vista ethernet trouble

ok im posting this for a friend, but she is having trouble with windows vista connecting to the internet with and ethernet cable from her modem directly.

she has a compaq persario cq60 running windows vista home basic with service pack one, her internet company is american broadband, dose anyone know if there is a setting or anything that can be changed to make them work together, or any reccomendations.

 

What exactly is/is not happening when she tries to connect?
More info would be helpful. (Error messages, no connection, slow connection, etc.)
Clearing browser history and cleaning out temp files would be 2 basic things to try.
Also, shutting down modem and comp and rebooting in sequence; allowing the modem to fully connect before booting up comp.

 

when she connects the cord she gets a connection but only local, we have cleared history and temp files, and have rebooted them alot to try, i acctually work at a cable isp provider but not hers as we are in diffrent states, so the basic stuff like that we did. i couldnt find alot of info on her net company to tell me if they much trouble

 

You could also try booting into "Safe mode with Networking" to see if there is a possible software conflict or drivers.
Try disabling firewall for a short time to see if this is blocking the connection.
Does an ipconfig /all from the command prompt produce usable settings - no 169.254.x.x IP address?
Have you tried an ipconfig /release & ipconfig/renew from the command line?
Kinda shooting in the dark here.