Connecting two PCs - what more can I do?

I am trying to connect two machines. One W95 (OSR2), one W98SE, using a crossover cable. I have posted here before, but I am still hitting a brick wall so I am desperate for some advice.
The W95 (a Fujitsu P166) has a Netgear EA201 NIC (ISA), the W98 (a Dell P700) has a CNET Pro200WL (PCI). I have tried every possible protocol. The first time I booted up I thought I was in luck - an error message came up about clashing IP addresses (I had stupidly left the same address on both machines). After that, nothing. After eight to ten hours of trying, the Dell very briefly saw the other machine (while using NetBEUI), but only for a few seconds (if it's a clue, it seemed to happen when I was running the Netgear diagnostic test on the EA201 - which it passed with flying colours. And I ran it in Dos and made sure the IRQ agreed with the IRQ in the Device Manager).
I have used two different crossover cables. I know one of them works, and I know that the Network cards function because both of the machines have recently been connected to the Net via an Ethernet DSL modem (using one of the crossover cables I'm currently using - both are Belkin).
At the moment the set-up I am trying has NetBEUI as default protocol, BrowseMaster enabled on the Dell and disabled on the Fujutsu. The Dell can see itself, the Fujitsu sees nothing. When I switch to automatic Browsemaster on both, both see themselves, but not the other machine. I switched LM announce on, it doesn't help. I have also tried to set it up with TCP/IP as default, and even IPX/SPX. No luck. I have tried it with each individual protocol installed on its own, and in combination. No luck. With TCP/IP enabled, pinging the IP address of the other machine gets no response. Pinging the same machine is fine (as you would hope).
I have double and treble checked that all the basics are right (machines have different names, same workgroup, something is shared on each machine).
It just should not be this difficult to connect two machines. Any advice would be very welcome. The only thought I have is that the original IP address clash may have disabled something in one of the machines?
JohnK

1. RE: Connecting two PCs - what more can I do?
lbyard Dec-24-00 06:29 PM
In response to message 0

John, Stay with NetBEUI until the network works. Please take the time to again verify that you have a crossover cable. Look at the connectors at the ends of the cable side-by-side with the tabs away from you and the connector pointed up (see http://duxcw.com/digest/Howto/network/net2pc/hardware.htm). If the first two wires on the left are identical it is not a crossover cable. If the cable is good, look at the LEDs on the network cards. Most have Activity, Link, and 100 Mhz LEDs. If all of the network software is installed and you have both computers logged in, the activity LED should be blinking and the Link and 100 Mhz LEDS should be on all of the time. Did you run the diagnostics on the CNET Pro200WL? I don’t see where you have a network adapter for DSL. Please remove it and any DSL stuff. If you have any Internet Sharing Software installed, remove it. Remove the Uninstall all network components on both computers and reinstall just the network adapters, Client for Mictrosoft Networks, NetBEUI, and File and Printer Sharing. Set login to login with Microsoft Networking. Remove everything else: TCP/IP, dial-up adapter, Family login, etc. Please come back after doing these steps and don’t get ahead of the game or spend hours and hours on it. I imagine that your confidence is rather low. Chin-up, Windows networks really do work and work well most of the time. Larry