Hi Scroggs
Just had a look through the troubleshooting section for my Linksys ethernet setup. It suggests that removing ALL the protocols and ethernet card references from the Control Panel Network box is a good start followed by a re-install. It seems to insist on the 'Client for Microsoft Networks' being present and, certainly, my system wouldn't work without it. - (but it's a LAN)
One other suggestion - if you have someone handy using Win XP, ask them to make you a 'network wizard' floppy disk and try running that. Rather oddly, it worked first time on my W98SE desktops and was totally pain-free
PS - How's life in the 'empire'?