Problems getting PC-to-Mac ethernet to work

I don't know if this will help but, I have a MacBook Pro and a PC also. I am able to transfer files back and forth using a wireless router. My PC is connected via ethernet and my MBP is connected via wifi to my router. I do not have any sharing options turned on on my MBP. I haven't changed any settings on the router except for the wireless security options. I do have a few folders and a hard drive on my pc turned on for sharing and I can view/update the files in those pc folders on my MBP.

Connecting a MBP to a PC via ethernet cable is a real pain in the neck. Have you tried a "crossover" ethernet cable? IMO, using a router is the way to go. It's much easier to setup and use.

As thasro says, using wireless is the simpler method ...

On your PC laptop right click on the C: hard drive, click the Sharing Tab and check the "Share this folder on the network" box then click Apply then OK

On the Mac from the Finder select Go/Connect to Server and in the box that pops open enter smb:// nameofPC then hit Connect

If this method doesn't work please post the result/error message you get ?

Great, just be warned that iTunes on the PC and Mac have different naming conventions and sometimes track details can get jumbled/distorted when you move things back and forth in this way.

Having a bit of trouble with this. all fine until i am entering my pc name. Typing : smb//pcname and all i am getting is the message "connection failed the server may not exist:. Also "connecting to server. You cannot connect to the server because it cannot be found on the network". Can anyone help with my next step?

You might be missing the ':' after the 'smb' as you haven't included it in your post.

I have put the ":" in after the smb. Recap I have typed "smb://" then my computer name. I'm sure that I must be missing something simple out.

You could try turning the firewall off on both the mac and pc - see if that makes any difference.
Also, are you using WiFI? a router / switch with cables? or directly connecting with a cross over patch cable?
Can you 'ping' the ip address of one machine from the other? Both ways? Are they both setup to use the same sub-net mask?

Thanks for getting back to me greg. Will check for the firewalls. Pc connected to my router via Ethernet cable, MacBook via wifi. Not got a lot of tecnical knoledge so don't know about both pinging each other. How could I check this? Same for the sub net mask. Have tried connectiog via Ethernet cable but same problem. Should I be using a specialist cable for this? Any help or advise is greatly apreciated.

No need for a special cable these days. Almost all devices can tell which way the traffic is moving and adjust themselves accordingly.
On the PC open a command window and type in 'ipconfig /all' to get it to tell you the network settings. These will include the ip address and the sub-net mask (often 255.255.255.0). On the Mac the same settings can be found in System Preferences / Networking. Both machines really need to be on the same sub-net. Once you know the ip address of both machines.. on the PC command window type in 'ping x.x.x.x' where the x's are the address of the Mac. If all is well you should get some responses and the packets transmitted count should be the same as the packets received. On the Mac, open a Terminal window (Applications/Utilities/Terminal) and type the same command (but using the PC's ip address) you should get the same or very similar result.
If this does not work at all, then the two machines can not see each other and you will have to start again from scratch to set the networking up so that they can see each other.

Hope this helps.