TheronSteele 0 Newbie Poster

I have just built a nice new pc (my first time). I installed Windows XP Pro, but it's an old version (before SP1) and it won't let me connect to the internet. I connected my cable modem directly to the pc, but I get nothing. I tried automatically detecting settings, but still nothing. Does anyone have any advice? I really don't want to have to go buy XP again or Vista. Thanks.