IPCONFIG shows "Media disconnected"

DELL Inspiron 8100 laptop. Windows XP Home w/ SP2

Device Manager shows my Network adpater as it should: 3Com 10/100 Mini PCI Ethernet Adapter...NO red X (not disabled) and most recent drivers are loaded from DELL.

Network Connections does show "Local Area Connection ", it's not firewalled.
Icon in tray shows connected when cable is plugged in straight from cable modem.

If I try to jump on the internet...nothing.

IPCONFIG displays this:

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name: inspiron8100lt
Primary Dns Suffix: [null - nothing displayed]
Node Type: Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled: No
WINS Proxy Enabled: No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Media State: Media diconnected
Description: 3Com 10/100 Mini PCI Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address: 00-04-76-4F-A9-5C

If I type IPCONFIG /RELEASE or IPCONFIG /RENEW I get the following message:

No operations can be performed on Local Area Connection while it has its media disconnected.

I have since uninstalled the device, rebooted and let Windows 'find' it again and reinstall.

Any ideas what's going on?