Bada boom, but no ping

[phpCypher]

This problem has happened to me several times with XP. Whenever you make a change in the configuration of the network, XP auto-allocates the annoying "169.*.*.*" "AUTO" congfig IP address.

There are several options for you.

1. One is simply swap the nics between the two machines, as per a previous post, so XP will configure it with your new settings that you manually enter. This solves a symptom not the problem as XP will increment your NIC card's number, leaving the misconfigureded NIC card to stink up your registry, and to come back the next time you re-install the original NIC.
Out of the two times this has happened to me, I was once able to remove the initial nic from the registry, and it was all good.

2. Re-install. This method proves to be the best, even if as a last resort. This takes 20 minutes on average, not including making backups. Benifits include clean registry,system files closer to the center of the disc, etc.,etc.

3. Wait around for Auto-config to come out of hiatus.

4. Physically swap pci slots, hoping XP comes to it's senses.

I normally go for option two as it causes less headaches, and requires 0 hardware work. However this may not be convenient for you. I'm not too sure how this Auto-config thing comes out of the woodwork, but it is definetly tedious and time consuming..........

-- -- Hope any of this helps -- --