Local pvt cbl network alongside shared wireless router issues

[EdH]

Hi,
I'm trying to set up a private cabled network between my new machine and my old with a view to running the old through the new. The new machine has Vista and the old XP, both are part of a wireless network shared by the building, but I have connected them with a crossover cable as well.
As far as I can tell, neither machine is recognising the existence of the other. They appear in each others network windows, but through the existing wireless network (at least I think).
The network port on the old machine is fine, I've networked it with another computer in the past, the new could be broken, so I bought a usb adapter, still with no result.
Do I need to buy another router simply to connect the machines directly to each other?

Cheers!

[johnwill]

For each of these two machines, let's see this.


Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

Type the following two commands:

nbtstat -n

ipconfig /all

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

[EdH]

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Ed>nbtstat -n

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [169.254.6.51] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
BILL <00> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered
BILL <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1E> GROUP Registered
WORKGROUP <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

Wireless Network Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.1.68] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
BILL <00> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered
BILL <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1E> GROUP Registered
WORKGROUP <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

C:\Users\Ed>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Bill
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : home

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NETGEAR WG111v2 54Mbps Wireless USB 2.0 A
dapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-14-6C-F1-95-1E
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::c53d:e798:f825:6556%10(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.68(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 13 January 2008 14:55:11
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 15 January 2008 02:55:09
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 218109036
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : F8-62-DA-8F-13-00
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::49a7:3698:bd45:633%8(Preferred)
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.6.51(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 217604826
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5efe:169.254.6.51%9(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.home
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e66:2887:9b3:3f57:febb(Prefe
rred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::2887:9b3:3f57:febb%11(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.home
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5efe:192.168.1.68%15(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

C:\Users\Ed>

[EdH]

hmm
my cmd encounters an illegal operation on the other PC for some reason.
Is there another way to access the information?

[johnwill]

Well, for the wired crossover cable, you'll need to configure those NIC's manually with an IP address, say 192.168.5.2 and 192.168.5.3 and a subnet of 255.255.255.0. Leave the Default Gateway and DNS Server addresses blank.

As far as the IPCONFIG bombing, that certainly indicates a problem with your installation.

For the XP machine, try this stack repair, don't know if it'll have an effect on the IPCONFIG issue.

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows XP with SP2.

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt:

Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ip reset reset.log

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog

Reboot the machine.

[EdH]

Unfortunately I cant use the cmd prompt at all, it performed an illegal operation on the first attempt at opening, then simply doesn't respond on all other attempts.
It could be a virus, so I might have to fix that first. Have you ever come across a completely unresponsive command prompt?

[johnwill]

Take a look at this SFC Tutorial, I think it's time to try to repair the installation.

[EdH]

I've tried sfc, but it didn't find any problems. (or at least it didn't tell me of any!)
I'd like to avoid a complete re-install as the reason for me networking them is partly to copy across all my files without clogging up the wireless.
Is it possible to re-install the cmd prompt on ots own?

[johnwill]

Hard to say without doing some detailed digging.

You could always take the disk out of the machine and connect it temporarily for the copies.

[EdH]

True, that may be the best option. I will however want to network them after doing a re-install, were there any problems on the vista side that will need addressing?

[johnwill]

Your Vista installation looks fine, you just have a problem with the XP machine.

[EdH]

Fair enough, I'll transfer directly from the disk and re-install my XP.
Thanks for all the help!