I inherited my Dad's Dell Dimension 4550 Desk top Computer. After the computer sat around for almost a year, I decided to start it up to see how it would perform. The computer took about 8-10 minutes to boot up and he had more programs on the computer than he had program boxes. My assumption was he purchased some programs online and loaded them directly from the web site as either full prgrams or trials. After discussing with to some Family members who are familar with Windows based computers, a decision was made to reformat the drive and reinstall a new Operating system, because the existing programs he had on the computer I would have no use for.
After installing the new Windows XP Operating system, I am finding that the ethernet port is not functioniing and therefore, I have no access to the internet.

1) I have checked the Device Manager which shows an Ethernet Controller under Other devices. 2) I receive a momentary black screen with no information on it when I do an "ipconfig". 3)There is no listing of any equipment in My Network and 4)I am unable to create a new internet connection( see http://www.nbcs.rutgers.edu/newdocs/winXP/net/winXPnet.php3).5) I performed a enable/disable/enable cycle of the Ethernet controller from the Device Manager.

Nothing is working. Does any one have any recommendations?

Please confirm all your drivers are up to date: http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic100658.html
You may need to copy the drivers onto USB flash drive to update the Network drivers only, if no Internet access