded]

I hope this is the right forum.

For the last week I have been pulling my hair out over what should be an extremely simple procedure; internet connection sharing on just two Windoze XP PCs.

Before I proceed, here's my setup:

1. 2 PCs connected directly to each other via a Cat5 X-over cable and NAT cards (two in the PC connected of course, and one in the client PC).
2. Main PC is connected to the net via a STB.
3. Both PCs are running Windows XP SP2

The first thing I did was a completely fresh install of XP on both PCs, and then on the PC connected directly to the net (I'll call the SERVER) I ran the XP network setup wizard. Once I answered the various questions I was then prompted to run the wizards again on all the other machines connected to the network (just the one on my case). I did that, and then as expected everything worked fine and I could connect to the net on both PCs with no problems.

However, I have discovered that the net connection on the client PC cuts out after about 3-4 minutes, and I have to run the network wizard again on both machines. Again everything works and then 3-4 minutes later the internet connection on the client machine dies again!

To ensure there was nothing interfering with the connection I did a fresh install of XP onto both machines and disabled all my firewall and anti-virus software, including the Windows firewall (not recommended I know, but I needed to ensure nothing was blocking the connection, and anyway, I would be reinstalling everything once the problem had been solved). Sadly, even with only XP on and no other software, firewall, or anti-virus program running, exactly the same thing seems to happen. I run the network setup wizard on both machines, the internet connection on the client machine fires up immediately, and then lo and behold, a few minutes later the connection on the client machine dies. The server PCs internet connection is always fine.

I even did yet another complete reformat and followed the steps given by Nemesis here www.cableforum.co.uk/board/article.php?a=37 step-by-step, but again, though the internet connection works on the client machine it only does so for a few minutes.

PLEASE HELP - I DON'T WANT TO BE BALD!


PS: Here's what is currently showing in my Network Connections if it's any help.

http://freespace.virgin.net/audio.files/info.gif

Client PC is switched of at the time of this screenshot to prevent me from throwing it through the window!

[Paul K]

Have you checked that bot cat5 cables are okay and that both network cards are functioning correctly? When it drops the connection is there any change in device manager as far as the network hardware is concerned? (Does anything disapear from the hardware list until the network wizard is run again
When you say a fresh install did you do a format before installing xp and were the PCs networked deuring the install or just afterwards?

[Brayne Ded]

Both cards and the cable seem fine. I haven't checked device manager as you advise. I'll try again later tonight and report back.

PCs wore completely formatted for each fresh Windows install. I tried having the cable connected and unconnected druing an install. Is either more important than the other?

I just find it really strange that the new connection woks perfectly, but just for a few minutes...

[ian@huth]

Have you had a look at the System Event Logs to see if anything is showing relating to the problem?

Not really ntl related, so moved to "Computers & IT" forum.