Well I shall try Goates but some things would just take too long to fully explain and remembering ALL of the error messages you recieve along the way can be difficult..... I'm sure there's something fundamentally wrong and it's probably VERY obvious to someone but here's a little.....
Have 2 machines PC and Laptop both XPhome and both got network cards. Linked them together with crossover cable and ran the Wizard of Oz......
On the host (PC) keep getting System subspool error at the end of the wizard and error report sent to MS who claim to know about it but offer no comfort according to the error report. Occasionally I can run the wizard and I don't get this error but anyhow the results remain the same. It's irregular, sometimes although both are named differently and are on MSHOME as a workgroup sometimes one will not see the other and the warning comes up that I don't have administrative rights to access MSHOME or on the odd occasion that both computer's appear in "view workgroup computers" if I try to access info from the other computer I get the message "you do not have administrative rights to access this computer" etc etc etc.... I have the root of each computer shared and my hair falling out.....
The host PC can be commanded to connect to the internet by the laptop (and often connects without me asking it to) BUT I keep getting the message "The page cannot be displayed" in internet explorer....
If I click on "status" on the LAN connection it shows both are connected and packets are being sent and received (though I know not where...)
Have tried setting user defined IP addresses for the TCP/IP in the range - 192.168.0.* and allowing windows to obtain the address automatically.
And to think I bought this laptop to experience the enjoyment of "managing a network"....
Grrr again hehe!