nforce 4 problems

I just assembled a new GA-k8n-sli with the nvidia lan and win xp sp2 home edition. Setup the connection, got the two machines to transfer files, all goes fine till I try and run a game (RON, SSam2, whatever). The two machines don't see one another: neither can create or join. After a while, I gave up and put in my old Linksys 10/100, gave it an address and set the subnet mask....everything works just fine. What gives?

I have Norton '06 on the new machine which connects to the internet through a modem. The problem seems to be with the nforce driver or in configuring it. I had the same problem with a prior nforce 2 computer. I'd like to use the onboard lan and upgrade the connection but I'm stuck. Any suggestions?

Hi riser,
first, thanks for the response.

1. I connected through a 10/100 hub. Same hub for both the nforce (which didn't work) and the linksys (which did).
2. I hate the nvidia firewall. I think I disabled it, I sure didn't set it up.
3. Yep, I have legit copies of the games. All of em work fine with the old card and none with the onboard.

It all works when I use anything but the nforce lan.
Thanks,
CB