. . checked it enough times I know exactly what it said for the network card:
DHCP off
IP 192.168.1.44
Mask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
DNS 64.105.132.250
64.105.166.322
Disabled the built in and installed a separate card with address 192.168.1.43 - same result - no answer to ping.
Now here's what I think happened. This machine had Windows XP home on it but was purchased with a Windows XP Pro upgrade installed - which upgrade was not needed but due to the ignorance of people advising the purchaser.
This upgrade was installed with all the pre-installed Norton crap fully enabled, including Norton Personal Firewall. NPF was later de-installed. In my experience, doing any system work with Norton anything installed is a recipe for disaster.
NPF was deinstalled at my recommendation in a phone conversation with the owner as inapropriate for the machines intended use. I was at that time unaware the Windows XP Pro was an upgrade to home (though I did wonder why NPF would be on an XP Pro machine).