there was no response the command just hangs forever.
Solution: was to go to a working PC with the same Operating System Windows XP Pro
run regedit export winsock and winsock2 keys and then import these into the bad pc.
Solution found at this Microsoft Web Site
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817571
Export the registry entries to a floppy disk
On the computer that has a working installation of TCP/IP, follow these steps.
Note The computer that you are importing the registry entries from must use the same version of Windows and be either similar to or a duplicate of the computer that is experiencing the symptoms that are described in the "Symptoms" section.
1. Insert a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive of the computer that has the registry entries that you are exporting.
2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry subkey and then click Winsock:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services
4. Click File, and then click Export.
5. In the Save in box, click 3½ Floppy(A:), type a name for the file in the File name box, and then click Save.
6. Click Winsock2, click File, and then click Export.
7. In the Save in box, click 3½ Floppy(A:), type a name for the file in the File name box, and then click Save.
Note Each .reg file that you save must have a different name.
8. Quit Registry Editor.
Import the registry entries from the floppy disk
On the computer that had the corrupted registry entries, follow these steps:
1. Insert the floppy disk that contains the .reg files in the floppy disk drive of the computer that is experiencing the symptoms that are described in the "Symptoms" section.
2. Start Windows Explorer, click My Computer, and then double-click 3½ Floppy(A:).
3. Double-click each .reg file that you created and saved to the floppy disk in the "Export the registry keys to a floppy disk" section.
4. Click Yes when you are prompted to add information to the registry.
5. Click OK when you receive the message that the information is successfully entered in the registry.
6. Quit Registry Editor.
7. Restart the affected computer.
ipconfig parameters
ipconfig is run for the DOS command prompt windows
to get to the DOS Command prompt
Start
Run
type CMD
OK
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew.
ipconfig /displaydns,
ipconfig /flushdns,