Possible NIC Card Problem????

I have a Dell 8300 computer that has the Ethernet port integrated into the motherboard. The problem I've been running into the last 2 wks is that I periodically am unable to get to the internet and get the msg "Page Cannot Be Displayed". I've also noticed that when this occurs I see a task in Task Manager called "svchost.exe" running under the System user name that is taking 50% of my cpu along with 50%+ of my 1 GB of RAM. The only way to resolve this issue is to reboot my computer. Could this be an issue with my NIC? In dev mgr the NIC is named Intel PRO/100 VE Network Connection.
I've already run mult spyware/adware programs and nothing has been found. I'm connecting to the internet via a cable modem that is plugged directly into the back of my PC. Called the cable provider and they say nothing looks out of the ordinary from their side of things. The odd thing is that when this internet connection/CPU spike occurs my music download program still works and is downloading music.
Could someone give me a suggestion on what could be causing this problem.
Also, is there a way to specifically test my NIC to see if is working properly?
Thanks in adnvance for your help

You can try running this command from a command line:

ipconfig /all

If the numbers beside IP Address reads something like: 47.198.180.191
And the Subnet Mask reads something like: 255.255.255.128
And the Default Gateway reads something like: 47.198.180.128
And the DNS server reads something like: 64.71.255.198

Then you should be fine.

If however your IP Address reads something like: 69.xxx.xxx.xxx

then you may want to consider a new NIC.

But the fact that you're still able to download music when this occurs seems to say that it's not the NIC.

What about the lights on your modem? When you get the page cannot be found error do the light on it stay green?

Also, have you tried a different network cable?

I had an error like this once where out of the blue my connections became intermittent. Finally traced the problem to the network connection on the modem itself. My NIC was fine, my cable was fine, my modem's ability to connect to my provider was fine. It was just the point where the network cable plugged into my modem that had gone wonky on me.

Id say more than likely its a driver issue or corruption the the svchost.
First update drivers, if this doesnt work, id try and clean install of XP

Dont "do do" anything just "do" it.

Does your modem connect to a router or a cable/dsl modem directly?

If you have another computer handy, hook them both up to your router and maybe play a couple of games over the LAN. If you experience the 'page cannot be displayed' error something like every 3 hours or so when browsing, but you can play a LAN game for say 4 to 5 hours with no hiccups, it's not the NIC on your MB.