Reinstallation issues with Ethernet...

Ok, so i get a computer built last year and its buggy. I finaly reformat the hard drive and it seems to be stable. I reinstall my graphics and sounds drivers but my Ethernet Card isn't working properly. According to the computer everything is in order. It's "Enabled" status but when i goto "Network Connections" in Control Panel i have no IP address and everything else is "unavailable". I have reinstalled my graphics card and windows many times within the past year and every time i got my ethernet card to work; i installed the unified drivers off nvidia.com and they seem to work for it and the sound issues, but not this time. I cannot find ANY help ANY where. I was wondering if maybe the Ethernet card wasn't activated somehow. I seem to recall doing it before, kind of like the way you have to activate "Appearance and Themes" option for the control panel, but i don't remember where to do it. It sounds a little confusing, but i'm tired and angry.
Also In the network adapter area it sais i have a 1394 Net Adapter by Microsoft already in the network adapter slot. There are no yellow exclamations next to it or question marks, so im totaly baffled. And yes, my ethernet cords are pluged in and i've even tried with my wireless Linksys adapter wich all the lights are on meaning that i technicaly am connected to the internet.
If you have any ideas they are more than welcome. Microsoft has NOTHING on their website.

BTW, i'm on Windows Xp.

 

can u give us some more detailed specs such as mobo, netowrk card, etc?
thnx

 

No IP address, huh?

Have you run WINIPCFG to release and renew your IP address? What happens when you do that?

And how are you connecting to the Internet? Through a router or direct through a cable or DSL modem?

 

I hanvnt tried running that program ill try it out. I'm going through a routewr but i've never had problems with it and my roomates can access the internet fine.

So just now i took out the ethernet card from my older pc and tried to put it in the pci slot in my newer PC. I have asmall shuttle pc so i had to take out the graphics card (Asylum geforce fx5600 agp) to install the ethernet card. i pulled the Graphics card out, put the card in, put back the graphics card and start my system hoping that the system would detect new hardware. well i have a new problem with my newer pc now. I tried 2 moniters (1 BRAND new) and they dont turn on. my newer moniter sais that theres no input device. it recognizes that i plug the cable into something but it won't display the images and goes into standby mode. so now i don't know if somehow i fried anything or if the port that plugs into the moniter is malfunctioned or not. ill try to install the graphics card on my older PC to make sure if its a problem with the card or not. if its not then i fear my agp slot might have defected, or maybe the computer is looking for a device in the pci slot. i have no idea.

So i go downstairs, reinstall the ethernet card into the older pc wich it came with and now i have the same stupid problem, compter is not recognizing the stupid card. when i goto device manager the only network adapters it finds is Lookback adapter and something else, neither are the ethernet card. i don't have any software for the card, never did.
Also in my newer PC it doesn't have an actual Ethernet card, its just a piece that apears to be connected to the motherboard.

man im so angry. thanks for the input thus far, more advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Ok well all i had to do on my older comp was remove the ethernet card, start the comp. turn it off then back on again and it detected the card. im gonna try our WoW on it now so i wont have an update for the graphics card for a little while.