K8n neo3 lan issue - not working

Question

this spiffy new motherboard has been working very well for me, except for the lan - it doesn't do anything.
i upgraded to a k8n neo3 + sempron 2800+, from a k7 1700+.  i'm using the same case and power supply, and my watt-meter shows the new setup uses 20 watts less power, so i know it's not a psu issue.  i'm running w2k with sp4 slipstreamed in.
anyway, whether i use the msi-supplied network drivers or ones fresh from nvidia.com, i can't get an address supplied to me via dhcp from my router, and if i statically assign an address (10.0.0.3) the same way i did with the previous k7 setup, i can ping myself (10.0.0.3) but can't ping the router or modem (10.0.0.2 and 10.0.0.1 respectively).
i've tried swapping cables (even though the setup worked fine with my old cpu/motherboard 2 days ago), forcing the network adapter into different speed modes (full auto, 100 full-duplex, 10 full-duplex), but i can't contact anything via this lan port.  when i do "ipconfig /renew" i can see flashing lights on the router indicating some traffic, however nothing happens on my win2k system.
i'm not sure what else i can do.  any ideas?  just to restate, the router/k7/win2k system worked perfectly 2 days ago.  i put the k8/neo3 system in, did a fresh win2k install, put on the 71.89 drivers for the geforce 6200, then proceeded directly to trying to get the network up and failing miserably.  no other software is installed, nothing else has been configured, and no system has ever put up this much of a fight before to stay off a network.
i'd really hate to have to go back to the k7 over this, the new box overclocks excellently from 1600 mhz stock to 2350 prime95-stable and the 6200 unlocks to a full 8-pipelines with 532/685 speeds - it's at least 5 times smoother at gaming than the k7 with a gf4mx, but without net access it's useless to me.  thanks for any ideas.

Answer 1

Before you jump to conclusions and make judgements, perhaps you might consider that there may be a configuration issue, perhaps just a faulty board. It doesn't mean they are all like that just because it doesn't work for you.
I don't mean to be rude, but I suggest you get all your facts before jumping to conclusions or making threats about posting negative remarks else where. You only serve to alienate those that may want to help.
What is the IP range settings in the DHCP of the router currently? (Try leaving at defaults, reset the router if you have to)
What, if any changes did you make in the TCP/IP settings of the onboard LAN adapter? (you shouldn't have to make any)
Obtain an IP Address Automatically
Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically
Make sure there are no gateway addresses, you can put that in later if you like.
And then what do you have selected: Control Panel>Internet Options>Connections>Lan Settings? (Should be nothing selected)
Also, Control Panel>Add Remove Programs>Add Remove Windows Components>Networking Services> Make sure all are unselected, primarily the Internet Gateway Device Discovery and Control Client. Sorry, that's for XP
Restart the computer if necessary.
Get to a command prompt, type "cmd" from the "Run..." on your Start menu
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
Good luck...