confusing pc internet connection problem (win2k)

Factual Questions
1

okay… so i’ve got dsl to replace my old dialup connection. set up a network. 2 pcs one win 98, and mine with win2k. the windows 98 pc recognized everything with no problem, works great surfs like a dream. so i head on out to my pc hop online, go to my homepage (msn.com) i get a mess of text that states:

“Why does MSN look like this?
Your browser cannot find our style and presentation information. You’re welcome to use the page as is, or upgrade your browser to its latest version. If you’re using Microsoft Internet Explorer, go to the Microsoft Internet Explorer website to install the latest version. If you are using another browser, see your browser’s website for more information.”

and displays just blue text on a white background.

i think this is a bit odd so i go to a few other websites without incident, decide to check my hotmail… no dice. similar problems.

i finally decide maybe i just need to update windows, see if thats the problem, windows update looks for available updates, hangs on 0%
then trying again, cannot find page.
then cant download due to my date and time settings.

i try to release and renew my ip address. doesnt do anything.
try A new web browser. same problem.
try a repair install of windows. no dice.

any ideas out there short of a full format + reinstall?

2

What new web browser did you try? What version of IE is installed now? Did you go to the IE site and install the latest version?

3

i’m running the most current version of IE and the other browser i tried was mozilla/firefox

4

Have you dumped your internet caches recently? This can frequently cause annoying problems with websites.

5

yeah i cleared them last week. but the problem only just came now up as i switched from dial-up to dsl

6

Try installing VB runtime. What software did you install from your DSL provider?

7

okay after a format+reinstall it appears that this is a problem between windows 2000 and my router. how would i go about reconciling it?