I thought of that when you mentioned DCHP .... my router with my windows boxes has to assign the IP or it's kaput .... I ran into this setting up my NT 4.0 server with it. So, I guess my next question is how do I set up my Linux Box to accept an IP from the router or else how do I disable the DCHP?

dbkluck is correct about the 169.254 ip - you are not getting an ip.
when you typed in ifdown then ifup was there any error at all?

I presume the default on the nic is DHCP as it is on a router. This has been the case in my experience.

Have you reboot the system for good measure???
If not then do so and then see if ifconfig has a real ip from the router.

You can always change the config of the nic in X off the start menu [which is the easiest for a newbie] I recommend this in your case. If you want to change the config of your router you can browse to you gateway ip in a browser, login and change to the relevant configuration. If you need more help on the router config you can just call their tech support and they will walk you thru it on the phone.

Yes, I've rebooted and when I did the ifup and ifdown no errors (that I know of)

and the ifconfig

[the_bug@localhost the_bug]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost the_bug]# ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:80:C8:35:5D:5F
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:14185 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:28370
collisions:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

eth0:9 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:80:C8:35:5D:5F
inet addr:169.254.76.216 Bcast:169.254.255.255 Mask:255.255.0.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:205 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:205 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0
RX bytes:13002 (12.6 Kb) TX bytes:13002 (12.6 Kb)

[root@localhost the_bug]#

hmm - here are some more ideas:

1) check if you can pull an ip with another pc.
2) Disable any firewalls installed - [remember the initial installation? - iptables, ipfilter and any other that came with your distro].
3) go over the README for nic driver - check it - try reinstalling the nic driver again.