Oh ok. All you see is the advertisement then. Zorin OS Core 5 is finally ready for download, today. I have been waiting on this as I have been using the RC version. RC meaning the release candidate. The release candidate allows people to judge the OS before it becomes a distribution release. First there is the alpha release, then the beta release, then the release candidate and then finally the final distribution release. Its a 1.1 GB download so I know it is going to take a while at 32 kps.

And this addresses the problem how??????

Oh ok. Sorry. Back to the original problem. Can you disable the onboard NIC and use a NIC on the PCI slot. Sometimes you don't even need to do that as Windows or Linux will look till they find one that works. If you have two NICS you can have the onboard set up homenetworking and the other one setup for Internet. I am assuming the computer has PCI slots since it had 2K on it. With my ISP I am allowed three MAC addresses so when I switch computers to work on them I just transfer the NIC the ISP is used to and the ISP sees it as the same computer.

I think the last request for information was for the result of mashing a ctrl+alt+del. From what I can gather from the thread, no results were given. RainbowTrout merely offered what he thought as pertinent at that point. Let's not confuse this forum as consumer support.

It's a computer and technology forum ain't it?

Why not try and help a non techie out once in a while?

What is a NIC and how do you disable it?

If it was a business machine it might have a hard coded ip address. Try this.
Connect the ethernet cable to the router.
Right click on my network places
Right click on local area connection
Left click on properties
This should bring up a box. Highlight Internet protocal(tcp/ip) and then click on properties.
This will bring up another box.
Make sure obtain an ip address automatically is checked and reboot......

Now that's the kind of answers I'm looking for.

Jeff, what is the work-around to get
to 'My Network Places' when there
is no START?

I am pretty sure the techie tried to get
an IP and could not.

But I will try anything/everything on this
page when I put it back together.

If it is locked down that tight I would rebuild it from scratch. You can see what your options are during the rebooting process. Some have a restore to original settings. The only other thing I can think of is to boot up in safe mode and see what your options are.

A network interface controller (also known as a network interface card, network adapter, LAN adapter and by similar terms) is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to a computer network.
Whereas network interface controllers were commonly implemented on expansion cards that plug into a computer bus, the low cost and ubiquity of the Ethernet standard means that most newer computers have a network interface built into the motherboard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_interface_controller

You forgot to thank him for allowing you to google that for him

If there is no "START" button, then your task bar may have been moved or resized so that it is no longer visible.

1) Reboot the workstation
2) Immediately after the reboot, start to Press F8 repeatedly until you get into the Startup Menu.
3) Choose Safe Mode.

This will reset the position of your task bar.