Networking in mandrake 9.0

I'm running mandrake 9.0 and originally i was intending to turn an old computer into a sever. I installed the OS eventually, (i am completely new to linux and mandrake having only experience with windows) and it worked fine ecept that the internet will not work. I connect through a LAN to a broadband connection from the router, i also connect to the router through a local switch. THe network card is relatively new and is an 'ADM983 Linksys Etherfast 10/100'. This is recognized in hardrake2 and shows up under ethernetcard. I know that the card is being seen by the switch as a light on both the card and the switch tell me so.
I tried to run konqurer web browser and cannot get a connection. I tried to configure it in the drakconnect wizard and this starts, then gets onto a window which says 'please wait, installing packages' and then stops, i left it for several hours and nothing happened, After the window was open for about 15 minutes the CD drive opened but no request for a driver CD etc was made. As i said i am totally new to this system is there simply something I'm not doing.
I also googled the error message but no helpful results were found.
Thanks for reading this and thank you in advance.