Internet Connection Sharing (XP)

Good day. I am having a problem connecting my client comp to the internet. I have a ADSL USB external modem and a hub connecting both comps. Internet Gateway is disabled on client comp and I am unable to establish contact. I cannot ping IP address on host. Things were working great until 3 days ago and then poof. File sharing is working no problem. I even switched host and client comps, it worked for a little while, however, same result.

I am stumped. Plse breakdown the jargon as much as possible, I got used to using the ICS (which isn't working either) .

Thanks.

a) NEVER EVER use "USB ADSL Modems" NEVER!

b) What's "Internet Gateway" ?

c) Why don't you have a proper router and network? They work out being cheaper and provide more security.

In the old days when I used to use dial-up, I ued Internet Gateway. Thinking about it now, Im sure that it is basically a connection to the computer running ICS. There are certain boxes you can tick which allow you to control the Internet Connection from any computer running off of the ICS. e.g. You can connect, disconnect and view the status of the connection from any client computer. I am pretty sure thats what it is for!

So "Internet Gateway" is the name of a connection-sharing/proxy product like WinGate?

...Because the term "An internet gateway" is also a technical term.