no connectivity to nic card in win xp pr

Why can’t I get my nic card connected in my win xp pro box. I installed the microsoft card as per instructions with their software and after failing twice to successfully complete the ics wizard, I noticed that network connections listed the card asunplugged. This is the second card in this machine. The netgear fa311 stopped the machine from booting.
This is a home built with a tyan s2460 mb, 2 amd mp 1.2 ghz cpus, creative audigy sound card, nvidia geforce 2 mx400 video card