Ah, that's one of NTL's addresses. Somethings gone awry somewhere. It's a combination of XP being thick and ICS being **** at the best of times.

Time to buy a router I think, much easier solution.

ok i will take your word for it mate, therefore any recomendations for router? i have a 25m and 30m cable ready to pull in once sorted as both machines in same room at the mo

Deja vu? Haven't we done this before?

You should no youre in the matrix theres that black cat again! :!:

I assume the modem connects by rj45 if you have NTL, if so connect broadband router to cable modem, connect pc and laptop to router, connect to router with desktop machine and tell router to clone mac address.

Set up desktop and laptop to recieve an ip address automatically.

You should then be in business

modem connects to desktop via usb

Does the modem also have a RJ45 10\100 network connection? If so you just need a router with ethernet WAN and LAN ports. You can then connect as many PC's as you want to it then and it's not a headache every time.

yes it has, i have a router a friend gave me, it is a d link dl-524 wireless router, i plugged the cable i tried it but didnt get the wan light to say internet connected, in instructions it says you have to open up internet explorer and connect to routers ip address but couldnt get it to do it, what cable should i use from modem to router? cross over or normal? the router comes with a cable also and wireless lan card etc

Could be a duff cable. Should work with either straight or x-over.

Before you start, default the router as the IP address could have changed. Also, do the config via a cable on the LAN side before conecting up the rest of the wires.

Followed instructions on screen but no wan light for connection and tried 2 or 3 cables