NoviceBill

We have 2 computers, one with XP and the other with windows2000. I would like to network them, but haven't yet bought a router; I intend to eventually but want to make sure I can at least get started before spending much money. The issue of PC How-To Guide that I have has a pretty descriptive step-by-step method for networking, and it says that two computers can get by with a RJ-45 crossover cable and nothing else. I believe that I've purchased one (cat 6), but after cabling them together, both computers say that "A network cable is unplugged" when I mouse over the "Local Area Connection" icon. When I run Network Setup Wizard on the XP computer (which will be the ICS host), it also gives me a message indicating that the network cable is unplugged. It's not unplugged, because I plugged it in and can see that it's plugged in. I've rebooted both computers several times, but neither seems to recognize the cable. This seems like it should be simple, but I'm obviously missing something. Any help would be appreciated, as always. Thanks.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I eventually went and purchased a used ATI card for $20 which works fine. FYI, I think my nVidia card is actually OK. I actually went and read the ReadMe file on the Win2K installation disk, and it said that display controllers based on the nv4 display chipset may experience incompatibilities with systems that contain the VIA system chipset. So the generic driver that came with windows won't work with my nVidia videocard, and I have to find the driver that will. I contacted HP a couple of times, but so far their options haven't gotten me the correct driver. Since everything's running, it's not a pressing matter, but it's become kind of personal so I haven't given up yet. Anyways, I appreciate your help.

Still having trouble booting my Compaq after I install the drivers for the videocard (or let Windows 2000 install them for me); original post was #143271. Sampson suggested I ensure that the BIOS specifies a boot default to AGP (not PCI). The BIOS options I can get to seem pretty weak, with not a whole lot of options available and nothing regarding AGP. The books I have by Meyers and Mueller show BIOS screens with all kinds of stuff, but I only get a little bit. Are Compaq BIOSs realy this lame or is there another area I can access but don't know how? (the Advanced pull-down also doesn't have much). I've read that older compaq systems may use something called an IML system partition BIOS where some of the BIOS is hidden on the hard drive and only the core BIOS remains on the motherboard. Now I realize that if this is the case, and I have already installed a new hard drive, this new hard drive won't have the Compaq-supplied BIOS stuff hidden away on it somewhere. I do, however, still have my old drive with all the stuff still on it: I've put it into one of those external HD enclosures. Does anyone know if I might be on the right track here, and if so, how do I get at the "hidden" BIOS stuff on my old drive? and how to get it onto the new drive? (copy/paste obviously, but I don't know what files to look for). Thanks!

I have a compaq presario with a pentium III CPU. Recently replaced the hard drive with a 80GB Western Digital drive, and did a clean install of Windows 2000. It wouldn't boot unless I went into Safe Mode or Enable VGA Mode, even after I reinstalled the drivers for the video card, so I assumed the video card was bad (a nVidia Riva TNT2 Model 64). Replaced it with an ATI Radeon 7000, and the computer did boot up, but when I installed the driver for the videocard, it again refused to boot (gives a blank screen midway through the boot process). This seems to be a pattern: it won't boot (except in safe or vga modes) once I install the drivers for the video card. I (now) have two videocards, and it does the same thing with either. I've tried all kinds of permutations, like uninstalling all drivers, switching videocards, rebooting and reinstalling, etc., but can't seem to get it to work. It worked before I switched hard drives, but the old hard drive now does the same thing. Any ideas? Thanks for any help.bold textitalic textbold text