XP / 98SE network connection

When i had my 2 pc's with 98 se they would network no problem. I recently upgraded to XP on one of the pc's and now i can't get them to recognise each other. I've tried the 'create a small network' option in XP, using my XP disc on the other to create the network, to no avail. I understand this may be a common problem. I'm grateful for any help

Forget the wizard.
You need to have Client for Microsoft Networking, TCP/IP, File and Printer Sharing installed and enabled in Networking options. NetBIOS should be enabled too. If you have software firewall, disable it or make big holes to allow the MS network traffic.

You need to set both PCs to belong to a same workgroup. Under System Properties->Computer Name in XP, identification in TCP/IP properties under 98SE.
Note: workgroup, not domain.

I trust you are using a crossover cable or a hub/switch to connect the PCs?

File and printer sharing, TCP and NETBIOS all active. Both pc's have same workgroup name, still not seeing each other. I am now using the onboard LAN and that has the same result as the LAN i used before, so i'm sure it's not a hardware fault.

Done that, no joy

Are the machines on a network at all? Can they ping each other?

Good point. Can you check for basic network connectivity? Go onto each machine and try to ping its own IP address and then its partner's IP.

I was certain that it wasn't a hardware problem, as the network worked fine before, but now i have another network card in the 98se pc and it seems to work fine. Would the network card in the 98se pc have to be xp compatible?

Thanks for all your help in sorting out this problem

No, there can't be problems with a NIC being incompatible with the OS in the other end. There can be only problems with the NIC being compatible with hardware/software in the local computer.