Variations available for a "Safe Boot" may make it difficult to tell what to turn on and what to turn off. I don't have WinXP up to look at what options you get when you F8 during startup to get a clean boot.

If you think you might need to check out the options, or may need to start up several times in a safe mode, a more reliable way of setting up the boot is given for WinXP in:

How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state - Article ID: 310353 - at Microsoft.

[IGNORE the Win7 video that they've inserted in the middle of the article, and follow the instructions just after it.]

There is a "helper" utility you can use, but the "Advanced Method" isn't too difficult.

With Windows up, logged on as Administrator or as a user with Admin privileges, click Start | Run and type msconfig in the box, then click OK. The various things you can turn off should be displayed, with most of what you're interested in on the General tab. After you've made your choices your next (and all subsequent) startups will be what you picked.

When you get done, you will have to use Start | Run msconfig and pick "Normal Windows Startup" on the General tab to return to a normal boot.

The F8 during startup does work, but the msconfig method sometimes makes it easier to do repeated safe starts or to try different configurations. Use whichever you like.

If DNS didn't work in the Safe Mode you got, it's likely that the necessary "service" for DNS wasn't turned on. The DNS (Domain Name Service) is where your computer looks up how to go to somewhere else in your local network and/or on the internet. There should be an option to start "Safe with Networking" or something similar that will let you omit most of the trash and still make a web connection; but again, it's been quite a while since I've run WinXP and I may remember things about it that I never knew ...

John