Thanks!
We have a similar setup here; a hub, Ethernet. I'm sure it IS a settings conflict. Going into Firefox's options area I've tried every single selection and still get no connection. I thought, perhaps, that choosing Firefox as the default and then rebooting might do it. Anything more complex than that and I likely need more help. As far as I can tell IE has a more in-depth connection setup. I'm not sure how I ever managed to get that connected.
Hope all is well.
We're good here, my friend- Christmas came & went with nobody needing a doctor or a lawyer, so I regard it as a success.
As far as FF goes, I seem to recall not selecting either it or IE as "default browser." Mayhap someone more conversant with the dang thing will drop by-- in that link to increasing FF speed, there is a command you can enter into the address box that gives direct access to the configuration, but be warned, it's a bunch of code lines.