1394(firewire) networking problems

[no1_vern]

This past monday lightening struck very close to my house tripping several circuit breakers, and killing my network. It zapped 2 of my nics. I decided rather than buying new cards I would just attach a cable to my computers using 1394 ports in each of the computers.

I thought it would be a quick easy setup. I attached the cable to the ports, changed the IP settings to "IP over Fire Wire," for each of the ports and I made the IP addresses static by selecting "Use the following IP address" and entered 192.168.1.16(and 192.168.1.17). I left the Subnet mask as 255.255.255.0 then tested the network, making sure that both of them are in the same workgroup. I'm able to see both computers from the opposite side, and can transfer files between both of them using Windows explorer. Ipconfig lists the correct settings so that isnt the problem.

My problem is that neither FF 2 nor IE6 can connect/communicate from computer B to computer A. Since computer A connects to the net via DSL I need to be able to make these programs work. I have looked through the settings several times, but I cant find a way to make the internet work. In fact I cant seem to be able to set the internet for either adapter in any way.

im running WinXP/pro SP3 on A, and WinXP SP2 on B
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

[no1_vern]

I finally found a solution. I cleared the arp cache -

Clear the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache by typing the following command at a command prompt:
arp -d ip_address

When I typed the command "arp -a " It informed me that one of the one of the IP addresses -the one I had set as the default gateway- was invalid. Once I ran the command arp -d 192.168.1.254 I had my connectivity back.

I hope this helps anyone who runs across this problem.