I found going with a wireless router solved my problems eventually Mike. There are all sorts and makes out there to do the job. The one i bought was the D-Link DSL-G604T
http://dlink.com.au/default.aspx?FolderID=227. Modem/Router all in one. It has good range with the wireless side and so handy to be able to go anywhere in the house or out the back with the laptop. A couple of days ago i put a bigger hard drive in the laptop and more ram then put xp on the new drive and had a few problems setting up the network again, but all fell together with the Router making it easier to look at both machines. I maybe alone on this but i think if you are going to network and share internet on both machines, do it through a Router, i found it to be a lot less frustrating than trying to do it with out a router. Good luck.