Internet Explorer wont connect to internet after fresh XP install

I have an old Dell OptiPlex GX620 with a Pentium 4 processor that I am wanting to play older computer games on. The computer came with a wiped hard drive, so I am trying to install Windows XP Pro Service Pack 3 from a Dell reinstallation CD. I am able to install the operating system fine, but I can never get the system to connect to the internet properly. Internet Explorer will only connect to the MSN website. I have installed all of the drivers from the Dell website (BIOS, Chipset, Video, Audio, Network, etc.). I made sure I installed them in the correct order. I tried installing Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8 with the same results. I have tried connecting to the internet using a wire and wireless internet. I have turned off the firewall, cleared the browser cache, internet history, and reset the default internet settings. Nothing has worked. I also get the same results when trying to install XP on an OptiPlex GX280 as well. I know that the connection to the internet is working, because firefox will go to webpages correctly, but I need internet explorer to work though because the windows update system relies on internet explorer and wont work with firefox. I have another XP computer that goes to these webpages fine and connects to the windows update system without any problem, so I have ruled out webpages not supporting the older browser. What else could be causing this issue?

 

do you open internet explorer and try to get to the update site or do you use the link from start/all programs/ upper right where it will say windows update. You do realize that the update server has been discontinued, one of the other posters said she was able to get there, so I am not sure, but use the link from the start menu, make sure that in internet options, all security levels are set to default.

 

Update server is definitely not discontinued. As I said in another thread, I received 145 updates yesterday from Microsoft Update, with the POSReady trick and of course it was with IE8.