Lester,

not sure if I understand your problem...

There is a feature in XP called Media Sense. What it does is it disables the
TCP stack if there is no network cable attached. You can switch it off by

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
New entry in this folder
-Name: DisableDHCPMediaSense
-Typ: REG_DWORD -Boolean
-Value: 0, 1 (False, True) Default: 0 (False), hence 1 to switch off
MediaSense for TCP/IP.


Florian