Help getting an XPhome laptop to see a win2k server over a HUB

[motech]

Well... that laptop went up to get connected with it's
server again (several hundred miles away from me).

I had added the server to it's c:\i386\hosts file
and set the ip on the server to the same.
(since that worked to see my home network perfectly)

and the call comes in this morning that it still can't see
the server.

In fact, the laptop says it can't reach the network when it
tries to ping the server.

Would all of this be easier if they used a router instead of
a hub?

One of these days I'm going to have to hire someone with a large
club to pound networking basics into my head :( It's the only
area I really have a problem with and it's driving me nutz
trying to fix this problem over the phone now. AAAaarrrrgh!

[Big Max]

Hi,

Where are the server and laptop located? Are they in the same building? If so, is there an exisiting network to connect them to? More details please?

A router is better than a hub, particularly if you want to use DHCP for network addressing. You can also use static IP's with a router, of course. A hub only gives you the option of static IP's because hubs cannot run DHCP or assign addresses automatically.

[aeinstein]

i'll 2nd the router 4/use w/DHCP

"...The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake..." rf

[TheOgre]

WinXP HOME doesn't have the ability to login to a server/network, a feature they left out so you'd have to buy XP Pro or Windows 2000.

The hosts file you need to edit resides in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\