hot-digady!!! i have been barking up the wrong tree !!!!

have solved the problem !! hurahh!!!!

the cause was .... iptables !!!! bl**dy firewall !!!
it got configured automatically during installation of RH9. just stopped the iptables service, went to the Windows PC, typed "ping server" and hey presto, it worked!!!!

now all i've got to do is learn about iptables - as well as sendmail, dns, samba ... the list is never ending!

thats what i like about Linux ... great satisfaction in sorting out problems that you can actually configure and tinker with yourself.

Thanks for your help hotrodowner!!

yea, I guess I forgot about iptables, I had that problem too, I always tell redhat and Mandrake to not install the firewall, because I dont need one at my house, my modem has a built in firewall :) good luck on sendmail, your gonna need it :) The only thing I use iptables for though, is to make my linux router.

cheers mate. don't suppose you could post your iptables here so I can use them as either a starting point or a reference?

Having a linux router is a bit complicated, have you thought about buying RedHat Linux 9.0 bible? Thats where I get most of my info.

yeah but never get chance to read 'real' books :)

when you say "linux router" do mean physical hardware (didn't know they just did linux ones) or do you mean a linux pc that you use as a router (ie 2 NIC's, NAT etc)

I mean a linux pc with two network cards in it. Have you not used the tried and true google search?

thats what i thought. (and also what i'm trying to achieve at home)

always do a LQ search first, then a yahoo search. just not enough hours in the day !!