[newbie] networking

[root]

alrighty i have my linux box up and running and i have configured the
windows machine my only problum is it dosent work
the nic in the linux mahcine is kicking out at ip adress 192.168.0.1
the default gateway in the windows machine is 192.168.0.1
and the ip adress of the nic in the windows machine is 192.168.0.2
My question is how come when i try to ping the windows machine from the
linux box does the lights on the hub flash?
is there anything you can think of that im missing or things to run to
check my settings ?
thanks for any help
George