My XP machine has the NVidia chipset on the mobo, and when I hold down the F8 key whilst booting I get all the "Safe" options. If I select "Safe with networking", once booted I can happily run IE v8 and access PPrune with no problems. Doing so right now. I am running an RJ45 patch cable network via a Switch box, with static IP's. DHCP disabled.