Having problems with your network but don't know where to start troubleshooting? Then read on for a guide to diagnosing your home network. If you still can not find a solution after reading this guide, please post your question in our friendly Home Networking forums.
1. Check the physical connection between the computers. Most network cards have LEDs that light up when the connection is good. If the lights are not lit up, the problem is with your network infrastructure. You may want to try replacing your cable, or restarting your router or hub.
2. Now that you have seen that the physical network is working properly, you will want to make sure that Windows XP's Internet Connection Firewall and all other firewalls are disabled on the home networking connections (leave the firewalls enabled on the Internet connection). Related Articles: Disabling Windows XP's Internet Connection Firewall.
3. If the network is still not working, we will need to check if there are issues with how the software is set up. We can do this with the program ping, but before we can use ping, we will need to determine your IP address and other TCP/IP settings. To find this information you will need to open the Network Connections Control Panel, right click on the connection in question, and select Status. Click the Support tab and then the Details button. You will now see a few rows of information. Write down the IP address and note the subnet. Now do this on the other computer on the network. The subnet should be the same on both computers. If this is not the case, the network will not work properly.
4. Now we will try to use the ping command to test the network connection. Go to Start Menu > Accessories > Command Prompt. Type in the ping followed by the IP address of the other computer on the network, i.e. Ping 192.168.220.101 The data that results will tell you a great deal. If you receive a message saying Request Timed Out, the issue is most likely a firewall blocking access to the computer. Disable the firewall and try again. If you receive a message saying everything is fine we will run a few more tests with ping so leave that window open.
5. We will now test to make sure that TCP/IP is working properly on your computer. TCP/IP is a protocol that allows for communication between two computers. If you run ping 127.0.0.1 and receive a failure, then you know that your TCP/IP installation has been corrupted. Now try pinging your own computer, if that fails as well, the fault is almost certainly in your TCP/IP installation. Related Article: Fixing a corrupted TCP/IP Installation (Microsoft Knowledge Base)
I hope that solved your problem, but if you are still having issues with your network please post in the Home Network Forums for friendly help.