The cable must be a cross over, and make sure you set the ip addresses on the same network.
e.g 192.100.3.1 and 192.100.3.2.
When you have set the ip addresses, run ipconfig on the dos promp to check they are set.
marcus, March 2006
Is the network cable a "cross-over cable"? It sounds like it might not be. For simply stringing two PCs together you use a Cross Over Cable.