Autonet - Can not get online

Replaced the hdd. Installed Windows XP Pro. Installed SP2 from disk. Installed SP3 from disk. Could not get online. Kept getting an ip address of 169.254.230.128. Something called AutoNet. It keeps using an Automatic Private Address.
I have tried all the fixes I could find - Winsock, Winsock2, TCP/IP. Fixes, install, uninstall. I can not get the DHCP settings to run. I have even used the ip numbers of the computer that I am using to access the internet now. I immediately get a notification that there is an ip conflict with another computer on the network, so there is definitely a connection, just no communication.
I reinstalled XP, no SPs. Same problem, Same IP address.
Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC.
Windows XP Pro
AMD Sempron 3400+ 1.99 GHz
1.18 GB RAM

No new programs installed, JUST XP Pro.
Device Manager showes Realtek installed and running
It does show PCI Simple Communications Controler uninstalled.

 

Chipset?

Would I find them at the manufacturer website? can they be downloaded to another machine and installed?

 

There was a recovery partition on the old drive, no disks. never made a backup either (dumb). I did recover a copy of that partition but the only thing i get from it is a warning that I should not make any changes to it.

The new drive is not recognized as the C drive. It is the Local Disk (H). can I change this?
Some of the original drivers from the HP website will not load because there is not enough space on the "C drive ", others wont load because I need to be logged on as Administrator - I AM!!