network between 2 computers with no hub

Where you have a "one way" connection when you ping it sounds like the firewall installed by SP2 on Windows XP is enabled. It will block the pings and file sharing unless you enable exceptions. For test purposes, try disabling it. This can be done by going to control panel | Windows firewall | off.

That's what I thought of at first but I'm running SP1 on the XP machine and there's no firewall. The previous machine did run XP SP2 and had a firwall that was simple to disable. My guess is I need to change some other security features here but I have no idea where to start. I mentioned that when I try to call up the win 2k machine with a cmd prompt from the XP, I get a user name password dialogue. I don't have any idea how to set that up either.
     Any other ideas?
         Thanks

That would have been to easy wouldn't it. :)
-Can you verify the cable is OK? Try another if necessary
-On the XP machine since it doesn't respond try reseting the network card by entering at a command line:
  netsh  int  ip  reset  c:\reset.txt
-When asked for the username and password have you tried to enter a legitimate account name and password that exists on the server? If so does it connect?
-Have you tried to connect through a Windows Explorer window with \\ServerName\ShareName to see if it asks for credentials (username and password)
-Other things to double check on both machines, but would not have anything to do with inability to ping
  -Client for Microsoft networks enabled on the network card properties
  -File and print sharing enabled
  -Members of same workgroup (assuming not a domain)
  -A folder is shared on both machines
  -Exact same account on both machines, using same username and password (not blank) will allow you to connect without having to enter credentials when connecting

More questions than answers, but perhaps one will lead to an answer.

BTW:  you do understand that you will get a lot more functionality out of this if you go down and spend $20 on a switch, and just use it for sharing your network...  If the switch were 100Mbps full duplex, then your data transfer would increase also (vs. any half duplex setting..)

Do you have any firewall program installed? Norton internet security or norton antivirus which may block network connectivity. Or either zone alarm settings which may be set as untrusted network.

Regards,
chobo

SP1 and plain old vanila Windows XP comes with a Firewall, not just SP2.  SP2 is a much more hardier firewall then the one that came standard though.

OK I found I was changing settings to the wrong card on the XP machine. I can now ping in both directions. When I run>(the win 2k machine) from the XP machine I get a security dialogue box. I guess I need to set up passwords on each machine? I'm not using any administrator password (that I know of) on either machine right now. How do I go about doing this and will I need to log on with a password each and every time I boot up or try to access files?
    Thanks for the help - looks like I'm almost there.

If you create identical user accounts, with the same passwords, then you will not have to supply a password..  But regardless, you need at least one user account on each machine with a password so that you can access files.  This is a requirement.

If using XP Pro (and this goes for W2K too) Open computer management (right click My Computer > Manage) and drill down to Users Container.  In the right hand pane, right click the account (I suggest administrator) and choose Change Password.

If using Home edition, then you must go to the Control Panel > Users and set the password there..

FE

BTW:  you will get a warning about changing passwords..  this is only applicable if you have encrypted anything on your system.  If you have, decrypt it first!

FE

OK.
   I guess I'm getting somewhere. I can access my "shared" folder that resides on the Win 2k machine when I run>\\server on the replacement XP machine but I need to type in a password each time the machine is rebooted. I can not see the folder in "My Computer" tree. I cannot see the folder when I try to open photos through an application (Photoshop).
    On my old machine (the one I'm replacing) I was able to see both drives that reside on the Win 2k machine.
    I can't remember how I did it but I was able to see these drives with the old XP machine. I never needed a password either. What am I doing wrong?

Okay, you are close to resolving this.  You can map a drive and have it be 'persistent' if you wish.  I use the Net Use command for my networked mapped drives like this:

net use x: \\"servername"\"sharename" "password" /user:"administrator" /persistent

IE..  you need to fill in everything in parenthesis..  :)

Things are looking better all the time.
   I have all the drives mapped. I can see them when I open "My Computer" window I can access them through the application I'm running (Photoshop).
   I'm stiil having the password issue though. It's really odd because I never had this problem with the first XP machine I set up.
  I have even ste the Win 2k machine up to access the drives in the new XP machine. There is no password issue on the Win 2k machine.
   I have set both machines with identical accounts and passwords. I have tried running
 net use x:\\"servername"\"sharename" "password" /user:"administrator" /persistent

I also put this in as a command prompt and got back a syntax error with a suggestion for correct syntax structure but I can't figure out the exact way this should be written.

  My computer Name is "Dell733" My account name is "KLM" password "KLM"
 The drive names (as expressed in the XP "My Computer" window are
 "c$ on 'Dell733' (Y:)" and
 "e$ on 'Dell733' (Z:)"

I guess I can live with the password issue but as I said I never had this probem with the other XP machine and I didn't run into it with the Win 2k machine.

I'm sure I'm not running the "persistent" command correctly. Can you try to type out exactly what I should key in with the account information I provided?

        Thanks very much

slrzoom try connecting to a share other than C$ and see if you still have the password issue. "$" shares are hidden Administrator shares only, and are treated somewhat differently.  Also it is not a "best practice" to share the entire C drive. Try sharing a folder like "Data" and using the above suggestions. Example ( I added some spaces for clarity):
net use Y:  \\Dell733\Data  KLM  /user:KLM   /persistent:yes

Ditto!  :)

slrzoom, any luck resolving as of yet?
--Rob