Old Inspiron 8100 Laptop Internet Help

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I just picked up an old laptop from a friend. It's a Dell Inspiron 8100 running XP, and I've also added Puppy Linux to it. I realize that some of the older laptops need a wireless card or adapter to connect them to wifi or a router, but this laptop has an ethernet port. I've tried to plug the cable into the port to see if I could get a connection, but it didn't recognize it. My newer HP laptop, however, does recognize the connection so it can't be blamed on the cable. Does this laptop just have a bum ethernet port or is there a card/adapter I can pick up to get this sucker running? (Preferably wifi/wireless, but I don't mind connecting it to the router with a cable.)

I'd expect the old laptop to have some trouble connecting wirelessly, but if they have a slot for an ethernet cable, you'd think it would work.

Thanks for any ideas and help.

[editline]10:13PM[/editline]

Also, I should mention that I attempted to connect a Linksys wireless-B USB adapter to the old laptop in hopes to connect to the Internet. I suppose there was an issue with the drivers or something because I couldn't find the CD or download.