-=PCTechTalk=- Cable Connection Problem...

I'm trying to help a friend who is having a problem connecting to the Internet 
through a cable modem with COX.  He has a 2 year old Dell computer with Windows 
XP.  He's been running a cable connection for about two years with a Toshiba 
modem and Ethernet card from Cox.  He was also running Norton AntiVirus with 
automatic daily updates.  About a week ago several icons appeared on his 
Desktop that were not there before.  He deleted them and emptied his Recycle 
Bin.  Immediately after this, his Internet connection suddenly went south - no 
connection to the Internet or to his mail.   When he tries to connect, he gets 
the error message "Monitor/no NIC/Ethernet Adapter detected."  He called Cox 
and went through all the checks with Tier 1 support with no results.  Cox sent 
a rep to his house who changed out the Ethernet card and installed a D-Link 
card (the first card was not a D-Link).  The rep thought surely this would 
solve the problem, but it didn't.  All the modem lights are lit up, and he gets 
an IP address when he runs WINIPCONFIG, but gets the same error every time he 
tries to connect.  The Cox rep hooked up his own laptop to the modem and got a 
connection.  The rep also checked my friend's computer hardware in Device 
Manager, and the D-Link card is identified and reported to be working properly. 
 The D-Link card is also listed under Network in the Control Panel.  Cox 
basically said it was a problem on his computer and left.
My friend then called Dell and was on the phone with their Tech Support 
department for about 2 hours.  They had him reinstall XP, I'm assuming on top 
of his current version, but it didn't help.  I'm still running Windows 98 and 
am not familiar with all the ins and outs of where everything is in XP, so I 
don't know exactly what he's seeing when talking to him by phone.  He said when 
he gets the Login screen in XP, there is a box that says "Here outside error=0 
success=0."  His Start Menu is also frozen.  He can access programs from his 
desktop, but the computer locks up when he tries to access from his Start Menu.

Could this be a virus, or is this a networking problem?  What else can be 
checked?

Thanks!  

dj

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