XP lan problems

I have 2 pc's both with windows xp sp2.

One pc (pc 1) is the lan's server, and connects directly to the internet, I can share internet with a third computer, a notebook, without problems.

I have two network ethernet cards on pc1 , one I use to connect to the notebook, and the other is used to connect to the other pc ( pc 2). I have a xp software bridge between both connections.

There seem to be no hardware problems with the cards, and i am using a crossed cable that works correctly.

The problem is:
pc2 and pc1 can't see each other on the lan, and don't respond to pings.
On each pc, the connection's status shows N bytes sent, none received.
Each says the other computer is not found when i use "ping name", and i get only timeouts when i use "ping ip".

Ics should work even with automatic ip settings just running the wizzard, and it does with the pc1-notebook, but for some reason it doesn't with pc1-pc2.
I am trying to use static ip's just to see if i can connect pc1-pc2 just so they can ping each other..

IP configuration:
PC1
fixed ip - 192.168.0.1
mask-255.255.255.0

PC2
fixed ip - 192.168.0.2
mask-255.255.255.0
gateway -192.168.0.1
DNS and DHCP (i think..)server -192.168.0.1

I have pc-cillin and i have opened the firewall on each with an entry using subnet and the other computer's ip and mask(again i didnt do this before and ics worked with the notebook just using the wizard).

Both have netbios activated over TCP IP (it says to do so if using fixed ip's).

If I use automatic ip settings pc2 warns about non-existent/limited connection connectivity(can't get ip address), but it fixed ip's it seems fine, but just doesn't work (both pcs send, but don't receive).

Any ideas?