Thanks for the replies. I waited 25 minutes and nothing happend, no connection whatsoever. My DHCP server (Netgear DG834G Router) is definitely working fine, it worked perfectly before I formatted and it's still working with my other computers. I suppose I could try a static IP later, but for the moment I just reinstalled my normal version of XP. I've got a spare hard drive so I might play around with a few practice installs on that before I try again properly.