I have 2 laptops and I need to transfer files from 1 to the other but my burner will not work so I am trying to connect them via crossover cable but when I connect it nothing happens! After a few minutes the lan connection will come up saying limited or no connection. Could somebody send me a step by step guide for setting up this type of connection please!! I need to reboot my laptop but can't till I get this sorted! :mad:

Actually if you received a message that you have limited connectivity then basically you CAN talk to the other computer. If you had no link at all then you get nothing. If you had Link then both computers will try to negotiate an IP address via DHCP. Since neither computer is a DHCP server they sit there and wait a while waiting for an IP. After some period both computers give up and then you get the message about limited connectivity. Now at this point what happens is that each computer will assign themselves an IP address in a reserved IP address block that is standard. Find out what that IP is for both computers and you can then talk with the other computer using that IP address. You can do START -> RUN -> type cmd [ENTER]. Then type ipconfig. This will display the IP addresses that each computer chose for itself. Both of those IP's might seem like they don't belong to the same subnet but in fact they do as they are chosen out of a predetermined IP address range (169.254.*.*) that is standard for when DHCP is not available. Each computer will automatically and at random pick an address anywhere from 169.254.1.0 through 169.254.254.255. The subnet mask used is 255.255.0.0 which means that the entire address range above is part of the same subnet.

The easiest thing to do if you want to avoid the wait is to assign each computer a temporary static IP address (don't assign a gateway) from any subnet you want (say 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2). This will avoid the "limited connectivity" message and get you connected slighter more quick.

Good luck.

Check out Direct Cable Connection in Windows Help.