I have two computers one PC and one notebook running redhat linux enterprise 4.
i have tried to connect them with cross over cable .
I have put the computers on same network and subnet masks but both of them dont ping to each other giving a message destination host unreachable on both the computers

gave up finally trying all possibilties

can anyone suggest the seetings needed step by step

What's the output of the route command?

I assume both interfaces are up

Have you stopped iptables on both machines as a precaution?

Cheers

Well both the interfaces are up, when i try and ping each of the system the message i get to see is destination host unreachable .
I was suggested to mention the ip address of the first system as default gateway for the second and vice versa which unfortunately did not work
iptables are stopped by default.

But what does the route command show?

Do you have a hub that you can connect both machines to via straight through cables?

Maybe you could post the contents of the ifcfg-eth* files to see what they contain?

Post the output of /sbin/ifconfig on both machines.
Did you install and configure samba on both machines?
Does /sbin/ifconfig show that both interfaces have IP addresses?
Are both IP addresses different?
Are both IP addresses on different subnets?

You might try using nmap to tell you which ports are open on the hosts.

If you are using the 192.168.1.0/24 network then the route should look like this:
The default gateway is what you would use to access a host outside of your subnet--usually a router. If you don't access the internet, and don't have another subnet, then you don't need a default gateway.

Hi

Just a quick thought, have you placed the ip address and host name in each others /etc/hosts file.

ie:

computer A /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 localhost
172.16.0.1 computerA
172.16.0.2 computerB


computer B /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 localhost
172.16.0.2 computerB
172.16.0.1 computerA