Does server 2008 require any different configuration to go online?

Does server 2008 require any different configuration to go online?
if I need to connect a server 2008 machine to the internet or the network do I have to configure any thing different from xp or vista editions.
I have tried to connect the server to the internet or even to my home network, but every time I ping the wireless router (which is physically connected to the server NIC) or the DSL modem I get failure,
when I ping the 127.0.0.1 I get 0 lost.
My network card is recognized by the server and I have a wireless card installed on the server.
I disabled the wireless card but still cannot connect and when I open a home page I get page cannot be displayed.
other vista and xp computer on the network are fine and have internet .
so it s only the server.
I am suspecting the network card even though it is fine in device manager no yellow or red marks on the device and shown as the device is ok.
my network is as following
dsl modem that supplies a linksys wireless router '
the linksys is broadcasting a wireless signal to my wireless devices
and it is also used as a hub giving two other computer physical connection.
please help with that issue I am trying to learn server 08
sorry for long details.
thank You in advance

Well I was trying to use the Wired lan first Because the wireless card(linksys ) is recognized as a broadcom so I think the wireless card is incompatable
Now here are some more details
when I connect the server directly to the dsl modem and restart the modem
with ipconfig the server will get a dynamic ip address and it will see the dsl modem as following
ip address 192.168.1.x
subnet mask 255.255.255.0
default gateware 192.168.1.1
but when I ping the 192.168.1.1 which is the dsl modem IP I get either general failure
or unreachable

then when I assign the server a static IP address
no luck neither

when I convert back to dhcp I get the IP address starting 169.xx.xx.xx

and when I had the ipconfig
ip address 192.168.1.x
subnet mask 255.255.255.0
default gateware 192.168.1.1

I tried to get to see the network map
but a message stated that the router is incompatible

no I cannot

Did you assign an address that is in the same range?
example: 192.168.1.xxx
Did you assign the same gateway and DNS addresses the other computers are using?

It maybe hardware then. Card or cable.

2008 is not difficult. I am running it on my server and as a multi-boot 2008/Win7 on my laptop.